JOLIET, IL, August 20, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Elizabeth Smedley Ormes, LCPC, has been selected for inclusion in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Ms. Ormes currently serves as the owner of Actualizing Your Best Self PLLC, a mental health therapy practice she established in 2025 in Will County, Illinois. In this role, she manages all aspects of practice operations, including providing direct mental health therapy services, conducting client intakes, billing and administrative paperwork. She also facilitates a newly launched life coaching group program through her complementary business, Actualizing Your Best Self Coaching LLC, which she founded in 2026. Although licensing requirements necessitate that the two entities remain legally distinct, she views them as interconnected components of a holistic approach to client well-being. Her therapy practice focuses on addressing challenges rooted in past experiences and current limitations, while her coaching services help clients move forward once they have gained clarity about their goals and overcome self-limiting beliefs.
As a solo entrepreneur, Ms. Ormes is responsible for all the facets of her businesses, from marketing to service delivery. She sees clients both virtually and in person at a shared office space in partnership with the Center for Wellness and Bodyworks, collaborating with independent practitioners such as mental health providers, chiropractors and acupuncturists. Her caseload primarily consists of adults navigating significant life transitions, including midlife women adjusting to children leaving home and individuals considering career changes. Additionally, she works with families dealing with complex adjustments, particularly adolescents adapting to living across two households after parental separation.
Prior to launching her private practice, Ms. Ormes held several roles at non-profit, State and Federal program agencies in Illinois and throughout the United States over nearly three decades of service. Ms. Ormes proudly worked for one of Will County, Illinois oldest social service agencies, Guardian Angel Community Services from 2014 until 2025. From 2020 to 2025, she served as counseling supervisor for the foster care program, overseeing other counselors and providing direct service work with children and parents focused on family reunification. Ms. Ormes worked in several roles, including serving in the Administrative Department, the Groundwork Domestic Violence Program, and the Prevention Education and Advocacy Services during her decade-long service to Guardian Angel. Ms. Ormes sought to support the agency's mission, vision, and values by volunteering in multiple roles beginning in November 2013, and she was an enthusiastic supporter of its work. She began volunteering in the development department, sorting donations for program participants and fundraisers, conducted prevention education by visiting schools to teach Erin's Law (Child Sexual Abuse Prevention), safe touch concepts and the importance of identifying safe adults for children, and picked up donations and went on hospital calls to support the work of the domestic violence emergency shelter. Her responsibilities continued to expand and she moved from volunteer to relief support, to part-time, and then full-time employee, learning many roles and responsibilities while at Guardian Angel Community Services, until she decided to embark on a new adventure by operating her own private practice mental health and coaching businesses.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Ormes worked as a rehabilitation counselor for the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2003 to 2005, helping veterans with disabilities adjust to changes in their functioning while pursuing active lives. Between 2001 and 2004, she was coordinator of employment services at the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago, where she supported individuals with severe physical limitations due to seizure disorders and educated employers about workplace accommodations. Her professional journey began as a rehabilitation teacher and counselor for the Michigan Commission for the Blind in Escanaba from 1998 to 2001. She assisted individuals who were blind or visually impaired in adapting psychologically and physically to changes in vision, due to age and catastrophic vision loss.
Throughout her career, Ms. Ormes has developed recognized expertise in complex trauma, identity, and self-understanding — particularly in how these factors influence behavior and self-perception in the present moment. She maintains professional relationships with psychiatric nurse practitioners and other mental health professionals for referrals and collaborative care.
Academically, Ms. Ormes' background includes a Master of Arts in rehabilitation counseling from the Counseling Psychology and Counseling Education Department at Western Michigan University and a Master of Arts in rehabilitation teaching from the Department of Blind Rehabilitation at Western Michigan University. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and women's studies from the University of Michigan. Furthering her expertise, she holds several professional certifications, including being licensed as a clinical professional counselor and a domestic violence professional. She also remains active in several industry organizations, such as the American Counseling Association, the Illinois Mental Health Association, and the Illinois Counseling Association, where she serves as president-elect of the Northwest Suburban Chapter.
In addition to her professional pursuits, Ms. Ormes has demonstrated civic engagement through volunteer roles with Beautifully EmpowHERed in Naperville beginning in 2026, service within the financial department and council membership at Plainfield Congregational Church United Church of Christ and earlier volunteer work with Guardian Angel Community Services from November 2013 to 2017.
Ms. Ormes' personal philosophy centers on a three-part framework: maintaining self-awareness regarding internal experiences, staying focused on personal goals and values and setting clear boundaries about when to pursue or decline opportunities based on alignment with those values. She is proudest on a personal level of supporting her two children as they transition into young adulthood — an achievement highlighted by her youngest child's recent high school graduation and enrollment in junior college. In her free time, she enjoys crafting metal trees adorned with semiprecious stones, which she gives away as gifts.
Professionally, Ms. Ormes considers founding her own businesses as her most significant accomplishment. In the upcoming years, she is dedicated to building a community for neurodivergent women in midlife who feel disconnected or disenfranchised by society's expectations. Her goal is to create a safe space where these women can connect authentically without pressure to maintain external personas — an effort that remains central to her ongoing work supporting women navigating similar experiences. She wants to dismantle the dichotomy of work and life being separate and instead showcase diversity in each person for who they truly are in all facets of life.
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Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. The suite of Marquis® publications, including Who's Who in America® and Who's Who in the World®, remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the globe. Marquis® publications can be viewed at the official Marquis Who's Who® website, www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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