James McClymonds, Psy.D., HSPP

Hi there, I’m Dr. James McClymonds and I run a psychology private practice in downtown Chicago. I am passionate about offering support and guidance within your schedule. Whether you are interested in self-help resources to do at home, coming up with some answers together over a consultation and/or evaluation, or working together in therapy to make long-standing change, I look forward to helping you. I welcome you to call or email with any questions and offer a complimentary phone consultation to develop a preliminary plan to help with whatever you are going through. If I am unable to answer your phone call, I usually return messages within 2 hours on Tuesdays through Saturdays, and at the latest the following morning. Furthermore, I offer fast appointment times, quick evaluation report delivery, and use evidence based brief therapy models so you do not have to wait long for positive results.

Below, I will share information about my experience and what it would be like to work with me to give you an idea of whether we would make a good fit to work together towards your goals. Then the next step to determine goodness of fit is to call and discuss your concerns so that we can come up with a plan together.

Clinical Experience

I am a licensed psychologist with over 10 years of clinical experience in psychotherapy and psychological assessments. I received my doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the Georgia School of Professional Psychology after graduating from the University of Florida and am currently licensed to practice psychology in both Illinois and Indiana. My experience ranges from settings including private practices, a forensic treatment center, community mental health centers, psychiatric hospitals, and outpatient and residential substance abuse treatment centers. Furthermore, I have conducted psychological assessments for adults and children for diagnosis, recommendations, developmental/disability evaluations, neurological and nursing home evaluations, health screening evaluations, addictions treatment, and legal/forensic purposes. I have taught classes at University of Florida and Georgia School of Professional Psychology.  In addition, I have given several lectures in the areas of substance abuse and recovery, forensic evaluations, anger management, relationship skills, stress management, and communication skills. If you would like to view my vitae, please click on the link below to view it on LinkedIn.

Therapeutic Approach

I specialize in Brief Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and Psychological Evaluations. These approaches can best be described as supportive, caring, and practical. They are very effective for solving problems by identifying the factors contributing to the problems, identifying current strengths and building new skills to solve these problems, and then working towards implementing these into your life. Furthermore, these approaches are scientifically shown to be the most efficient towards quickly achieving your goals because they are more focused on what is relevant to your immediate goals. 

A Typical Therapy Session with Me

In a comfortable and supportive atmosphere, I offer a highly personalized approach tailored to your individual needs to help you achieve your goals as quickly as possible. For this reason, therapy sessions with me differ depending on your personal style, situation, and goals. In general though you can expect to discuss the current events happening in your life and your personal history relevant to your presenting concern during the beginning sessions. Expect me to have suggestions to help as I get to know you better. While throughout the process, I will check-in with you for feedback on how you think the progress is going and what your thoughts are on the plan we are implementing to help you reach your goals. Upon request, I can perform a psychological evaluation to provide more immediate answers if you have been to other treatment providers and are not getting the answers you need to move forward.

Psychological Evaluations

          I also offer psychological testing to help determine diagnosis, for treatment recommendations, to determine if there are developmental problems or disabilities, to provide necessary approvals prior to certain medical procedures and psychiatric treatments, to determine the extent or presence of brain damage and dementia, and for legal/forensic purposes. Below is a list of all the evaluations I currently offer:

• Full/Comprehensive Psychological Evaluations
• ADHD Evaluations for Children and Adults
• Behavioral Evaluations for Children with Behavioral Problems

I offer frequent appointment times and quick evaluation report delivery. 

The Benefits of Therapy with Me

          Therapy with me shows very quick results. Based on statistical analysis from my therapy sessions, those who see me for therapy are reaching their goals more often and quicker than those seeing others for therapy on average. Furthermore, I use this data so that I can predict with high likelihood how many sessions it will take you to achieve your goal with me so it does not feel like you are in the dark on how long everything will take. I offer a complimentary phone consultation so you can call me anytime to discuss your situation and create a preliminary plan together with no commitment to schedule an appointment.

          I accept insurance and can coordinate with your insurance provider to verify benefits prior to our first session for your convenience. I'm currently an in-network provider with BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna, Humana/Life Synch, Medicare, and United Behavioral Health/Optum.

Awards

I participated in A Collaborative Outcomes Resource Network (ACORN) for tracking treatment efficiency in 2015 and 2016 and received their ACORN Criteria for Effectiveness (ACE) status each month I was involved in the program, which was only given to the most effective and efficient clinicians as determined by a group of statisticians evaluating client outcomes.