Ilana Amrani-Cohen has over 35 years of expertise in complex trauma and self-care, designing and leading programs for trauma and domestic violence survivors. She holds a BSW from Hebrew University, an MSW from Boston University, and a Ph.D. from Boston College. Now in private practice, she specializes in resilience, sleep, team building, stress management, compassionate leadership, complex trauma, laughter yoga, and well-being.
A globally recognized trainer, Ilana has led workshops in Japan, Israel, Kenya, and beyond. She has developed team-building games and consulted for IsraAID, supporting Fellows worldwide and deploying to disaster zones such as Nepal, Puerto Rico, and California. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led stress and anxiety webinars for agencies, clergy, and UN diplomats.
After October 7th, Ilana volunteered in Israel to support professionals assisting those impacted by the attack and helped U.S. students facing antisemitism and hate crimes.
Resume (pdf)
Recommendations
“Dr. Amrani-Cohen is an outstanding teacher. She has ample experience as a lecturer, field instructor, coach, and supervisor. Her expertise in Trauma, Domestic Violence services, supervised visitation has given her opportunities to train and teach not only locally, but also at an international level, with invitations to lecture and train in Kenya, Japan, and Nepal, among others. I have not often experienced the same level of expertise, engagement of an audience and clarity in exposing complex concepts in other lecturers. The fact that Dr. Amrani-Cohen’s has also many years of practical experience as a therapist make the lectures very relevant to practitioners by conveying real examples and she is exceptional at bridging the latest theory and best practices with practical applications and examples.”
Borja Alvarez de Toledo
President and CEO
Child and Family Services of New Hampshire
Borja Alvarez de Toledo
[email protected]
“I have known Dr. Amrani-Cohen for over 10 years and have observed her lead trainings. She was not only a Program Director, but she was a leader on my team overseeing 300+ staff. She has been a critical member and individual preparing and supporting our large clinical staff in the day-to-day aspects of the work as well as infusing a depth of clinical acumen that we all benefited from as well as benefiting all of the families that we serve. Ilana had led training and conferences around domestic violence (DV), the impact of DV on children and families, cultural competence and cultural awareness, mind and body and trauma to name a few. She has always supported the professional growth of our entire staff through these trainings and through her incredible depth of skill and knowledge in the field. Dr. Amrani-Cohen has had extensive experience in teaching and training not only at the Guidance center and Riverside Community Care, but also at various Universities and internationally. It is without hesitation that I whole heartedly recommend Dr. Amrani-Cohen’s workshops and lectures.”
Charlene Zuffante, LICSW
Director of Child Youth and Family Services
Department of mental Health, metro Boston
[email protected]
“I have had the pleasure of working under Ilana’s guidance during my advanced standing field placement at The Guidance Center of Riverside Community Care in the Children with Voices program. She is an organized clinician who develops inspiring relationships with her students and clients and is truly driven by the success of her student colleagues in trauma-informed practice. She always shows her passion for trauma-informed clinical practice through her skills as a teacher and mentor in the workplace. Dedicated to making a difference in her clients’ lives, Ilana selflessly spends extra time ensuring her student social workers learn and practice new skills as it relates to a clients’ needs. Ilana has a wonderful rapport with people of all ages, races, socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, especially children! Her ability to connect is comforting, and her talent at teaching complex trauma-informed clinical practices in a way so practical and easy to understand is truly superior.
Katherine Schaible, LSW
Cancer Support Community Central NJ
Program Coordinator
[email protected]
“I have known Ilana professionally for six years as part of the Cambridge, Arlington and Belmont High Risk Assessment and Response team (CABHART), whose development, growth and success is due to Ilana’s unbelievable commitment, deep knowledge and outstanding leadership. Ilana saw a critical gap and undertook to close it; she organized a multitude of partners to form the first tri-city high risk team formed in Massachusetts. Her determination, commitment, creativity, expertise, and just plain grit got the project off the ground and funded. She coordinated police departments, state agencies, families and other organizations serving the DV community. It takes an extremely skilled individual –someone who is respected in the field, who builds coalitions, who weaves connections among everyone involved, who gets buy in from the top of each organization, and who offers the team a considered, well-organized approach to meeting its goal—to form and lead a team with as many potential touch points of differences as CABHART.
In my experience Ilana has a strong, warm presence. She is naturally encouraging of everyone’s participation. Her communication style is inclusive yet precise. As a non- native English speaker, Ilana is particularly sensitive to those who might need to be a drawn out – her ability to do this professionally, discreetly, and successfully means that the entire team is moving forward and creating solutions together as a whole. She was able to skillfully build the team from scratch; she leveraged the shared goals to encourage cooperation and trust among entities that have not necessarily worked well together due to their different approaches. Her skill as a leader and collaborator includes her ability to be direct, fair, open and committed. Ilana built trust among team members early on and that has helped to keep the team focused, energized and efficient. Without Ilana’s expertise and determination, the
CABHART team would not exist.
Kimberly Sansoucy
Executive Director
Cambridge Commission of the Status of Women
[email protected]