Worth the Wait: Finding the Right Path Where Passion Turns into a Career
It was while Emily Litovchenko (M.S. CLIC ’26) was working at therapeutic clinic program in Chicago that provided a whole range of resources—including a full complement of therapists and social workers—to its preschool- and kindergarten-age students with disabilities that they began to think about the families who didn’t have access to the unique setup that a school such as the one that they were working at offered its students.
“The most traditional route is to find a physical therapist and then find an occupational therapist and then find a speech therapist and then find a social worker and then find a behavior therapist and navigate all of that to schedule with all these people, take their kids to all these different appointments, and keep up with all these different therapies,” Litovchenko says. “That’s on top of working or taking care of other children—or just existing. I distinctly remember having that realization, ‘That’s way too much for a person.’”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Nebraska in 2021, Litovchenko didn’t rush into their next step. They returned home to the Chicago area in north suburban Skokie and began working in special education as a paraprofessional, ultimately ending up at Blue Bird Day, the therapeutic clinic in the city.
Their experience at Blue Bird Day led them not only to their realization about the difficulty for children with disabilities and their families to get the therapeutic support that they need but also provided clarity on what their next step would be.
They realized that they want to help fill that gap in access to therapeutic services for both the children with disabilities and their families. That led Litovchenko to learn about rehabilitation counseling and, ultimately, to the M.S. in Clinical Counseling program at Illinois Tech, from which they will graduate on May 16.
“I really have appreciated my time in the program. All the professors are truly dedicated to the work,” says Litovchenko, who was named a recipient of the university’s 2026 Clinton E. Stryker Award for their “distinguished contribution to campus life.” “They are all rehabilitation counselors themselves, so they come from it not only with an educational background but also that lived, worked experience working in the field. And they all deeply care, and I think that is something that’s really special about the program. It builds a pretty tight-knit community.”
Their cohort of 10 to 20 students has been a resource that Litovchenko has relied on and help lead during what has been a busy two years in the program. During their time at Illinois Tech, Litovchenko has been active as a leader in the university’s chapter of the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association, worked to develop resources to help autistic, transition-age students with general skills as they prepare to head to college during a research project with Professor of Psychology Nicole Ditchman, and took on more and more responsibility during their clinical internship experiences.
As a United States Rehabilitation Services Administration scholar, Litovchenko received a grant that covers 75 percent of their tuition. But it also requires them to intern with the government agency, which they do at its office in Chicago’s Humbolt Park neighborhood. At the same time, Litovchenko is passionate about also serving as an intern with Josselyn, a nonprofit community health provider that serves Chicago’s north suburbs.
“A part of counseling education is to go out into the field and really learn to put the skills that we’ve been learning for a year into practice and to slowly be able to build up to a clinically practicing standard of competence. That has been really meaningful,” says Litovchenko, the recipient of the Department of Psychology’s Outstanding Student Award in April 2026. “I mainly have been at Josselyn. I’m incredibly grateful that I’ve been able to intern for an organization that I truly do believe in. They really stand by their mission, which is mental health for all.”
Litovchenko will continue to work at Josselyn after graduation as a clinical therapist and an employment specialist. They will provide clinical therapy to patients in addition to helping them find jobs and prepare for interviews.
And while their goal remains the same as it was two years ago—to work with autistic children and, particularly, their families, with the goal to ensure that both the child and the family receive the help that they need—Litovchenko is thankful for both the path that they have chosen and how they got here.
“I’m really grateful that I gave myself multiple years to navigate and figure out what I wanted to do and figure out what called to me. And I’m always going to be grateful that [the M.S. in Clinical Counseling] program exists, that I was able to pursue something that I’m deeply passionate about,” they say. “It was huge to be able to stay near my family. I grew up in an immigrant household, so it is very, very important being able to be interconnected and to see my family. That has always been a huge value of mine.
“I’m very appreciative that this is how my path went.”
