Dr. Slezak is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 28 years of experience working with young children, adolescents, and adults. Specialty areas are autism spectrum, out-of-the-ordinary kids, anxiety, grief and loss, ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Social and emotional functioning, trauma recovery, depression, stress, OCD, parenting, family issues, and geriatrics.

Dr. Slezak is a licensed clinical psychologist with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology and a M.A. in Special Education from Lesley College in Cambridge, MA.  She also has a certificate in Child, Adolescent Psychodynamic/Psychotherapy Treatment from the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute.  Additionally, she has certification in the D.I.R. (Developmental, Individual-difference and Relationship-based Model) also known as Floortime, or the Greenspan Model. DIR is a relationship and evidenced-based treatment that looks at functional emotional development and how sensory processing difficulties may interfere with typical development and understanding one’s own feelings.  The emphasis is on helping children or adults know their emotions and become critical thinkers and problem solvers.  Char taught classes on DIR at the Erikson Institute as part of the Infant Mental Health Certificate program.  In the past years, Char has a growing interest in ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and trauma.  She is completing a certification from the Trauma Research Foundation. She is a member of American Psychological Association, Illinois Psychological Association, and Zero to Three.

“I believe therapy is discovering ways to be well balanced, comfortable in one’s own skin and finding ways to build capacity to handle everyday stressors by working to understand a child’s or adult’s internal world.  It’s important to help put words to feelings, thoughts, and sensations and to communicate more effectively (whether it is through play, drawing, or talking) to find meaning in their experiences.”

 Dr. Slezak sees clients in Naperville (Monday, Tuesday, and Friday), Downers Grove (Thursday afternoon and every other Saturday morning), and via telehealth (Wednesday).

Dr. Slezak accepts Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO, Medicare PPO, and United Behavioral Health PPO.