Meet Lillian
Lillian Dunn, LCSW
Philadelphia, PA
Gemini Sun / Leo Moon / Capricorn Rising
she/her
I’m a psychotherapist and cultural organizer in Philadelphia. My mother is Czech and my dad is from Maine, I was born in the Midwest, and I’ve lived in Philly for 20 years. Alongside my first career in arts-based community organizing, I completed a 4-year somatic therapy program and Reiki Mastership in 2018, before attending Smith School for Social Work and graduating with my MSW in 2022.
The mentors who have shaped my thinking and practice over the last 20 years – Ms. Nandi Muhammad, DeAmon Harges, Marlene Keesler, Dr. Ting Liu, Dr. Janina Fisher – model the radical possibility of cultivating connection within conditions of institutionalized oppression, interpersonal exclusion, shame, and fragmentation. They taught me that healing happens in infinite ways: it can look like laughing, humming, talking to ancestors, or making someone a sandwich. They taught me that healership belongs to every person, not just professionals.
With these principles in mind, I support clients in reconnecting with their intuition and unique capacity for self-healership. Using tools from sensorimotor psychotherapy, somatic experiencing, and TIST (Trauma Informed Stabilization Therapy,) I guide clients to have new emotional experiences in session, learning to care for parts of themselves stuck in fear, pain, and self-protection. Somatic work is weird, sometimes scary, but also often pleasurable, surprising, and freeing! I love demystifying somatic therapy, making tools and frameworks accessible so clients feel more confident in listening and responding to themselves.
I work with individuals and couples, and specialize in attachment trauma and ADHD. I treat couples through an Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy lens. My office is at 1518 Walnut Street, and I also see clients virtually.
For more information, visit: lilliandunntherapy.com or psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/lillian-dunn-philadelphia-pa/1187686