About Me
My name is Olivia Berkeley and I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Chicago, Illinois. I offer emotion-focused, somatic, and relational psychotherapy that attends to the whole of who you are: your mind, body, and spirit. I support people to make meaning of their suffering, heal hurts from past relationships, and deepen their authentic connection to themselves and others.
Many of my clients have been hurt in relationships and are shedding handed down patterns — people pleasing, perfectionism, emotional avoidance, secret keeping, challenges with intimacy. Others are rediscovering their meaning and purpose after a lifetime of taking care of others and checking boxes. Some are reconstructing their sense of self in the wake of major life transitions and losses.
I specialize in working with individuals who feel stuck in states of anxiety, shame, or guilt. struggle with self-defeating thoughts and behaviors, or have experienced challenging life events or trauma and who find themselves dealing with these stressors in ineffective ways.
As a therapist, my goal is to support my clients to feel more present in their daily lives, move through difficult emotions, find healthier ways of coping with stressors, expand their capacity for self-compassion and acceptance, and show up in the world with greater authenticity, intimacy, and aliveness.
I believe healing happens in relationship. What I offer to you is my presence. My wholehearted trust in you and your capacity to do this work. My commitment to stay with you in moments of pain and tenderness. To not miss a single moment as the truth of who you are is revealed.
Specializations
Complex TraumaDrug & Alcohol AddictionCompulsive BehaviorsToxic ShameAnxietyDepressionDissociationDomestic Abuse & Sexual ViolenceUnderachieving, Overachieving & PerfectionismSelf-EsteemRelationship Issues & CodependencyLife TransitionsSpiritual AbuseSpiritual & Existential Exploration
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
My Approach
The patterns that get imprinted from your earliest relationships don’t just exist in your mind — they live in your body and nervous system. For transformational change to occur, we’ll work at this level together. In action, this looks like:
Feeling into and through emotions and somatic experiences as they arise in the present moment
Identifying, befriending, and liberating abandoned, exiled, and shamed parts
Exploring the connection between your early experiences and your current relational dynamics, beliefs, and behaviors
Naming and challenging entrenched beliefs and judgments
Asking and chewing on big questions like: who am I, really? What sets my heart and soul on fire? What are my deepest longings, hopes, dreams, and visions for my life?
I am particularly energized by experiential therapies — a type of therapy that involves the use of expressive tools and actions like roleplaying, active imagination, and guided imagery to help individuals re-enact and re-experience emotional situations from their past or their relationships — and often utilize this approach in my work.
I have trained in the use of Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), an experiential modality used in the treatment of trauma. I have also completed the Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy introductory workshop, which teaches mindfulness and somatic interventions to heal attachment wounds and developmental trauma. Additionally, I use theory and methodology from other evidence-based modalities such as Internal Family Systems (IFS/parts work), Somatic Experiencing (SE), Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), Polyvagal Theory, and Coherence Therapy in my work with clients.
Acronyms, theory, and training aside, I am first and foremost a trauma therapist. What I’d want you to know about me and my approach is:
No one is fundamentally broken and no one is unable to heal. My work is anchored in this belief.
My sessions tend to be experiential, somatic, and emotion-focused. I combine science and theory with the wisdom of the body. Together, we will slow down, listen to your body, and make room for all the parts of yourself.
My work is relational. We’ll talk about what happens between the two of us — the moments of connection, disconnection, trust, and doubt.
I offer a space of presence where you can be more deeply and directly in touch with the core of who you truly are. I aim to create a warm, compassionate, collaborative, and deeply human space for us to work in.
Background
I have worked with adults, teens, and children in a variety of settings for the past ten years, including K-12 schools, a sexual and domestic violence resource center, and a residential drug and alcohol treatment center. I completed my Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW) at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to becoming a therapist, I taught middle school reading.
For most of my adult life, I have been invested in my own personal healing and therapy. Being a therapist combines some of my greatest loves – psychology, the mystery that is being a human, pursuing personal truth, and deeply connecting with others, to name a few. I find tremendous meaning through contemplative practices, spirituality, and my own personal therapeutic work. I am profoundly grateful for the depth, grounding, and guidance these supports provide me with.
I consider myself a life-long student and am actively engaged in ongoing learning related to trauma, spirituality, interpersonal neurobiology, attachment, mindfulness, and somatic (body-based) therapies.
When I’m not working, I enjoy exploring Chicago on foot, reading literary fiction, eating cheese-flavored snacks, and giving my dog approximately 8,000 kisses a day.