Rameya Shanmugavelayutham, LCSW

Rameya (Rum-ya) Shanmugavelayutham is a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, ADHD coach, writer and educator. She works with kids of immigrants, as well as the broader systems they inhabit, to support neurodiversity & trauma healing through practices of shame-reduction, pleasure and play.

Rameya received her BAs from Loyola University Chicago, her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and an Infant Mental Health Certificate from Erikson Institute. She holds clinical social work licenses in Illinois and Connecticut. Rameya is currently training in Dance Movement Therapy at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Kolkata/ Mumbai India and supports clients virtually in both Illinois and Connecticut.

Rameya has close to a decade of experience as a therapist working with diverse and varied populations. Given her background as a spiritually rooted woman of color, Rameya often works with BIPOC folx who are seeking to preserve aspects of their ancestral, cultural and spiritual wisdoms while also striving to break cycles of intergenerational trauma, internalized oppression, internalized capitalism and white supremacy. Rameya welcomes clients who are seeking to carve an individualized, authentic existence that honors their complex, intersectional identities and values through a commitment to anti-oppressive, racially-allied liberatory healing.

Rameya also offers specialized ADHD Coaching with the aim of nourishing neurodivergence in a supportive, anti-oppressive space. Rameya’s coaching services are provided virtually across the country. She specializes in the intersection of neurodiversity and complex PTSD.

In addition to her therapeutic and coaching services Rameya has taught Master’s level courses in Social Work and International Peace Building at the University of Chicago School of Social Administration and the Hartford International University for Peace and Religion. Her philosophy around teaching involves embodying the values and skills she hopes for her students to gain within her teaching and facilitation style. She leverages community building, play, self-reflection and an egalitarian valuing of multiple intelligences in the classroom space in order to facilitate multi-modal, embodied learning.