(she/her/hers)
My background:
I am a trauma informed Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) & Certified Perinatal Mental Health Provider (PMH-C) specializing in perinatal mental health and wellness. I support women and their families navigating through their fertility journey, the pregnancy and postpartum period, and throughout their parenthood and reproductive mental health journey from preconception through menopause. My experience in the field of women’s and perinatal mental health spans the past 18 years where I’ve worked in community mental health, hospital settings, advocacy organizations and private practice.
Why I’m a therapist:
Throughout my journey, I’ve had the privilege of working with a diverse group of women and their families. The foremost takeaway is this – people are incredibly resilient. Our resilience is reflected through our growth and the emotional scars we carry with us. In overcoming hardships like trauma, loss, life transitions and the abundant twists, turns and roadblocks life brings our way. It is not in spite of, but because of our struggles that I believe we all have the capacity to flourish and it already lies within each of us.
I know from my own journey of motherhood how incredibly overwhelming and isolating it feels at times. How joy and loss coexist. How the identity shift of becoming a mom is complex and interwoven with our own experiences of being mothered. How crippling the feeling that something bad is going to happen, coupled with nervous energy, that is so akin to postpartum anxiety. It is both a beautiful, brutal journey. You are not alone in yours.
Education & Training:
Emily Heilman is the owner and founder of Flourish Counseling & Wellness, Inc. located in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois & Honolulu, Hawaii. In addition to her clinical role and Founder of Flourish, she is the Advocacy Chair for Postpartum Support International – Hawaii Chapter.
She received a Masters in Social Work & a Masters in Women’s Studies from Loyola University Chicago in 2006 and a Bachelors in English & minor in Women’s and Gender Studies from Indiana State University in 2004. Following graduate school, she continued her training at the Erikson Institute in Infant Mental Health and the Institute for Clinical Social Work studying psychodynamic psychotherapy. Additionally, she has completed Level II Gottman Method training in couples therapy and received specialized training to become a Certified Perinatal Mental Health Provider (PMH-C). Emily’s approach to therapy is trauma informed, strengths based and grounded in relational theory, the foundation of which is based on the notion that mutually satisfying relationships are essential for our emotional well-being.
Areas of Specialization:
As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Certified Perinatal Mental Health Provider (PMH-C), Emily has extensive training and experience in treating Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs). She provides individual, couples and group therapy in the following areas: anxiety disorders, depression, relationship issues, infertility, psychological evaluations for In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and third-party fertility treatments, grief & pregnancy loss, fetal anomalies, birth trauma, transitions to parenthood, parent-child attachment issues, perinatal mood/anxiety disorders and women’s issues across the lifespan.
(312) 659-4718 | contact@flourishcounselingltd.com