Giving You The Tools
Making Accessible Therapy Illinois a Reality
Mental health care should be geographically and financially accessible to everyone, not just those in urban areas with premium insurance.
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Our Mission: Making Accessible Therapy in Illinois a Reality
Our mission at Montesano Psychological Center is simple but revolutionary: mental health care should be accessible to everyone. As a small practice founded by Dr. Liara Montesano, we exist to prove that accessible therapy in Illinois communities is not only possible but can be delivered with excellence, warmth, and genuine human connection. Lake County residents trust us as their in-network therapist because we believe geographic location and insurance status should never prevent quality mental health care.
Why Our Mission Matters
Traditional mental health systems fail too many people. Large corporate platforms prioritize scale over personal connection. Urban-focused practices leave rural and suburban populations without options. Insurance barriers create financial stress that compounds mental health struggles. Automated systems and algorithmic matching strip away the human touch that makes therapy effective.
Our mission was born from personal experience. Dr. Montesano witnessed her mother struggle to find mental health care in a small town with limited resources. No bilingual therapists were available. The systems that existed felt cold, disconnected, and designed for someone else. That experience revealed a fundamental truth: the people who need mental health care most often face the greatest barriers to accessing it.
We founded this practice to be different. Our mission centers on removing barriers, not creating them. We are a small practice that prioritizes quality over quantity, human connection over corporate efficiency, and genuine accessibility over profit margins.
What Accessible Therapy in Illinois Means to Us
When we talk about accessible therapy Illinois communities need, we mean more than good intentions. Accessible therapy demands concrete action across multiple dimensions: geographic accessibility, financial accessibility, cultural accessibility, and relational accessibility.
Geographic accessibility means bringing care to where people live. As an in-network therapist in Lake County offering virtual teletherapy throughout Illinois, we eliminate the need to drive hours to urban centers. Our clients access quality care from their homes in Antioch, Lake Villa, Grayslake, Fox Lake, and throughout rural northern Illinois. Distance no longer determines whether you can get help.
Financial accessibility means accepting insurance and offering affordable options. We maintain in-network contracts with six major insurance providers including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicaid. Fifty percent of our clients are Medicaid recipients, reflecting our genuine commitment to serving all income levels. For uninsured individuals, we offer reduced cash-pay rates on a limited basis. Our mission is not about maximizing revenue but about maximizing access.
Cultural accessibility means providing services in multiple languages with cultural sensitivity. We offer therapy in English, Spanish, and Hindi because accessible therapy in Illinois truly needs to honor the diversity of the communities we serve. Our therapists understand that mental health care cannot be separated from cultural context, family systems, and lived experience.
Relational accessibility means being genuinely available. When you call our practice at (224) 603-2058, a licensed clinician answers the phone, not a receptionist or automated system. This is our mission in action. Every interaction demonstrates that we care, we understand, and your needs matter.
Rural Mental Health Care: Our Core Focus
Rural mental health care faces unique challenges that urban-focused systems ignore. Geographic isolation, limited local resources, stigma in small communities, lack of specialized providers, and insurance networks that exclude rural areas all create barriers to care.
Our mission specifically targets these rural mental health care gaps. We understand that people in Antioch, Lake County, and throughout rural Illinois should not have to settle for whatever limited options exist locally or drive hours to Chicago for quality care. Virtual therapy brings licensed, supervised, evidence-based treatment directly to rural and suburban communities that have been systematically underserved.
But rural mental health care alone is not enough without excellence. That is why all our therapists work under the clinical supervision of Dr. Liara Montesano, ensuring consistent quality across the team. We offer evidence-based approaches including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, trauma-informed care, and person-centered psychotherapy. Small practice does not mean limited expertise.
The Small Practice Difference
Being a small practice is central to our mission. We intentionally limit our team size and maintain small caseloads because quality care requires genuine capacity to know clients as individuals. Large corporations prioritize efficiency, scale, and profit margins. We prioritize people.
