What Live Oak does

Live Oak is a privately held, for-profit psychotherapy, training, and consultation practice founded in 2004 by Jeff Levy and Bruce Koff and headquartered at a single Lakeview office in Chicago. The organization delivers identity-centered, affirmative, trauma-informed, and intersectional mental health services to LGBTQIA++ individuals, couples (including triads, polycules, and metamours), families, and groups, alongside psychological testing and spiritual healing services. Core delivery channels are in-person therapy at the Lakeview office, teletherapy, and virtual training, with revenue generated per session at $160 for individual therapy and $255 for couples/family therapy, supplemented by a sliding scale of $35-$155. Approximately 25% of clinician caseload is held on sliding scale, and the Pay It Forward initiative community-funds access for marginalized clients.

The second revenue layer is professional education: Live Oak runs monthly foundational Zoom workshops on trauma-informed, LGBTQ-affirmative, and intersectional practice with CEUs accredited via a partnership with Centered Therapy Chicago, plus bespoke workplace training and clinical consultation for organizations. A postgraduate Founders' Fellowship ($42,000-$45,000 annual compensation plus benefits) historically trained pre-licensed clinicians but has been suspended for the 2026-2027 cycle pending redesign. Content marketing assets include 40+ published clinical articles, a blog, an email newsletter, social channels, and the 'Lessons from the Couch' podcast. Underlying technology is conventional practice-management software and EHR with telehealth delivery; AI is used only for podcast transcription and is statutorily prohibited from client-facing use under Illinois law.

Live Oak is a small organization of 11-50 employees with no external funding, no parent company, and no subsidiaries. Leadership is CEO Corina Teofilo Mattson (Clinical Director) with co-founders Levy and Koff retaining strategic involvement. Operations are licensed under Illinois License Number 268.000085. Customer base is a long tail of self-referred individual therapy clients plus SMB-segment professional training buyers; no enterprise anchor concentration is disclosed.

Name

Live Oak

Legal name

Live Oak Chicago

Website

https://liveoakchicago.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Live Oak is a Chicago-based psychotherapy, training, and consultation practice serving LGBTQIA++ individuals, couples, families, and groups with identity-centered, trauma-informed care, plus CEU workshops and workplace training for organizations and clinicians.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Psychotherapy Services: Individual, couples, family, and group therapy sessions billed at $160-$255 per session for full fee, with sliding scale options from $35-155. Accepts Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO and some university health plans. Out-of-network billing support for other insurance providers.
2. Clinical Training Programs: Monthly workshops and training sessions for mental health professionals offering CEUs. Topics include trauma-informed practice, LGBTQ affirmative practice, and intersectional practice.
3. Postgraduate Fellowship: One-year paid fellowship program at $42,000-$45,000 salary for pre-licensed clinicians. Includes benefits (health, vision, dental, 401K) and comprehensive training.
4. Workplace Training and Consultation: Organizational training and clinical consultation services for businesses and organizations seeking to support employee mental health.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Live Oak is a Chicago-based psychotherapy practice delivering identity-centered, LGBTQIA++ affirmative, trauma-informed individual, couples, family, and group therapy, psychological testing, and spiritual healing services. It also runs monthly clinical trainings with CEUs, workplace consultation, a postgraduate Founders' Fellowship, and a graduate internship program, all grounded in intersectional, anti-oppressive clinical practice.

