Therapy for Perimenopausal Women in Illinois & South Carolina

Dawn Leprich-Graves, LCPC, LPC, PMH-C, ASDCS is a licensed therapist providing psychotherapy for adult women and couples in Illinois and South Carolina.

One-Sentence Orientation

I help high-performing perimenopausal women understand the patterns and protective parts that once helped them succeed but now leave them depleted, disconnected, and overwhelmed—so they can meet this season with compassion and create a life that honors their capacity instead of demanding they override it.

Who I Commonly Work With

I often work with thoughtful, deeply feeling, high-achieving women navigating perimenopause and midlife.

Many are neurodivergent and may also be professionals, entrepreneurs, caregivers, or mothers. They may be trying to understand a body, identity, or future that is changing in ways they didn’t expect—especially when the strategies that once helped them succeed no longer work, and they can’t simply return to who they were before.

Along with my primary focus on perimenopause and midlife, I work with women navigating ADHD, autism and AuDHD, masking and neurodivergent burnout, anxiety in new motherhood, high sensitivity and perfectionism, and struggles related to food and body image. I also work with couples, including neurodivergent couples.

Services I Offer

Individual Therapy

I provide individual therapy for adult women experiencing concerns such as:

• perimenopause-related anxiety, mood changes, exhaustion, brain fog, sleep disruption, or feeling disconnected from themselves

• ADHD, autism or AuDHD, including masking, burnout, sensory or social overwhelm, and identity questions

• anxiety, guilt, overwhelm, or loss of self during new motherhood

• perfectionism, high sensitivity, overthinking, overcommitment, and difficulty recognizing or honoring personal limits

• food and body-image struggles

Couples Therapy

I work with couples, including neurodivergent couples, experiencing recurring conflict, misunderstanding, disconnection, or differences in how each partner experiences, processes, and communicates.

I also offer focused couples intensives for couples who want dedicated time to understand recurring patterns or distance in their relationship.

Brainspotting Intensives

I offer Brainspotting intensives for women seeking focused support for distressing or emotionally charged experiences that continue to affect them. The work is paced with attention to each person's needs and capacity.

Specialty Routes

If perimenopause is affecting your mood, energy, sleep, focus, capacity, or sense of self, start here → Perimenopause Support

If you're seeking support for ADHD, autism, AuDHD, masking, or neurodivergent burnout, start here → AuDHD Women

If anxiety or overwhelm in new motherhood is leaving you frightened, guilty, depleted, or unlike yourself, start here → Anxious New Moms

If high sensitivity, perfectionism, overthinking, or overcommitment is leaving you depleted, start here → HSPs & Empaths

If food or body-image struggles are affecting your life, start here → Eating & Body Image

If neurodivergence is affecting your relationship, start here → Neurodivergent Couples

If you're seeking focused relationship work, start here → Couples Intensives

If you're seeking focused Brainspotting work, start here → Brainspotting Intensives

When This Work Is a Good Fit

This work may be a good fit if you've always been the capable one—the one everyone counts on—and now you're frightened by how far you feel from yourself: your energy, clarity, patience, and trust in your own mind don't feel like yours anymore.

This approach may fit if the parts that helped you succeed—pushing, pleasing, masking, holding it all together—are still demanding that you keep performing, while another part of you is exhausted and grieving the life you can no longer force yourself to live.

How I Work

I use Internal Family Systems (IFS), Brainspotting, and somatic approaches in my work with women.

Rather than focusing only on symptoms or strategies, our work may explore the protective patterns that have helped you cope, the emotional experiences underneath them, and what your body and nervous system may be communicating about your needs and capacity.

With neurodivergent clients, this work is not about treating your neurotype as something that needs to be fixed. We may instead explore masking, over-adapting, protective roles, nervous-system responses, and the expectations you've learned to carry.

With couples, I also use relationship-focused and Gottman-informed approaches to help partners understand recurring patterns, protective reactions, and differences in how they experience and communicate with one another. Brainspotting may also be incorporated when it fits the couple's goals and the work.

When This May Not Be the Best Fit

I want you to find a therapist and therapy setting that can genuinely meet what you need.

I may not be the right fit if you need crisis or emergency services, a higher level of care than outpatient therapy, a therapist who bills insurance directly, or a provider licensed outside Illinois or South Carolina.

My approach may also not be the best fit if you're specifically looking for therapy that is primarily CBT-based, highly manualized, or focused mainly on solutions and strategies.

That doesn't mean one way of doing therapy is better than another. It means the fit matters. If what you need or want is outside the kind of care I provide, I would much rather have you find a therapy practice where the approach, level of support, and practical details are a better match for you.

Practical + Legal Clarity

Licensed in: Illinois — Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC), License #180010822; South Carolina — Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), License #9802.

I work with: Adult women and couples, including neurodivergent couples. I do not provide therapy to children or teens.

Format: Therapy is provided primarily online for clients located in Illinois or South Carolina. Limited in-person availability may be offered; contact Veraluna to confirm current availability.

Payment: Veraluna is a private-pay practice and does not bill insurance directly. Superbills are available to submit for possible out-of-network reimbursement.

Where to Get Help

You don't need to know exactly which specialty or type of therapy fits before reaching out.

If you're primarily looking for help with perimenopause and midlife changes, begin with Perimenopause Support.

For ADHD, autism, AuDHD, masking, or neurodivergent burnout, visit AuDHD Women.

For anxiety and overwhelm during new motherhood, visit Anxious New Moms.

If neurodivergence is affecting your relationship, visit Neurodivergent Couples.

If your experience overlaps several of these areas—or you're simply not sure where to begin—start with a free consultation. We can talk about what you're experiencing, where you're located, and whether my services and approach are a good match.

Schedule Your Free Consultation