Susan Gillo, PhD, is a licensed psychologist who practices primarily out of our satellite location in Apex, NC. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley, where she fell in love with psychology while working as a camp counselor and research assistant for The Berkeley Girls with ADHD Longitudinal Study. Her experiences with the children at the camp and her participation in the research arm of the study inspired her to obtain her doctorate in both Clinical and Developmental Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh before completing her pre-doctoral internship at Duke University Medical Center.
Dr. Gillo is dedicated to providing effective, research-based treatment in a caring and compassionate manner. To make sure she is providing appropriate care, she focuses on keeping up-to-date with research on treatments that work, attends workshops, and consults with experts, as needed. She also regularly attends case consultation meetings at the main office and collaborates with providers outside the practice. Most importantly, at the end of the day, Dr. Gillo recognizes that the most essential ingredient to therapy is developing a relationship with her clients in which they feel unconditionally supported, seen, and understood. Dr. Gillo also appreciates that clients have different interpersonal styles and may need varying degrees of time and space to warm up to her and therapy. Needless to say, force-fed therapy does not make her list of effective, research-based treatment.
Dr. Gillo’s theoretical approach to treatment, i.e., how she assesses, analyzes, understands, and treats disorders, is informed primarily by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Even though emotions are not mentioned in the name of either of these treatments, the primary focus of her therapy is helping individuals learn to recognize, understand, and successfully cope with any painful emotions that may have been interfering with their lives such that they can use these experiences to build an even better life.
Dr. Gillo is experienced in treating OCD, phobias, anxiety disorders, depression, mood problems, adjustment difficulties, and ADHD in children, adolescents, and adults. She also enjoys working with parents and families to improve communication skills in the home. Dr. Gillo was raised in California and Switzerland, resided in Pennsylvania during graduate school, and has lived in Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh since moving to North Carolina. While she sometimes dislikes answering the question, “Where are you from?”, living in different areas of the US and on different continents has allowed her to recognize that even though she can be an expert in teaching skills that work, her clients are the experts in deciding which ones will work for them.
