Medication helped you find ground. This work is about learning to stand on your own again.

Many people come to psychiatric medication in a moment of real need — reaching for something that would help them feel more stable, more present, more themselves. And it works. It creates enough ground to stand on. But over time, the ground can shift. What once helped you feel more connected may now be quietly creating distance — from your emotions, your energy, your own inner sense of rhythm. If you're beginning to sense that, you are not alone. And that sensing is exactly where this work begins.

What Psychiatric Medications Do to the Body — And the Gut

What most people are never told is that psychiatric medications — antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, mood stabilizers, and others — do not only act on the brain. They act on the entire body, and particularly on the gut microbiome. Research is now making clear what integrative practitioners have long understood: the gut and the brain are in constant, bidirectional communication. Your microbiome produces roughly 90% of your body's serotonin. It regulates inflammation, immune signaling, hormone balance, and your capacity to feel calm, focused, and emotionally regulated.

Psychiatric medications can significantly alter this ecosystem. Long-term use has been associated with:

  • disruption of the gut microbiome's diversity and balance

  • increased intestinal permeability ("leaky gut"), which can amplify inflammation

  • changes in motility, digestion, and nutrient absorption

  • depletion of nutrients essential to mood regulation, including magnesium, B vitamins, zinc, and CoQ10

  • altered immune signaling that can contribute to chronic fatigue, brain fog, and mood instability

This doesn't mean the medication was wrong for you then. It means your body may be carrying a burden that deserves to be addressed — thoughtfully, carefully, and with the full picture in view.

The Goal Is Not Always Full Discontinuation

This is important: taper support is not about a finish line. For some people, the goal is a meaningful reduction — finding the lowest effective dose that supports function without muting connection. For others, it may be about spacing, timing, or simply understanding what their body is doing beneath the medication. And for some, full discontinuation — slowly and carefully — is the right path. What matters is that you are moving toward yourself, not away from something. That the process serves your nervous system rather than destabilizes it. That you feel more empowered, more embodied, and more at home in your own rhythms — whatever the outcome looks like.

How I Support You Through This Process

My approach to psychiatric drug taper support is integrative, somatic, and deeply individualized — and grounded in certification from the Leslie Korn Institute, whose curriculum in integrative mental health specifically addresses the intersection of nutrition, the microbiome, and psychiatric medication. It is also always developed in full partnership with your prescribing physician or psychiatrist. I do not advise clients to taper without medical oversight, and I will never encourage a faster pace than your body and your care team can support. What I bring to this work is a framework for supporting the whole person — body, nervous system, gut, and spirit — as the medication changes. This support is offered in my capacity as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Certified Integrative Mental Health Professional (CIMHP), and is non-medical in nature — meaning it is designed to complement, never replace, the clinical guidance of your prescribing physician or psychiatrist.

Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMF)
PEMF is one of the quietest and most underappreciated tools available for nervous system support during taper. By delivering gentle electromagnetic pulses to the body's cells, PEMF helps calm an overstimulated nervous system, reduce inflammation, support cellular repair, and improve sleep — all of which become especially important as the body adjusts to changing medication levels. For clients navigating taper, PEMF offers a non-invasive, deeply regulating experience that works on a physiological level the mind alone cannot reach. It is particularly supportive for those experiencing anxiety, restlessness, or disrupted sleep during the process.

GI-MAP Testing & Targeted Supplementation
One of the most overlooked dimensions of psychiatric medication taper is what has happened to the body's internal ecosystem over time. Through a GI-MAP analysis and individualized intake, I help identify the specific gut imbalances, microbiome disruptions, and nutrient depletions that long-term psychiatric medication use can leave behind — including deficiencies in magnesium, B vitamins, zinc, and CoQ10 that are essential to mood regulation and nervous system resilience. From there, a personalized supplementation protocol is built around your specific biochemistry — which may include targeted probiotics, adaptogens, amino acid precursors, anti-inflammatory support, and gut-lining restoration. This is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It is a precise, data-informed picture of what your body is carrying and what it needs to heal. All supplementation guidance is offered as holistic wellness support and is non-medical in nature, in alignment with Illinois law (225 ILCS 30), and does not replace the care of a licensed physician or pharmacist.

