ABOUT TERESA
TERESA DESCILO, MSW, MCT
Teresa Descilo is the Founder and Former Executive Director of the agency that existed for 22 years, called Trauma Resolution Center (TRC). She has taken her vision one step further with the formation of the International Trauma Resolution and Resiliency Center, as resolving trauma isn’t enough to result in healing the whole person.
Teresa has always believed in the resiliency of the human spirit and in the ability of each being to expand consciousness and tap inner strengths. She has explored many paths and cultures over the decades and has collected many effective techniques for integrating traumatic memory, dealing with stress, raising awareness and connecting to one’s spiritual source.
She always found it unreasonable that anyone should be permanently labeled and identified with any condition, as most things pass or can be worked through with some discipline and diligence, with the benefit of gaining strength and awareness. Teresa founded her agency on these values.
Founded in 1995, the TRC was the first trauma-focused Community Mental Health Center and state licensed substance abuse program in the US. During its existence, the agency served more than 14,000 people who had suffered domestic violence, childhood abuse, sexual assault, human trafficking, the homicides of a loved one, and every other type of crime imaginable. From the agency’s inception, Teresa kept validated measurements for PTSD, depression and anxiety and so she was able to prove without a doubt that people can heal given the right tools.
In 2015, the Acting Deputy Administrator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration wrote the following about Teresa when asked for a reference: I know Teresa Descilo fairly well. She is extremely progressive and uses a lot of non-traditional interventions(yoga, massage, meditation, etc). She also collects good data on her outcomes and gets great results. She’s a fantastic personality in vivo in a new age meets MacArthur genius kind of way. You will be blown away. She’s not super well known in the trauma field but certainly getting awider and wider reputation.
Teresa’s current interests include bringing this replicable and highly effective model into the larger world by creating sister organizations of the International Trauma Resolution and Resiliency Center. She is also enjoying providing services and retreats to dedicated seekers.
While I have received hundreds of letters of support and thousands of written changes from clients over the years, these two letters basically say it all. If you haven’t heard about the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE), you need to look it up. It has changed the face of understanding traumatized children and the need to protect them from trauma or help them process trauma so that they can grow into healthy adults. The ACE study shows us what happens when childhood trauma goes unresolved. To receive the endorsement that is attached for the agency I created from one of the Co-Principal Investigators of the ACE study is about as good as it gets. The other letter is from a Vietnam era vet who wanted to help us receive funding as for the first time in 40 years, he experienced relief and ‘a life worth sharing.”
Letter from Vincent Felitti, M.D., Co-Principal Investigator, Adverse Childhood Experiences Study
Letter from: Zuberi Thabiti, Vietnam War Veteran