ABOUT

Susan Pease Banitt, LCSW is an award-winning author, psychotherapist and pioneer in the field of alternative therapies in psychological healing. She has nearly 50  years of experience in mental health work, with specialties in PTSD, Dissociative Disorders, ASD and Medical Social Work.

Susan works as an international consultant and supervisor to mental health clinicians who seek answers to complex cases of trauma and dissociation in their clients. She has spoken nationally and internationally at conferences, retreats, medical facilities, universities, webinars and workshops and has testified at the Oregon state legislature and the British Parliament.

Susan has been written up and published in The Oregonian, appeared in local news programming, and has been interviewed on several podcasts and radio shows including The Trauma Therapist Podcast,  Rebel Justice,  and System Speaks.

She has served on several boards including Oregon’s chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (Treasurer, Legislative Committee and head of the Private Practice Council) and co-chaired Street Yoga with Mark Lilly where she served as a founding member of Omega Institute’s Yoga Service Council.

Susan has written two award winning books on trauma in addition to other publications. The Trauma Tool Kit: Healing PTSD From the Inside Out (Quest, 2012) was awarded the Silver Nautilus Award, Spiritual Runner Up at the London Book Fair and the Alumni Media Award of Simmons College School of Social Work. Wisdom, Attachment and Love in Trauma Therapy: Beyond Evidence-Based Practice (Routledge, 2018) also garnered the Silver Nautilus Award as well as the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award. Susan co-authored and co-edited a booklet at Omega Institute on Best Practices for Yoga with Veterans (2018).

Her new book, Women Therapists on Healing: Intersectional Essays, Approaches, and Reclamations toward Feminist Futures in Mental Health (North Atlantic Books, 2024) is up for pre-sale now! It is a woman centered and intersectional anthology written by diverse women therapists for women recovering from a myriad of traumas. It will be published on November 19, 2024.

Susan is a certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher (RYT 200), Usui Holy Fire® III Karuna Reiki® Master, Past Life Regressionist with Dr. Brian Weiss, and Bard level Druidic practitioner in the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. She trained in the Harvard teaching hospitals for psychoanalytic psychotherapy and medical social work and is an active member of NASW (National Association for Social Work) and ISSTD (Institue for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation).

You can find Susan on Facebook (/TheTraumaTool Kit), LinkedIn, X, Instagram, YouTube and as @TheLightworkerWhisperer on TikTok. In her free time, Susan loves to RV, garden, meditate, do improvisational comedy and enjoys a large community of friends and pets.