VIRTUAL COUNSELING & NEW MOMS GROUPS NOW AVAILABLE. Our mission at GRASP is to support people in their quest to achieve healthy relationships as individuals, as partners and as parents with their children. Our practitioners are passionate about providing a variety of services with the most up to date research, expertise and care to meet your needs.
We are a collaboration between Alison Kramme, a Clinical Therapist, and Jenny Barron Fishman, a certified childbirth educator and postpartum doula. We work together to enhance the emotional and psychological well being and development of individuals, couples and families through the following services:
New moms group continuing on Google MeetUp to offer psycho-educational sharing and support. Also offering 1 on 1 virtual counseling.
GRASP group is the only new moms group in Chicago facilitated by both a Clinical Therapist and a postpartum doula. This collaboration is unique in providing moms not only a nurturing atmosphere to share experiences but research based knowledge and expert information they can rely on each week to discuss their most pressing parenting concerns. GRASP is also a safe place for women to explore their thoughts, feelings and reactions to becoming a mother, the effect a baby has on a marriage or partnership and ways to maintain a healthy personal identity as well.
Alison and Jenny offer topics to share each week ranging from but not limited to:
Our new moms range from those looking for information and a social connection to those who have been referred to us through other therapists and are seeking additional support for struggles with Post Partum Mood Disorders (including depressive and anxious symptoms) and/or anxiety. Our group approach serves both populations well. Check out the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.
Our goal is to support new moms in enhancing the mother-child bond and empowering mothers. We feel passionate about providing a supportive environment where women can explore the many issues of motherhood, connect with other new moms and get the answers that they are looking for as new parents. We meet for 6-weeks which creates a familiar dynamic that is excellent for sharing and forming relationships.
Grasp group new moms also benefit from email access to both Alison and Jenny for the duration of the group to allow for additional questions and support.
Click here to see a schedule of upcoming sessions and to register.
We hope that you will join us!
Toddlers are fun and full of energy but sometimes difficult for parents to decipher! They have developed enough to have their own ideas and wants, but their language, bodies and emotions are not always able to express these needs and desires in a way we adults understand. To help you navigate the toddler years — from tantrums to toilet training and transitioning to pre-school — we offer lots of great info on toddler behavior, milestones, activities, sleep, and more.
In our experience working with moms, we have found that support is needed during these energetic and emotional toddler years perhaps even more than the infant years, yet there are few resources to meet this need. We created our Moms of Toddler Group to fulfill this need. GRASP is a safe place for women to explore their thoughts, feelings and reactions to being a toddler mom, the effect a toddler has on a marriage or partnership and ways to maintain a healthy personal identity during these busy years.
GRASP is the only moms group in Chicago facilitated by both a clinical therapist and a postpartum doula. This collaboration is unique in providing moms not only a nurturing atmosphere to share experiences but research based knowledge and expert information they can rely on each week to discuss their most pressing parenting concerns.
Our moms range from those looking for information and a social connection to those who have been referred to us through other therapists, or physicians and are seeking additional support. Our group approach serves both populations well.
Our goal is to support moms in enhancing the mother-child bond and empowering mothers. We feel passionate about providing a supportive environment where women can explore the many issues of motherhood, connect with other new moms and get the answers that they are looking for as new parents. We meet for 6 weeks which creates a familiar dynamic that is excellent for sharing and forming relationships.
Grasp group new moms also benefit from email access to both Alison and Jenny for the duration of the group to allow for additional questions and support.
Click here to see a schedule of upcoming sessions and to register.
We hope that you will join us!
Alison Kramme is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who graduated Loyola University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1994. She earned her Master’s in Community Counseling from Loyola University in 1997. Alison received a post-graduate certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy from the Family Institute at Northwestern University.
She worked as the Clinical Director at Youth Organization Umbrella, Inc., a youth service organization, in Evanston for 9 years. She currently is in private practice in Chicago serving individual adults and couples who are struggling with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, life transitions, couples conflict, infertility and intimacy issues. She is married with three children.
Sara Sladoje has a BA in English and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a MS in Child Development from Erikson Institute, a graduate school devoted entirely to that field of study.
She is also a Certified Child Life Specialist through the National Child Life Council who credentials professionals for work with children and families in providing developmental, social/emotional and educational support services particularly in medical and clinical settings.
Sara offers Parenting Solutions and Private family Support regarding:
Whether developmental questions, behavioral concerns or questions regarding the best support for you and your child during a challenging time – Sara is able to provide guidance and ideas to help you and your family understand, cope and learn effective tools for your parent and child needs.
Sara currently presents parenting and child development workshops in the Chicago area and provides private consultations to parents. She continues to study and take extensive coursework in the field and is also the mother of two children.
Jenny Barron Fishman, CMT, E-RYT, ICCE, CIMI, Owner of Sweet Pea’s Studio
Jenny opened Sweet Pea’s Studio, Chicago’s first Family Yoga Studio, in April of 2002. She has been practicing massage therapy for over 25 years, specializing in Bodywork for the Childbearing Year and Craniosacral Balancing. She is a Certified Infant Massage Instructor, specializing in CSB for infants and breastfeeding support and is a Labor Support and Postpartum Doula. Jenny is a leader in the Yoga Community of Chicago, she received her Advanced Yoga Teacher Certification through the Temple of Kriya Yoga in 1997, and created and runs Sweet Pea’s Studio’s 85 Hour, Yoga Alliance Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training. She is an ICEA Certified Childbirth Educator and a CAPPA Breastfeeding Educator. She is a member of ABMP, ICEA, YA and IAIM. Jenny and her husband Scott have two very groovy children. Eve was born in the Spring of 2003 in a “homebirth with a hospital delivery” and they welcomed their son Nathaniel into the family with a beautiful home birth in 2006. Sweet Pea’s Studio was named “best escape for moms and babies” by Chicago Magazine.
As the Director of Sweet Pea’s Studio, Jenny has supported hundreds of women and families on their journeys through pregnancy, birth and new parenting. With warmth, humor and a deep understanding of a multitude of Body/Mind and Holistic Health modalities, Jenny will create Sacred Space for the members of the GRASP Group and their babies. She will guide the Group through Mindfulness and Meditation Practices, Infant Massage Lessons, Gentle Yoga and Body/Mind Awareness for the 4th Trimester and Holistic Parenting Education. She will help facilitate discussions and understanding of Infant Sleep and Nighttime Parenting, reflections on Parenting Influences, and Creating and Sustaining Connections and Community as a New Parent. She will lead the group through Self Care Rituals such as Belly Binding and Closing Ceremonies, and Choosing Nourishing Foods for Recovery and Rejuvenation, all to support the sacred and loving connections to the Postpartum Body and the Power of the Divine Feminine.
Jennifer Biank is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker/Therapist and has a Master of Social Work degree from Loyola University with over 15 years of experience.
When someone makes the choice to enter therapy, they do so with courage and strength. She is honored each time a client is vulnerable and allows her to help them on their journey.
Her approach is based on each client’s unique history as well as their current challenges. Jennifer provides a safe, sacred space where you and her can identify patterns as well as obstacles and find effective solutions for growth and discovery. It is her hope that each of her clients will begin to feel like experts in their own lives.
She has extensive experience in the areas of perinatal mood disorders, trauma, grief, anxiety, depression and life transitions. Everyone deserves the life they envision for themselves and most of us need support and guidance to get there. She encourages you to reach out with a call.
