AUTHOR

Iris Waichler MSW, LCSW

she/her

Licensing & Certifications:

Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Masters in Social Work

Professional Background

Iris Waichler has been a medical social worker and patient advocate for over 40 years. Her work has focused on patients with catastrophic illnesses and providing psychological assessments, discharge planning, and counseling for patients and family members in emergency rooms. Ms. Waichler has done extensive individual, family, and group counseling, offering therapy and support to patients and their family members. Her current areas of focus are infertility, aging, caregiving, grief and loss, and death and dying.

Ms. Waichler is currently doing workshops, podcasts, and webinars focusing on caregiving, aging, grief and loss, and infertility. She works with a variety of agencies, podcasters, and companies wanting to educate and support individuals as they work on these topics. She uses individual counseling, family systems theory, and psychoeducational counseling to support, train, and educate the people. Ms. Waichler’s focus is to help them understand and cope with their identified problems and issues. She views herself as a patient and family advocate. She believes counseling and education can empower people. She finds that when people are battling these issues, understanding they are not alone in their feelings and learning coping techniques and dynamics can help them begin to heal, have clarity, express their emotions, and utilize effective coping strategies.

Ms. Waichler was a member of a multidisciplinary treatment team working with patients in a physical medicine and rehabilitation unit. She was also the director of medical social work at a large hospital in the Chicagoland area. She was a social worker on a psychiatric unit and also at a hospital specializing in geriatrics. Ms. Waichler supervised social work students from all the social work schools in the Chicagoland area. She has done multiple workshops and webinars on infertility. She has also done individual and group counseling with people battling infertility.

Professional Affiliations:

National Association of Social Workers

Education:

Bachelors of Arts from the University of Iowa
Masters in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Iowa

Areas of Focus

Iris Waichler specializes in supporting individuals dealing with infertility, aging, caregiving, grief and loss, and the processes of death and dying. She uses a blend of individual counseling, family systems theory, and psychoeducational counseling to facilitate understanding, coping, and healing.

Iris Waichler’s areas of focus include:

Working with individuals and couples with infertility diagnoses
Working with individuals, couples, and families who have been given a catastrophic medical diagnosis, such as a progressive or degenerative medical condition.
Working with individuals, families, and groups who have been given a terminal medical diagnosis.
Providing counseling to caregivers of loved ones with long-term medical diagnoses
Providing trauma-informed counseling for anxiety, emotional regulation, relationship concerns, grief, and loss.
Working with individuals who have long-term diagnoses like depression, compassion fatigue, or anxiety
Working with caregivers experiencing guilt and burnout

Books & Papers

Role Reversal: How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Aging Parents

Buy on Amazon

Riding the Infertility Roller Coaster: A Guide to Educate & Inspire

Buy on Amazon

Featured Articles

Caregiver Guilt Causes, Getting Help & Ways to Cope

Caregiver Guilt: Causes, Getting Help, & How to Cope

Caregiver guilt occurs frequently because caregivers' self expectations are often unrealistic, and usually cannot be successfully met. Determining how to accurately reassess your abilities and create a healthy balance in your life can alleviate the emotional pain guilt creates. Many caregivers find talking with a therapist can help with this process and manage the emotions of caregiving.

February 16, 2024

Compassion Fatigue: Causes, Signs, & Ways to Cope

Compassion fatigue encompasses the emotional, mental, and physical effects of caretaking on individuals. Those providing ongoing, direct support to others in crisis often internalize their empathy for an extended period, sometimes resulting in feelings of hopelessness, irritability, and emotional exhaustion. Anyone may experience compassion fatigue, but therapists, healthcare providers, and first responders are at a higher risk.

February 21, 2024

Unresolved Grief: What Causes It & How to Process

December 1, 2023

Coping With a Terminal Illness: 17 Tips

Many people who have a terminal illness struggle with how their impending death will impact their loved ones or how they will use their remaining time. A therapist can help guide the patient and their family through grief.

October 19, 2023

“Coping with a serious, life-changing medical or mental health diagnosis can feel overwhelming and immobilizing. This is true for both the patient and their loved ones. Therapy is a great place to discuss and understand your feelings about it openly. It is also a place to learn how to understand, manage, and cope with its impact on your life and relationships.”

Headshot of Iris Waichler, LCSW Iris Waichler, MSW, LCSW