Self-Care & Nervous System Regulation with Neuro Emotional Technique (NET)
Taper is a time when your nervous system needs more — not less — attunement. We build a personalized self-care architecture together: sleep hygiene, stress rhythm, daily practices, somatic check-ins, and rituals of connection that anchor you when the process feels uncertain. I draw on NET (Neuro Emotional Technique) and other somatic modalities to help your body release the emotional patterns that may have been stored beneath the medication.

Exercise & Movement with Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE)
Movement is one of the most well-researched and underutilized tools in mental health. As psychiatric medications are gently reduced, intentional movement — including somatic practices like TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises) — helps the nervous system discharge stress, rebuild its own capacity for regulation, and restore the body's natural neurochemical rhythms. Exercise supports the production of serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins — the body's own, native mood-stabilizing chemistry.

Always in Partnership With Your Prescriber

This cannot be said clearly enough: safe taper is a team effort. I work alongside your prescribing doctor or psychiatrist — not in opposition to them. Under Illinois law (225 ILCS 30), my role as an LCSW is to support your psychosocial wellbeing, help you understand your own patterns and needs, and provide education and integrative wellness guidance — not to prescribe, adjust, or direct the management of medication. All taper decisions are made by you and your prescriber. My role is to support your body, your nervous system, and your sense of self through that process. If you do not currently have a prescriber willing to support a taper conversation, I can help you think through how to approach that conversation — or connect you with integrative psychiatrists who specialize in this work.

What This Process Can Feel Like

Clients who engage in supported taper work — with patience, with partnership, and with the right foundations in place — often describe something like coming back to themselves. Not the self that needed the medication in the first place, but a more grounded, more resourced version — one who has built new tools, new self-knowledge, and a new relationship with their own body.

They describe:

  • a renewed sense of feeling their emotions rather than watching them from a distance

  • more reliable energy and sleep rhythms

  • clearer thinking and less brain fog

  • a body that feels more like home

  • a deeper trust in their own capacity to regulate

  • and, often, a quiet but profound sense of reclamation

This is what this work is really about. Not just reducing a number on a prescription label — but returning to the fullness of who you are.

Is This Work Right For You?

Psychiatric drug taper support may be a good fit if:

  • you are currently on psychiatric medication and wondering whether it still serves you

  • you have experienced side effects — emotional blunting, weight changes, digestive issues, fatigue — that feel like they are diminishing your quality of life

  • you want to explore a gentler, lower dose in partnership with your prescriber

  • you are curious about what your body's own regulation capacity looks like

  • you want integrative support for the process — body, gut, nervous system, and spirit — not just a conversation about milligrams

This work is not a substitute for medical care, and it is not appropriate for individuals in acute psychiatric crisis. If you are currently experiencing a mental health emergency, please contact your prescriber, a crisis line, or emergency services.

  • Tapering psychiatric medication can be done safely when it is approached gradually, thoughtfully, and always under the direct supervision of your prescribing physician or psychiatrist. The risks associated with taper come most often from reducing too quickly or without adequate support in place. My role is to help build that support — through nervous system regulation, gut restoration, targeted supplementation, and somatic practices — so that your body has the strongest possible foundation as the medication gently changes. Safety is not just about the taper schedule. It is about the whole person navigating the process.

  • Integrative taper support means addressing the whole body — not just the prescription. As a Certified Integrative Mental Health Professional (CIMHP) trained through the Leslie Korn Institute, I work alongside your prescriber to support the physical, emotional, and neurological changes that happen as psychiatric medication is reduced. This includes gut restoration through GI-MAP testing and targeted supplementation, somatic practices like TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises) and NET (Neuro Emotional Technique) to regulate the nervous system, and personalized lifestyle and movement guidance to help your body rebuild its own natural rhythms of regulation. This is not medical care — it is the integrative layer that conventional medicine rarely has time to provide.

