{"id":116201,"date":"2023-01-13T09:37:05","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T15:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/?p=116201"},"modified":"2025-04-16T17:27:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T22:27:47","slug":"bianka-hardin-centered-therapy-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/bianka-hardin-centered-therapy-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Bianka Hardin: Centered Therapy Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"clearfix\"><p>Bianka Hardin, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist who has focused on trauma therapy for nearly 25 years. She received her master\u2019s degree and doctorate from The Chicago School, where she worked as a professor and associate department chair. Since 2014, she\u2019s led Centered Therapy Chicago, a private practice with more than a dozen therapists and training for graduate students, who charge on a sliding scale, for residents in need.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI worked with clients impacted by some form of violence in every year of my practicum experiences at The Chicago School\u2014including the Marjorie Kovler Center, which provides care for survivors of torture, and the Department of Health and Human Services in Hoffman Estates,\u201d she says. \u201cThat work helped me understand trauma from a systemic lens, which made me think more about how I might prevent the impact of violence rather than just treat it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Hardin\u2019s post-doctoral work took her to The Children\u2019s Advocacy Center of Northwest Cook County, where she participated in a coalition through the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority. There, she and others educated judges, day-care professionals, and first responders about trauma-informed care, dispelling myths that suggest young children don\u2019t even remember traumatic events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen a child is in utero or in their first years of life, violence in their home and their community has an impact,\u201d she says. \u201cWorking on trauma with individuals is so rewarding because we\u2019re shifting really important patterns, within those individuals, their relationships, their families, and their communities. And being engaged in some sort of prevention or social advocacy is really important for our own mental health, as therapists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laura Brownstone, LCSW, one of Dr. Hardin\u2019s therapists, led remote \u201chealing circles\u201d for teachers several times throughout the pandemic, walking participants through self-care exercises. Dr. Hardin has helped facilitate Level 1 trainings for educators, first responders and religious leaders\u2014applying the NeuroAffective Relational Model to promote trauma-informed care. \u201cI get really excited about helping other therapists in our community and helping people who care for others\u2014because that gives them even more capacity to do good work, and those ripples just keep expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chicago School alum Bianka Hardin, Psy.D, is a passionate advocate for trauma-informed care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":116368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[1256],"coauthors":[1062],"class_list":["post-116201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-magazine","tag-winter-2023","insight_issues-winter-2023"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - 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