Tim Hederman is a Post-Master's Fellow at the Chicago DBT Institute. Tim holds his master's degree in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Gender & Women’s Studies from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. Most recently, Tim has worked at Rogers Behavioral Health in both their Hinsdale and Skokie IOP and PHP programs for adolescents and adults seeking treatment for anxiety, OCD, and depression. There, he engaged in evidence-based CBT, DBT, MI, and BA interventions, as well as psychoeducation and skills training for adolescents, parents, and adults.
Tim received his foundational training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) through Behavioral Tech, as facilitated by Donna Pattie and Rhonda Reitz in 2025. Tim also completed training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Behavioral Activation (BA) during his time at Rogers. In addition to traditional CBT and full-protocol DBT, Tim is also interested in related psychology areas, including Martin Bohus’ work on DBT-PTSD, Peter Fonagy’s work on mentalization, Daniel Siegel’s work on attachment and developmental neuroscience, as well as the social and educational psychologies of Alfred Adler/Rudolf Dreikurs, among other topics!
Prior to his transition to clinical mental health, Tim was a Program Director and Personnel Manager at a PK3–8th grade private Catholic school in the city of Chicago. Here, Tim supervised the training of over 25 staff members and the implementation of several school-wide Social Emotional Learning (SEL) initiatives, including the programmatic utilization of Jane Nelsen’s Positive Discipline. Tim had been a PK–8 educator at schools in both Chicago and St. Louis for over 10 years prior to his experience as Program Director.
Tim believes in the power of DBT and the capacity of all individuals—no matter how much they are presently stuck—to be able to move toward and build their own “life worth living.” Tim is passionate about working with folks who are brand new to DBT or who themselves, too, have long since converted. Tim’s approach is eminently dialectical, embedded in a commitment to validation and respect for clients and their pain, as well as a contagious, energetic enthusiasm for movement and change, based on his own conviction that sound and treatment-adherent DBT provides a reliable and consistent path for effectively navigating beyond one’s current suffering. Tim also understands and honors that DBT is an undertaking and an investment in oneself or one’s family which is seldom taken lightly, and as such seeks to meet all clients wherever they are in the present moment, nonjudgmentally.
A native New Yorker, Tim loves to eat at all the many different restaurants the city of Chicago and greater Chicagoland have to offer. Tim also enjoys: cooking, listening to and playing music, going for runs and working out, reading and learning about history and political economy, seeing movies at the Music Box, yapping with friends and family, hanging out at the beach, and going to the banya for a schvitz!