About Me

I am Djuan D. Short, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and EMDRIA Certified Therapist based in Philadelphia, PA. I guide women leaders throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I specialize in working with women leaders who are leading in every area of their lives — professionally, relationally, and within their families — and who are quietly exhausted by the weight of doing it all while carrying unprocessed pain, moving from surviving to thriving using EMDR therapy, IFS-informed EMDR, and trauma-focused intensives for women leaders.

I believe that functioning is not the same thing as wellness. Many of the women leaders I work with are capable, driven, and deeply self-aware. Yet, they are also quietly exhausted by carrying pain their nervous systems never had the space to fully process. They are not broken; they have been adaptive. And there is a difference.

My work is grounded in a core truth: regulation precedes resolution. Before the work of processing trauma can happen, the nervous system needs to know it is safe enough to stay. I do not rush that process. I teach clients to slow down. Together, we build internal awareness and create the conditions for real healing — emotional, mental, physical, and relational — to take root and grow.

I work with adults experiencing PTSD, complex trauma, childhood trauma, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, burnout, and relational trauma. These are not just diagnoses. They are marks that survival leaves on how a person trusts themselves, connects with others, makes decisions, and allows themselves to want and need things. My work meets clients where those marks live: in the body, in the patterns, and in the parts of them that have been working overtime to hold everything together.

I use EMDR therapy within its structured eight-phase protocol. I also integrate Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts work to respond to where each client is in their healing journey. Some clients begin with IFS. Through parts work, they understand which part of them is connected to the pain they carry. We use this to build the internal safety and self-awareness needed before trauma reprocessing begins. Others move between both approaches as their healing unfolds. I use both to teach clients how to gain a deeper understanding of their inner world. This way, they can process pain with clarity, consent, and care. For those seeking focused, accelerated progress, I also offer EMDR intensives.

I educate clients on how to become more honest, aware, and aligned with themselves. That is what transformation actually looks like. It is work I am privileged to do every day.

***I am licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and work with clients across both states via telehealth.