Sheela Raja

Sheela Raja, PhD is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and author of Overcoming Trauma and PTSD, the Sexual Trauma Workbook for Teen Girls, PTSD Survival Guide for Teens, and The Resilient Teen: 10 Key Skills to Bounce Back from Setbacks and Turn Stress into Success. She is a Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she teaches Behavioral Medicine. Dr. Raja received her PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago and completed internship and post-doctoral training at the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Boston, MA.

She is a highly sought-after speaker and has given invited talks at federal, national, and international level on the topic of post-traumatic stress and trauma informed healthcare. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles on the relationship between trauma and health, and her books and scholarly work have been translated into several languages, including Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, and Turkish. Dr. Raja has a passion for making evidence-based psychology accessible.

In 2020 Dr. Raja won Society for Behavioral Medicine's prestigious Leading the Narrative award for her media contributions around post-traumatic stress, resilience, and violence prevention.

Media Experience: She has been featured on national television networks including CNN, HLN, ABC, CBS, NBC, News Nation, and WGN-9 Chicago. She is a blogger for Psychology Today, and has been quoted as an expert source in numerous print and online publications, including Family Circle, Web MD, Prevention, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, Shape Magazine, Weight Watchers Magazine, Esquire, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, cnn.com, aljazeera.com, foxnews.com, and nbcnews.com.

Sub-specialties:
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and resilience, trauma informed health care, sexual trauma, teen mental health, community violence.