Product overview

Live Oak is a community of diversely identified humans offering psychotherapy, consultation, and training services to enhance emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being. The core service is Psychotherapy, supplemented by Training and Consultation, Psychological Testing, and Spiritual Healing Services. Additional offerings include the Founders' Fellowship Program for postgraduate clinical training, a Graduate Internship Program, the Lessons from the Couch Podcast for educational content, and the Pay It Forward Initiative for sliding-scale access. The organization also publishes clinical articles and resources. All services are delivered through an identity-centered, LGBTQIA++ affirmative, trauma-informed, and intersectional practice framework.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Psychotherapy Services Identity-centered, affirmative, trauma-informed psychotherapy delivered in-person at the Lakeview office in Chicago and via teletherapy, serving individuals, relationships (triads, polycules, couples), families (chosen and biological), and groups. Sessions priced at $160 (individual) and $255 (couples/family) at full fee, with sliding scale from $35–$155.
• Training and Consultation Clinical training workshops and organizational workplace support services, including monthly foundational trainings in trauma-informed practice, LGBTQ affirmative practice, and intersectional practice, with CEUs available for licensed social workers, marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, and psychologists in Illinois.
• Psychological Testing Psychological assessment and testing services provided to individuals, with a goal of offering free testing batteries to marginalized individuals through community-funded Pay It Forward contributions.
• Spiritual Healing Services Services addressing the spiritual well-being and healing needs of individuals, families, and communities, integrated within Live Oak's psychotherapy and consultation offerings.
• Founders' Fellowship Program One-year postgraduate fellowship for individuals with master's or doctoral degrees in social work, clinical counseling, or related helping professions, providing intensive training in LGBTQ affirmative practice, trauma-informed care, and intersectional practice, with approximately 48–50 individual supervision hours and 70–75 group supervision hours per fellowship year.
• Graduate Internship Program Annual graduate-level internship opportunities for students in social work, counseling, and related helping professions, providing clinical training, supervision, and hands-on experience in affirmative practice.

Quantifiable outcome

• Monthly CEU trainings in trauma-informed practice, LGBTQ affirmative practice, and intersectional practice for mental health professionals
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Centered Therapy ChicagocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to provide continuing education units (CEUs) for psychologists. Centered Therapy Chicago accredits Live Oak's monthly training programs for professional counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and psychologists licensed in Illinois.
• Future of CitiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to advance the PHJAX development project, a multimillion-dollar initiative in Springfield focused on transforming historic buildings and creating new development sites. Marks the formal launch of collaboration to move the project forward.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Centered Therapy Chicago: Chicago-based psychotherapy practice and Live Oak's CEU accreditation partner. Operates in the same metro with overlapping identity-centered, affirming therapy offerings and trains similar clinician audiences.
• Pride Counseling: Online therapy platform purpose-built for the LGBTQ+ community, matching clients with affirming therapists. Directly competes with Live Oak's teletherapy arm for the same target demographic.
• Open Path Psychotherapy Collective: National nonprofit network of therapists offering sessions at $30-$80 for under-resourced clients. Competes with Live Oak's sliding-scale therapy offering for cost-sensitive LGBTQ+ and marginalized clients.
• Two Chairs: Multi-location modern therapy practice combining in-person and teletherapy with a focus on therapist-client matching. Comparable in size, multi-modality service model, and target on working professionals.

Regional players

• Howard Brown Health: Chicago-based LGBTQ+ health center where Live Oak's co-founders previously helped build the affirmative-practice training program. Overlaps on LGBTQ-affirming mental health services in the same metro.
• Chicago Center for Family Health: University of Chicago-affiliated family therapy center where co-founder Bruce Koff previously worked and which co-created the original LGBTQ affirmative training program with Live Oak's founders.

Emerging players

• Charlie Health: Virtual intensive outpatient and mental health program for adolescents and young adults, including LGBTQ+ clients. Competes with Live Oak for identity-affirming therapy demand, especially younger demographics.

Broad incumbents

• BetterHelp: Largest online therapy platform with broad therapist network including LGBTQ-affirming providers. Competes on convenience, price, and insurance integration against Live Oak's teletherapy offering.
• Talkspace: Public online therapy and psychiatry platform with insurance partnerships and an LGBTQ-affirming provider network. Competes with Live Oak's teletherapy arm on accessibility and enterprise contracts.
• Headspace: Broad mental health platform combining self-guided content, coaching, and therapy. Adjacent to Live Oak's services and competes for employer-sponsored mental health benefits budgets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/liveoakchicago
• Instagraminstagram.com/liveoakchicago
• Xx.com/liveoakchicago

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Live Oak