Our small practice model means therapists have time to truly understand your unique situation, develop thoughtful treatment plans, and provide unhurried care. When your therapist is not overwhelmed by massive caseloads, they can be fully present during sessions, respond to between-session needs, and coordinate care with other providers when necessary.
This model also allows flexibility that large practices cannot offer. If your initial therapist match is not quite right, we reassign you without judgment or complicated processes. Finding the right therapeutic fit matters more than our convenience. This flexibility is possible because we are a small team where everyone knows everyone and communication is direct.
Our Mission in Action: In-Network Therapist Lake County Residents Trust
Being an in-network therapist Lake County communities can rely on means more than just accepting insurance. It means handling billing smoothly, verifying coverage proactively, and removing financial stress from the therapeutic process. Our administrative systems are designed to make accessing care as simple as possible.
Our mission extends beyond our own practice. We believe in lifting the entire mental health care ecosystem. We coordinate care with primary care physicians, psychiatrists, and other specialists. We connect clients with community resources. We advocate for policies that improve access to care. Being an in-network therapist in Lake County means being part of a larger solution.
Living Our Mission Every Day
Our mission is not a marketing statement; it is the foundation of every decision we make. When we choose to answer phones with licensed clinicians instead of hiring receptionists, we live our mission. When we maintain small caseloads instead of maximizing patient volume, we live our mission. When we accept Medicaid and offer reduced rates despite lower reimbursement, we live our mission.
We succeed when previously underserved individuals access quality mental health care. We succeed when someone in a small town finds a therapist who understands their cultural background. We succeed when financial barriers no longer prevent someone from getting help. That is what accessible therapy Illinois communities deserve looks like in practice.
Our mission invites you to experience mental health care the way it should be: personal, accessible, evidence-based, and genuinely caring. Small team. Small caseloads. Big care.
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or need immediate support, please visit SAMHSA’s National Helpline or call 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Our services
Comprehensive Holistic Mental Health Treatment
Meet Our Founder
Dr. Liara Montesano, Psy.D
Dr. M as she’s affectionately known views humans beings as having vast amounts of potential that is often diminished by different complications/circumstances. Dr. M’s passion is helping her clients flourish and become the best versions of themselves.
Today, Dr. M works with adults and teens at the Montesano Psychological Center and engages in individual/group/equine assisted psychotherapy. Having a strong background in existential philosophy and person-centered psychotherapy Dr. M’s priority is designing a unique and individualized treatment plan for all those under her care that incorporate the client’s goals and desires for their future and well being rather than her own.
In addition, Dr. M is the Director of Clinical Training at Guada Psychological Services. At Guada she trains and supervises aspiring clinicians in evidence based psychotherapies such as: CBT, ACT, H-E, Person Centered Therapy along with teaching warmth, empathy and genuineness within the therapeutic relationship.
Education and Training
After finishing her BS in Clinical Psychology at Florida State University, Dr. M, completed a Master’s degree and worked in low income communities engaging in home visits and safety checks with the FACT team. Followed by her work in community psychology Dr. M spent two years providing care to individuals with traumatic brain injuries before spending an additional five years of intensive study at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology where she earned her Doctorate. Through this schooling she engaged and trained in health psychology, outpatient care, inpatient care and community psychology at some of the most prestigious and rigorous training sites in the Chicago area such as: Northwestern University’s Family Health Center in Humboldt Park, The Circle Center for Women, Riveredge Hospital and Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
Areas of Expertise
Dr. M provides therapy to individuals who struggle with insecurities, self-doubt, loneliness, obsessive thinking, phobias, depression, anxiety, trauma, ADHD, and many other challenges that compromise their quality of life. Her office offers a place where people can explore themselves and find ways to better cope with their lives without losing what makes them uniquely them. Without imposing any agendas on you, Dr. M will work to meet you where you are at in your journey and act as a guides towards positive treatment outcomes.
