Amy Zajakowski Uhll, LCPC
CCIH Director
Amy Zajakowski Uhll, LCPC
CCIH Director
773.754.7441 X 2011
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Amy Zajakowski Uhll is the founder and director of the Chicago Center for Integration and Healing. For more than 30 years, Amy has been committed to exploring the harm caused by traumatic experiences. She helps individuals discover their own unique journey toward healing and supports other therapists in their work with trauma.
Amy spent the early years of her career working in community mental health. Her experience there deepened her awareness that there is no single approach that can treat all of human suffering, and she began her career-long interest in integrating body-centered and neurobiological approaches with more relational and developmental work. She specializes in complex and developmental trauma and dissociative disorders.
In 2011, Amy founded CCIH as part of her ongoing mission to create a community centered around the treatment of trauma. At CCIH, Amy had a lead role in creating the center’s treatment philosophy, therapist training programs and Integrated Practices curriculum. In addition, she has created and facilitated many professional development workshops and offered trauma-informed training and consultation to individual therapists, group practices, social service agencies and other groups.
Amy understands that trauma reverberates at all levels of human experience: the individual, relational, communal and societal. She supports therapists as they interrogate their own history of wounding, implicit biases and present experience in the development of their own authentic approach to healing work. She holds that the healing of traumatic experiences is an essential agent of social change.
Amy is originally trained in psychodynamic treatment and graduated with her Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University in 1991. She also completed the Level 1 Training for the Treatment of Trauma (2006) and Level II Emotional Processing, Meaning Making and Attachment Repair (2018), through the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute of Boulder, CO.
Articles written by Amy Zajakowski Uhll, LCPC
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Seeing Suicidal Ideation through a Trauma-Informed Lens
“I don’t want to be here anymore.” These words strike fear in the hearts of all therapists. They remind us of the reality that pain may be so deep and pervasive that someone would think of ending their life. They also raise questions of our legal and moral responsibility for the lives of others. The…
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Food, The Body, and Trauma and Attachment
The Body Isn’t the Problem; it’s the answer. – Rachel Lewis-Marlow In our CCIH Study Group in August we decided to change up our usual routine and discuss a podcast. We choose Food, The Body, and Trauma and Attachment with Guests Paula Scatoloni & Rachel Lewis-Marlow from the Therapist Uncensored podcast series. I have often…
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The Politics of Mental Health
As therapists we cannot deny that our work, our clients, and ourselves are directly impacted by the context in which we live. The work we practice daily in our offices is affected by the political systems around us–systems that often have been oppressive to the most vulnerable in our communities. Bessel van der Kolk poignantly…
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CCIH Welcomes Deb Dana
CCIH is pleased to welcome Deb Dana June 28-29 for Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation: A Polyvagal Theory Guided Approach to Therapy. During this two-day, experiential workshop, Deb Dana will share her Polyvagal Theory guided approach to therapy. Watch an interview with Deb Dana for David Van Nuys, Phd’s Shrink Wrapped Radio podcast.
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“Why Don’t You like CBT (Cognitive behavior therapy)?”
An innocent question – asked of me by a client in a recent session. “Because it is only cognitive and accessing other parts of experience are essential for healing” was my brief reply. But I found myself thinking more about the question later… I have been a practicing therapist, specializing in the treatment of…
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CCIH Study Group
In the CCIH Study Group, we have decided to read The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation for our next book together. The work of Stephen Porges has been fundamental to our growing understanding of the effects of trauma on our brains and central nervous systems. In her book Deb Dana takes…
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Trauma Outside the Box
These days we hear more and more about services and programs that call themselves “trauma-informed”. I often find myself curious about what that actually means. When we use the word trauma, we are calling to mind the worst of what we as human beings suffer and do to one another. The consequences of trauma occupy…
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Embodied Practices: A Day of Collaborative Reflection
Thank you! This was a resourcing, positive experience in a supportive and nurturing format. I am leaving with more energy and inspiration to make work the best for myself and clients. — Embodied Practices workshop participant …
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Trauma Brain Project
The Trauma Brain Project is a beautifully written, beautifully performed play about the powerful effects of childhood trauma and the incredible wisdom of the body in the healing process https://www.thetraumabrainproject.com. I had the honor of participating in the expert panel discussion after the performance last night. I was again moved by the performance and grateful…
