CLINICAL SPOTLIGHT ON EMILY PRUSATOR, GIL INSTITUTE TEAM CLINICIAN
We have started this monthly spotlight to highlight some of our therapists, their interest areas, their goals, and their basic values. We hope you enjoy reading about them.
Dr. Gil: What’s your earliest memory of wanting to become a therapist? Was this something you always knew, or did something happen that contributed to your desire to be of help to others?
Emily: I have always known that I wanted to work with children in some capacity, but for the longest time, I thought this meant I should be a teacher. I can distinctly remember being in my first year of college and talking with fellow students in a class on classroom management strategies. I asked the question, "With all of this going on as a teacher, how do we have time to check in with each student individually and hear how they are doing emotionally?" My classmates stared back at me for a moment before saying, "Emily, that's not usually the teacher's main job... that's a therapist." In that moment, it clicked. I have the utmost respect for teachers and their role in children's lives, but I finally realized that I felt most drawn to providing mental health support to children who are struggling - that way they can engage in learning from their teachers and other important adults in their life.
Dr. Gil: What specifically led you to obtain the licensure you got? Was there something in particular that you believed that your licensure could allow you to do?
Emily: I chose to pursue my Masters in Social Work after asking many different people in different sectors of the mental health field about their experiences. I believe that different license types bring important diverse perspectives to the work. I most resonated with the idea that environmental and systemic change is an important part of overall improvement in mental health for human beings. I loved that studying social work gave me the option to establish a strong foundation in social justice and systems work in my first year of graduate school and then specialize in clinical work during my second year of the program.Dr. Gil: At what point did you develop an interest in trauma work? Again, what led to that interest, and how did you go about preparing yourself to become trauma-informed?
Emily: During my undergraduate years, I got involved in a lot of social justice causes - specifically ones focusing on violence against women and children in our society. Through this, I began to see firsthand the way that violence is processed by the human nervous system and how this can lead to trauma. In a fellowship after college, I had the opportunity to interview lawyers, advocates, and service providers around the world who were trying to combat the issue of child exploitation. Every single interview always came back to the importance of trauma-informed support and mental health care for survivors. Because of this learning, I made sure every field placement I completed during my graduate studies was grounded in trauma-informed principles, and I sought out every training opportunity I could in trauma-focused models of therapy.
Dr. Gil: Say a little about your interest in working with expressive therapies, (eg, sand therapy, play and art therapies) and why you believe it’s important to do?Emily: When I first began working with children in schools over eight years ago, I was using primarily a cognitive-behavioral approach. With all of my clients, I quickly found that they needed play, movement, and expression incorporated for this to be effective. For an internship project, I researched evidence-based, trauma-focused models of treatment that incorporated play. One of the first models I found was Trauma-Focused Integrated Play Therapy, and I was immediately hooked. I reached out to Dr. Gil to learn more about this model and found out about the Registered Play Therapist credential. As soon as I finished my graduate studies, I pursued continuing education on play therapy - including the integration of sandtray and expressive arts. Every time I attended a workshop, I would have the thought, "These are my people!" I continue to surround myself with colleagues who believe that humans need more than just words to heal, and I continue to see the impact that expressive modalities can have on my clients' healing process.
Dr. Gil: How long have you been at Gil Institute? And please say a few words about your experience working with like-minded colleagues?
Emily: I began working at Gil Institute on a part-time basis in July 2021. I remember once again having the thought, "These are my people!" sitting in clinical meetings with my Gil Institute colleagues. The team has so much clinical wisdom to share, and everyone is always seeking to grow and learn even more. Because of this, I have grown tremendously over the last few years. Anytime I feel overwhelmed or unsure with a case, I have been able to seek support from my colleagues. In so doing, my clients and the families I support also get the care that they need.
Dr. Gil: What service are you providing that you are excited to provide to children and families?
Emily: Right now I am most excited about a model called Sensory Motor Arousal and Regulation Treatment (SMART). This type of treatment uses sensory tools to help children recover from adverse experiences through somatic regulation, attachment building, and trauma processing. I have seen huge success with this model for children and families, and I'm excited to continue learning and applying its principles! Find out more about SMART here.
Dr. Gil: What are you looking forward to in terms of professional growth in the next few years?What are you looking forward to in terms of professional growth in the next few years?
Emily: The next few years, I hope to expand my supervision and training skills. I love working with individual clients in their families, and I will always seek opportunities to grow my clinical skills. I have also found that I get incredibly excited when I can support or equip someone else to provide amazing play therapy services to their clients and families. I am passionate about helping more people complete the Registered Play Therapy credential process so that more children can receive quality care. I am launching a series of training sessions on the foundations of play therapy over the coming year, and I will soon begin providing supervision for mental health professionals who want to specialize in play therapy.
Emily Prusator, LCSW, RPT (she/her)
Direct Line: (703) 957-8573
2025 Availability: Tuesday-Thursday: 11am-7pm
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