Dr. Nashat Shams Ali, LCPC
Therapy Where the Body and the Mind Are Part of the Same Story
Your body and your mind are not having two separate conversations, and they should not be treated that way either. Nashat's background in medicine means the physical side of what you are carrying does not get set aside.
Book a free consultationVirtual sessions in Illinois and Florida, based in Chicago. Most major insurance accepted, and we verify your benefits for you.
What Nashat works on most
Trauma & Post-Traumatic Growth
Not only recovering function, but what becomes possible afterward. Her published research is on exactly this, in women.
Chronic Illness
Living with a condition that has no end date, and the grief that comes when treatment is management rather than cure.
Health Anxiety & Somatic Symptoms
The symptom you keep checking, the appointment you cannot stop replaying, the search history you would rather not explain.
Perinatal, Postpartum & Fertility
Pregnancy, the year after, and the particular grief of a body that will not do the thing you are asking of it.
Multicultural Identity & Immigration
The exhaustion of translating yourself daily, and the loneliness of belonging to two places incompletely.
About Nashat
Dr. Nashat Shams Ali is a licensed clinical professional counselor in both Illinois and Florida, based in Chicago and seeing clients by telehealth in both states. She holds an MBBS medical degree and a PhD in health psychology, and has spent more than fifteen years combining the two. She does not practice medicine or prescribe; what the training gives her is a working understanding of bodies, symptoms, and medical systems that most therapists do not have.
That matters most for clients whose difficulty sits in both places at once: a chronic diagnosis, health anxiety, symptoms that have been handed back to them as stress. She works with the physical and the psychological as one problem rather than referring you between two people who never speak to each other.
Her two published research projects, presented internationally, examine post-traumatic growth in women, which shapes how she approaches trauma. Recovery matters, and so does what a person builds afterward; she does not treat symptom reduction as the finish line. Her own Middle Eastern, South Asian, and multiracial background informs her work with immigrant and multicultural clients, and she speaks English and Hindi. She has also taught graduate counseling and psychology as an adjunct professor since 2020.
The consultation is a conversation, not a commitment
Deciding whether to start therapy is hard enough without a calendar demanding a card number. Here is the whole process.
Answer a few questions
Your state, what brings you in, and how you would pay. Under a minute.
Talk to Nashat for 15 minutes
By video, at no cost. You describe what is going on and she tells you how she would approach it.
Decide after the call
If it feels right, you book a first session. If not, we help you find someone who fits better.
What clients often say when they first reach out
Paraphrased versions of what Nashat hears most. If one of these sounds like your own head, you are in the right place.
Therapeutic approaches
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy
- Trauma-focused therapy
- Psychodynamic therapy
- Narrative therapy
- Solution-focused brief therapy
- Multicultural counseling
Also works with
- Anxiety and depression
- Medical trauma
- Grief and loss
- Life transitions
- Self-esteem
- Career stress and burnout
- Codependency
- Couples and relationship concerns
Who she sees
- Adults
- Adolescents 13+
- Women
- Couples
- People living with chronic illness
- Immigrant and multicultural clients
- Survivors of domestic or sexual violence
- Virtually in Illinois and Florida
Questions before you book
Where can Nashat see clients?
Illinois and Florida. She is based in Chicago and sees clients by video in both states, and you need to be physically located in one of them at the time of your appointment.
She has a medical degree. Is this medical care?
No. Nashat practices as a licensed clinical professional counselor, not a physician, and holds no active medical license in the United States. Her medical training informs how she understands physical symptoms and medical systems. She does not diagnose physical conditions and cannot prescribe.
Can therapy help if my illness is real and permanent?
Yes, and this is much of her caseload. Therapy will not cure a chronic condition. It does change your relationship to it: the anxiety around symptoms, the grief, the practical decisions, and how you talk to the people around you.
What is post-traumatic growth?
The finding that some people, after trauma, develop capacities they did not have before. It is not a requirement or a silver lining you owe anyone. It is a possibility Nashat holds open rather than stopping at symptom management.
Does she work in languages other than English?
Yes. Nashat speaks English and Hindi. Her own multicultural background also means cultural context tends to be understood without lengthy explanation, which many clients find is the harder part.
Does she see couples, or only individuals?
Both, along with adolescents from around 13 up. Relationship work is a real part of her practice, though the majority of her caseload is individual adults.
Let's see if we're a fit
A few quick questions, then you can book a free 15-minute consultation with Nashat.