Cecile Gunn Desmond(She/Her/Hers)

Dr. Cecile Gunn is a psychologist in downtown Portsmouth and provides telehealth therapy for clients across MA and NH. She works with adults of all ages, providing primarily individual therapy. Many of Cecile’s clients come in to address unresolved trauma, attachment issues, anxiety, disordered eating, and spiritual/religious struggles. Cecile is particularly passionate about serving women with trauma histories, working mothers, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and older adults. She has advanced training in treating Complex PTSD, various forms of anxiety, disordered eating, and somatic issues.

Cecile is trained in psychodynamic, trauma-informed, somatic-based psychotherapy, and includes elements of CBT, ACT and IFS in her intervention repertoire. She will help you examine how you adapted to difficult circumstances in your life, and how those adaptations are no longer working for you. The therapeutic relationship is where these adaptations are identified and changes start to occur. In session, Cecile focuses on emotional regulation, imagery exercises, and somatic experiences that reconnect you with your body. This approach supports clients to feel more at home with themselves, more capable in their relationships, and more hopeful about the future.

Cecile's style is warm, humorous, and interactive. When clients first start therapy, Cecile ensures that clients feel safe and understood, and empowered to collaborate in their own treatment.

Cecile received her PhD and MDiv from Boston University. She has worked at The Trauma Center, completing a two-year postdoctoral fellowship working with individuals and families engaged in the foster care system. She has also worked at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders where she specialized in treating clients in the Eating Disorders Program. Outside of private practice, she is passionate about racial and immigrant justice, and is interested in research about "othering." Cecile offers remote therapy on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and in-person sessions on Fridays.