Nancy R. Soro, Ph.D.
Nancy R. Soro, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been practicing in the Chicago area for almost thirty years. She has provided psychological evaluation and treatment services to adults, adolescents, children, and families in medical, educational, correctional, and private practice settings. She has experience in assessing and treating a wide range of patient presentations and varied disorders, including anxiety, depression, trauma/PTSD, substance use disorders and health-related conditions.
Dr. Soro believes psychotherapy can help people create more psychological space in which to live, by developing a new perspective on the difficulties they face in their lives. Her goal is to help people embrace their potential to live a full and satisfying life, despite the challenges they face. She is sensitive to individual differences related to factors such as culture, race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religious tradition, environment, and military experience. In conducting evaluations and providing psychotherapy she approaches each client as an individual and tailors the treatment to that individual’s needs. Because of her extensive experience in various settings, she is able to adjust her approach and utilize the best interventions for particular concerns, which include but are not limited to cognitive behavioral, mindfulness-based, motivational interviewing, trauma-focused, and insight-oriented techniques.
Much of Dr. Soro’s work has involved interventions to improve motivation for health behavior change, whether it was for medication compliance, reducing substance use or improving eating and exercise behaviors. She has also worked extensively with individuals and their families who needed support and intervention in handling difficult and often life-threatening diagnoses and conditions such as HIV, cancer, stroke, paraplegia, diabetes, obesity and substance abuse, as well as physical and sexual trauma. In some cases, this work has included end of life care for patients and their families/caregivers, and grief and loss interventions for survivors.
In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Soro has provided training, clinical supervision and education for clinical psychology, social work and medical students, as well as consultation to physicians and other health providers. In her past positions she has also supervised and provided didactic presentations to medical students and residents rotating through the psychiatry consultation/liaison, medicine, pediatric, and infectious disease inpatient services; and in outpatient clinics, where she functioned as a co-supervisor with the attending physicians.
Dr. Soro is the former Chief Clinical Psychologist and Training Director at the Sheriff’s Women’s Justice Programs at the Cook County Jail, a gender-specific diversion program that provides comprehensive assessment and treatment of women with mental health and substance abuse disorders. She also served as the Director of Mental Health Services for the Women and Children’s HIV Program at Cook County Hospital (now John H. Stroger Jr., Hospital).
Dr. Soro is a graduate of Loyola University of Chicago, where she earned masters and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology. Dr. Soro recognizes the importance of staying abreast of the latest research and findings. Therefore, she regularly takes advanced training classes and incorporates this information in her work. Dr. Soro is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Illinois Psychological Association.