Gina Tarullo, MSW
Pronouns: she/her
Values and Philosophy
Gina is a therapist rooted in supporting people with warmth, compassion, and humor. She is endlessly curious and always grateful for the gift of learning about someone else’s experience. An emphatic validator, Gina leads with an anti-oppressive, trauma-informed framework and an understanding of the impact systems have on each of us.
As a therapist, Gina believes that the client and therapist co-create a unique therapeutic process for each individual. She brings an experimental approach to therapy, inviting people to try things out both in session and in the world outside. She believes deeply that we need to support one another as we navigate the oppressive systems around us and seek to change them.
Areas of Focus
Gina is passionate about being with people who are living in our complex and challenging world. She provides therapy to youth and adults who are navigating life transitions, complex family dynamics, and developing into their authentic selves, as well as people struggling with anxiety, depression, and grief and loss. Using a person-centered approach, Gina incorporates elements of harm reduction, narrative therapy, and motivational interviewing in her work, as well as art-based and mind-body practices with people who might like to incorporate those in therapy.
Experience and training
Whether offering mental health support, case management, arts programming, or contributing to advocacy work, Gina centers the expertise of the people she works with. She has collaborated with middle-and high-school aged people as well as adults, supporting individuals and groups in both clinical and non-clinical settings. She has worked in community-based nonprofits for more than 15 years, with an emphasis on supporting individuals and families impacted by the violence of incarceration and policing. Gina received her bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College and her master’s degree in social work from the University of Illinois at Chicago with an emphasis on community practice. She has received training in somatics and the ways trauma lives in our bodies. Her studies have focused on the intersections of mental health and systemic violence. She is always learning.