DR. LESLIE SKAISTIS
(She/Her/Hers)
I’m Dr. Leslie Skaistis, a clinical psychologist who has lived and worked in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the past seventeen years. My approach to therapy is relational, psychodynamic, and grounded in the belief that a meaningful and vibrant life looks different for each person. In therapy, we will explore the patterns, emotions, relationships, and experiences that shape your inner world.
Understanding each client’s identities, culture, and worldview is central to my work. I believe emotional suffering does not occur in a vacuum; therapy should make space not only for your individual psychology, but also for the broader systems that influence your well-being.
I provide therapy for adults in Milwaukee and offer telehealth throughout Wisconsin.
My clinical interests include attachment and relationship patterns, existential anxiety, perfectionism, identity development, political estrangement, and helping people cultivate a more authentic sense of self.
I often work well with people who:
- Experience existential dread and anxiety
- Are lacking vitality, zest for life, and a sense of meaning or purpose
- Are curious about how other people experience them and would like to talk about this directly in session
- Want to take control of their life back from anxiety, panic, and OCD
- Find themselves replaying the same limiting and unsatisfying roles in their relationships repeatedly
- Want to stop being perfectionistic
- Have trouble expressing their needs
- Want to process experiences of discrimination, oppression, or marginalization in order to strengthen a sense of agency and self-trust
- Have lost a significant relationship due to political differences
- Women wanting to grow beyond gender roles and expectations
- Men wanting to cultivate a sturdy sense of self in a world that tells them they are either a villain or unnecessary
- Men struggling with anger, shame, loneliness, or confusion related to changing expectations around masculinity and relationships
- Non-binary people who seek to feel at home in themselves, even when the environment around them is not supportive.
My therapy style is flexible
- Psychodynamic
- Relational
- Feminist / multicultural
- Existential
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Interpersonal
- Attachment Based
Education & Training
- Psy.D., Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Clinical Psychology
- M.A., Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Clinical Psychology
- B.A., Hope College, Psychology and Women’s Studies
- Licensed as a clinical psychologist in the state of Wisconsin, license # 2946-057
- Post-Graduate Certificate in Relational Psychodynamic Therapy Contemporary Psychodynamic Institute Completed 2026
Professional Affiliations
- Wisconsin Psychological Association, member
We will spend time dealing with the specific issues that brought you into counseling, while also looking at the nature of your relationships with the significant people in your life.
I will help you become aware of patterns in your thinking, feeling, relating to yourself, and relating to others. We explore the life experiences that set these patterns in motion and how they are showing up in your current life. Often, this unspoken blueprint from childhood is connected to the issues bringing people into therapy, even if they look separate on the surface.
I believe change happens not just as we have new insights but when those insights are connected to new relational experiences. Psychotherapy is a deeply reflective work and differs from a social relationship. I aim to create a therapy space where you can speak openly and explore your thoughts and feelings without pressure to perform, justify, or arrive quickly at solutions. I will share observations, reactions, and patterns I notice in our work together, with the goal of deepening understanding and expanding possibilities for how you relate to yourself and others.
Patterns (such as: being quick to anger, feeling not good enough, fear of judgment, difficulty speaking up when you disagree, etc) that cause problems in life generally will inevitably show up in our therapy relationship as well. We have the unique opportunity to work with those patterns in real time as they are happening, with the goal of increasing emotional flexibility and relational range of motion.
Therapy outcomes are improved when therapy is part of everyday life, not just one hour a week. I often recommend podcasts, books, movies, or music to be food for thought between sessions. In session, we may practice mindfulness, self-compassion exercises, self-parenting, or values clarification that can be continued between sessions.
Finding a good fit between therapist and client is important. I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation so that we can discuss what is bringing you to therapy and how I might help. During this call, I welcome questions about my practice and approach to therapy.
Our first few sessions will be spent discussing your therapy goals. Goals typically have two levels:
Level 1: reducing distressing symptoms and processing painful experiences, for example:
- panic attacks
- worry
- depressed or apathetic mood
- anger outbursts
- social anxiety
- obsessions and compulsions
- addictive behaviors
- suicidal thoughts
- body image issues
- loneliness
- low self-esteem or self-worth
- grief
- trauma and abuse
- Experiences of discrimination, oppression, or marginalization
Level 2: increasing the core capacity to manage the difficulties of being human, including:
- greater self-trust
- more fulfilling relationships
- increased ability to experience oneself without shame and self-criticism
- increased emotional freedom
- more authentic self-expression
- increased capacity to take ownership of one’s life and choices
- ability to self-soothe
- greater capacity to engage in deep and meaningful relationships
- hope