Dr. Eliana Gil is an internationally renowned lecturer, writer and clinician in the traumatic stress field, with particular specializations in the areas of child and family play therapies and assessment and treatment of child sexual abuse and sexual behavior problems.
Dr. Gil is Founding Partner of Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery & Education, LLC, a group private practice in Fairfax, Va, where she currently works as a Senior Clinical and Research Consultant. She is an Approved MFT Supervisor as well as a Registered Play Therapist/Supervisor and a Registered Art Therapist. She is also a Circle of Security Certified Parent Educator, a Level II Theraplay provider, and is also certified in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics.
Dr. Gil is Senior Consultant of Starbright Training Institute for Child and Family Play Therapy in Fairfax, VA. In the last two decades, Dr. Gil has directed two child sexual abuse treatment programs in Northern Virginia and continues her work in the field of child abuse prevention, education, and advocacy. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who received her doctorate in family therapy from the California Graduate School of Family Psychology in San Rafael, California. She has served on the Board of Directors of the American Professional Society on the Abused of Children and the National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse. She is also a former President of the Association for Play Therapy and received APT’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
Dr. Gil is the author of numerous chapters, journal articles, books and educational videos on child abuse and related topics. Her most recent books include Post-Traumatic Play: What Clinicians Should Know and the second edition of Play in Family Therapy.
Dr. Gil also co-authored a book with Dr. David Crenshaw on Termination Challenges in Psychotherapy. Her classic book Outgrowing the Pain, has been translated into many languages. Dr. Gil is bilingual and bicultural with Ecuadorian parents. Since 2014, she has been semi-retired and continues to consult, supervise, mentor, and teach. She also sponsors the Mid-Atlantic Play Therapy Institute in Northern Virginia on an annual basis.