  • Yes — and I would never have it any other way. All taper plans are developed in full partnership with your prescribing physician or psychiatrist. Under Illinois law (225 ILCS 30), my scope as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) does not include prescribing, adjusting, or directing the management of medication. That belongs entirely to your medical provider. What I offer is the integrative, somatic, and nutritional support that surrounds that process — helping your body adapt, your nervous system stabilize, and your sense of self stay grounded throughout. If you don't currently have a prescriber open to this conversation, I can help you think through how to approach it.

  • This is one of the most underrecognized aspects of long-term psychiatric medication use. Antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, and mood stabilizers can significantly alter the gut microbiome — disrupting the diversity and balance of beneficial bacteria, increasing intestinal permeability (often called "leaky gut"), and depleting key nutrients like magnesium, B vitamins, and zinc that are essential for mood regulation. Because roughly 90% of the body's serotonin is produced in the gut, a disrupted microbiome can directly affect emotional stability, energy, cognition, and resilience. Healing the gut is often one of the most important and overlooked parts of psychiatric medication taper — and it is central to the integrative support I provide.

  • Stopping psychiatric medication abruptly — sometimes called "cold turkey" — can cause significant withdrawal symptoms including anxiety, mood instability, dizziness, insomnia, and what many describe as "brain zaps." Tapering is a slow, gradual reduction of the dose over time, allowing the brain and body to adjust at a pace they can tolerate. The speed of a taper varies significantly depending on the medication, the dose, the length of time it has been taken, and the individual's unique physiology. There is no universal timeline — and anyone who tells you otherwise is not accounting for your whole person. My role is to support your body through that process however long it takes.

  • Absolutely not. This work is not about a finish line or a fixed destination. For some people, the goal is meaningful reduction — finding a lower dose that supports function without dulling connection. For others it is about understanding what their body is doing beneath the medication, or building enough somatic and nutritional support that a future conversation with their prescriber becomes possible. Full discontinuation may be right for some — and for others, the most empowering outcome is simply feeling more informed, more resourced, and more like themselves at whatever dose serves them. You get to define what this process is for.

  • Integrative taper support can be relevant for people on a range of psychiatric medications including SSRIs and SNRIs (antidepressants), benzodiazepines, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and stimulant medications. Each of these interacts with the body — and the gut — differently, and each carries its own taper considerations. This is exactly why working in partnership with your prescriber is non-negotiable, and why a personalized, whole-body approach matters more than any generic protocol.

  • Your therapist and psychiatrist are essential. This work is not a replacement for either — it is an addition to your care team. What I offer that most conventional providers don't have time to address is the body layer: gut testing and microbiome restoration, targeted supplementation based on your specific biochemistry, somatic practices to help your nervous system regulate without medication, and integrative mental health education grounded in the Leslie Korn Institute's curriculum. Most therapy addresses the mind. Most psychiatry addresses the prescription. This work addresses everything in between — the body, the gut, the nervous system, and the whole self navigating the process.

  • I am based in the Chicago area and offer integrative taper support both in person and virtually to clients throughout Illinois. If you're unsure whether this work is the right fit for where you are, reach out — I'm always happy to have a conversation before you commit to anything.

Let's Begin the Conversation

If any part of this page stirred something in you — curiosity, recognition, relief, or even cautious hope — I'd love to hear from you. We can start simply, with a conversation about where you are, what you're noticing, and what you're hoping for. Your body has always known its own rhythm. This work is about finding your way back to it.

Initial consultation (60-minute session that includes pre-session intake form review — a 14-page form with follow-up questions read and assessed before we meet) — $250

Follow-up sessions (60 min — includes GI-Map results if applicable and wellness plan for the next six months) — $225

Psychiatric drug taper support is offered in the spirit of holistic wellness support by a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Certified Integrative Mental Health Practitioner (CIMHP) trained through the Leslie Korn Institute. In alignment with Illinois law (225 ILCS 30), all integrative wellness guidance provided here — including supplementation, nutrition, and lifestyle recommendations — is non-medical in nature and does not constitute the practice of medicine, pharmacy, or dietetics. It does not replace the care of your licensed physician, psychiatrist, or pharmacist. No aspect of this work involves prescribing, adjusting, or directing the management of medication. All medication decisions remain solely within the scope of your licensed medical provider.

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