President
Advocacy Counseling Center
Crystal Lake, IL, United States
Dr. Willa Wertheimer is a Chicago Native, a graduate of DePaul University with a Psychology Major and Spanish Minor. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at The Illinois School of Professional Psychology. She began her thirty + years of service in Englewood's Chicago Bureau of Mental Health and The Chicago-Read Hospital, both areas serving marginalized and at-risk populations. Whilst leading eating disorders groups, she saw the correlations with trauma, and started leading groups for survivors of abuse and trauma. She quickly developed an interest in working with the issues of trauma, abuse and combat. After joining the ISSTD, she became a regular presenter and educator, and has served on the Board of Directors for 5 years. She is a recipient of the ISSTD President’s Award of Distinction, The Distinguished Achievement award, and was confirmed as a Fellow to the ISSTD. She has co-presented at ISSTD Annual Conferences since 2009 on topics ranging from phase-oriented therapy to neurological underpinnings of clinical presentations in the Triphasal treatment model, to work related to the treatment of self-harm. In 2010, she and her husband Ed Groenendal founded The ISSTD Northwest Illinois Component Group, a study group which meets each month. Along the way, they have contributed a guided interview, The System Assessment of Self-Harm (SASH), for helping self-harming clients with dissociation. They expect to write an article on the SASH for The Journal of Trauma and Dissociation. Both Ed and Willa enjoy the fellowship and shared ideas of learning communities. Dr. Wertheimer “keeps one foot in the light” by enjoying oil painting, cooking and traveling.
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Thursday, April 13, 2023
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM US Eastern Time