Therapy is a brave and vulnerable undertaking. I hold this with the utmost respect as you come
to me with your needs and longings.
I believe that everyone, given the right support, has the capacity to heal. I am humbled and
motivated by the healing I have thus far witnessed in my career.
I will partner with you to create a safe space in which we can together understand and explore
the dynamics at play in your life. My work is grounded in an understanding of the neurobiology
of attachment; lasting change happens when you are in a compassionate connection with a safe
other. Together we will hold and honor that your distress can be understood in the context of
your life story, some of which was not of your doing.
I will support you in working through your experience in a manageable way, so that you can
track and feel the changes you are seeking. I believe that the goal of therapy is not just to
alleviate symptoms, but to live a life of greater enlivenment in the present.
Trauma focused case consultation group in Oak Park
This in-person, closed group meets for 90 min/month throughout the academic year. We use
the support of community to explore trauma-informed practice. Using a trauma-informed lens
and supplemental readings, which focus on current research and theory in trauma and
attachment and its application to clinical practice, we deepen into treating complex trauma.
First Fridays of the month: 9:30–11:00am, September–June. $75/month.
New applicants welcome to join us this fall, beginning September 6, 2024.
I have a background in individual outpatient treatment, couples and family work, and treatment
within the medical setting, including working with parents who have adopted children, and with
parents during and after their children’s hospitalizations in a neonatal intensive care unit
(NICU).
I draw from over 20 years of clinical practice in my treatment approach, and work from an
integrative model of both relational approaches and body-centered interventions, to provide
trauma-informed care.
I work with clients who struggle with anxiety, racing thoughts, depressed mood, conflict in
relationships, chronic pain, difficulty regulating in relationship, trouble with intimacy,
parenting concerns, ambivalence about certain aspects of their lives and more. I specialize in
the treatment of complex trauma and dissociative disorders.
My approach to couples work prioritizes helping you foster increased emotional safety within
your relationship. This can take the form of helping you with your communication style,
growing your capacity to tolerate and discuss difficult topics, struggles with intimacy,
parenting, life planning and more. Our work together will be grounded in helping you and your
partner stay present and regulated enough for meaningful and lasting change.
I enjoy working with both individuals and couples.
For Professionals
In addition to therapy, I provide clinical consultation to other therapists, developing
clinicians, and to organizations, helping them integrate trauma-informed, present-oriented,
and body-centered practices into their work.
I receive consistent feedback that I am a knowledgeable, relatable and engaging presenter and
facilitator. I enjoy providing presentations/workshops on many topics, including:
Trauma-informed therapy
Incorporating body-centered techniques into your relational/psychodynamic practice
The Power of Presence: self-regulation as one of your greatest tools as a therapist
Understanding dissociation: how to track it and what you need to know to ethically treat it
in your practice
Self-regulation and self-soothing: strategies for attuned parenting
Mindfulness and self-regulatory capacity in therapy
Window of Tolerance: assessment and framing from a trauma-informed treatment approach
I facilitate Integrated Practices for Healing from Trauma (IP) groups for clients throughout
the year. These trauma groups focus on understanding the neurobiological effects of trauma,
traumatic activation and body-centered practice that supports healing. I also offer workshops
for clinicians looking to understand the work of IP and deepen their own capacities for
presence through the practices, to provide trauma-informed care.
Trauma-Informed Care
Traumatic events of the past, often live on in the body and mind, and impact the capacity to
be present to life in a satisfying way. Trauma disrupts central nervous sytem regulation and
capacity for embodiment. Sometimes folks end up feeling like they are re-experiencing
something similar to what happened then, as if it’s happening now, even when it isn’t. The
body has ingenious ways of adapting to overwhelming experience in an attempt to survive; the
trouble is that in the present, these very strategies that were so helpful back then, often
have costs that are too big now.
Trauma treatment is grounded in working in the present moment. It helps folks reconnect to
their internal experience in safe ways through manageable, modulated work regulating central
nervous system arousal. Trauma-informed care helps bring folks from functioning in survival
mode into a life that has room for connection, flexibility, and even joy.
The therapist’s capacity for compassionate stance and presence in their own body in each
session is imperative. Trauma-informed care also holds an awareness of power differentials in
the therapy space, the role of different identities and cultural perspectives, and that
oppression exists in our society in many forms—including racial trauma, anti-fat culture,
misogyny and bias and hate toward sexuality and gender. It acknowledges that some folks are
not safe in the present moment—that trauma can be in one’s past and in one’s present.
Acknowledging the impact of oppression through the life story is crucial to validating and
working with the reality that human suffering is most always created by harm from the outside.
Trauma-informed care holds the entirety of your story, as it is held in your narrative and in
your body, with exquisite care.
Contact Me
You can contact me via phone at (708) 689-3041 or email:
meghanreillylcsw@gmail.com. Please be aware
that email is not a confidential means of communication and consider this as you communicate
with me. I will make every effort to keep emailed information private; however, very personal
information is best shared by phone, on paper, or in person.
Mission Statement
My practice is grounded in a commitment to ethical mental health treatment across a wide range
of presenting concerns, with a speciality in the treatment of trauma. This includes an ongoing
commitment to deconstructing implicitly held biases and acknowledging the impact of systems of
oppression and the harm and suffering they cause individuals, families and communities. My
practice seeks to contribute to the growth of a more compassionate humanity, where each of us
has equitable access to resources (including anti-oppressive mental health treatment) for a
life of presence with joy.
