Our beginnings as Kane County Counseling Services

Our practice was founded as Kane County Counseling Services in January 2018 by Alisha Rybicki Barnum. Before starting her own practice, Ali worked for three years with Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. She spent the next three and a half years providing counseling and therapy as a member of a group practice. While Ali was grateful for these experiences, she decided it was time to branch out on her own.

Ali started her new counseling practice in an office at 311 North 2nd Street in St. Charles, IL. Her office was in a shared suite with other independent practitioners. She loved the space and enjoyed working with her clients there. However, midway through her first year in private practice, Ali’s expanding client base began to outgrow her schedule. To continue to provide quality care to her clients and serve the community, Ali decided it was time to add team members.

In July of 2018, Michelle Wernberg joined the therapy team. As a result, we were in need of additional space, and decided to move to our own private suite of offices in October of 2018. At this time, we also added Coral Pidone to the team. Then, in January of 2019, Andrew Hamilton joined our practice.

As the need for services grows due to increased stressors in our country and community, our practice has worked to keep pace. We now have a team of seven experienced therapists.

Why did we change our name to Barnum Counseling?

As the practice has evolved, we realized we were competing on major search engines with big names such as Kane County Courthouse, Kane County Cougars, Kane County Chronicle.  In October 2018, at the advice of the marketing team, we re-branded. By adding the of Barnum Counseling and marketing as such, we can be found more easily in search engines.  Also, this change has allowed us to set our counseling practice apart from others and build trust and rapport in the community as a best practices counseling center.     

We understand that change can be difficult. Please know that we will continue to provide the same level of care to our individual, couples and family counseling clients. Growing and changing are key parts of our personal development, just as it is for companies. We hope you’ll continue to grow and change with us!