ABOUT

Jill A. Harrington is a counselor, author, and educator with twenty-five years of experience supporting individuals as they navigate change, loss, stress/anxiety, and major life transitions. Dr. Harrington has also served in both the nonprofit sector and academic research settings, in management and director-level roles. She maintains a small private practice in the National Capital Area with an office in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Harrington is a former Assistant Professor of Social Work at Marymount University in Arlington; Adjunct Associate Professor at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Washington, DC; and Adjunct Instructor for the Rutgers University Master of Social Work Online Program. In addition to her clinical and teaching work, she develops and conducts professional education trainings and facilitates a range of support programs.

Her clinical practice includes working with individuals across the lifespan, with particular focus on young adulthood through older adulthood. She also specializes in serving veterans and military families, drawing on her long-standing expertise in military family systems, transition stress, and bereavement. A staunch advocate, clinician, and parent of a child with a developmental disability - Dr. Harrington provides education and support to parents of children with autism, helping them navigate the emotional, relational, and practical challenges associated with neurodiversity in family life.

Dr. Harrington is the creator and lead editor of the groundbreaking textbook Superhero Grief: The Transformative Power of Loss, published by Routledge (2021) and co-edited with Robert A. Neimeyer, PhD. She has authored numerous book chapters and journal articles centered on grief, loss, and adaptation.

Her overarching goal is to deepen public and professional understanding of death- and non-death-related losses, foster adaptive responses to change, and promote post-traumatic growth, compassion, and humanistic care. She is committed to advancing a more grief-informed world and subscribes to modern loss, change, and grief models that emphasize non-linear processes and honor the diversity and complexity of human experiences of loss, change, and transition.

EDUCATION University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice (DSW); University of Maryland Global Campus (MBA); Adelphi University (MSW); The Catholic University of America (BA).

LCSW: Commonwealth of Virginia; LCSW-C: Maryland