Rachael Dietkus, LCSW

expert

Location

Urbana, IL

Areas of Speciality

Caregiving & Family Career & Leadership Mindset, Habits & Performance

Credentials & Qualifications

MFA, Design for Responsible Innovation / Trauma-Informed Design, University of Illinois
MSW, Social Work / Advocacy, Leadership & Social Change, University of Illinois
BA, Sociology / Social Movements & Organizations, University of Illinois,
Certified Compassionate Leader, 2024
Certified Professional in Training Management, 2024
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, 2020
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, State of Illinois,

Nearest available session

This Expert is currently unavailable. Please check back soon!

Times shown in America/Chicago

Private 1:1 Sessions

Work with Rachael

Neurodivergent at Work: Getting Your Needs Met

$99.00

Map your natural energy patterns, match important tasks to your strongest times, and build practical supports for executive function and workplace accommodations.

60 minutes Currently unavailable

Progress Over Perfect: The Anti-Perfectionist Plan

$99.00

Define what “good enough” means for your work and create practical guardrails that reduce over-editing, unnecessary delays, and pressure.

60 minutes View Session

Design a More Sustainable Way to Care

$175.00

See where your care and energy are going, identify what restores or depletes you, and create a personalized map for a more sustainable daily rhythm.

60 minutes Currently unavailable

Rachael Dietkus

Organizational Care Strategist & Trauma-Informed Practitioner

A session with me is like…
Having someone hold the complexity with you, without minimizing, fixing, or rushing it.

One life experience that helps me relate to my clients is…
Learning that care is both a personal need and a collective responsibility—especially in work that asks us to hold other people’s life experiences and stories.

Three things I want clients to feel post-session are…
Safer to acknowledge harm and complexity
Stronger in their ethical stance and boundaries
More capable of shaping and building the systems you need and deserve toward care

Past experience that qualifies me for this role is…
I am a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and design strategist with over 15 years supporting individuals and teams in healthcare, government, higher education, and civic technology. Previously, I spent nearly a decade in the nonprofit and social impact sector. My experience includes leading trauma-informed design and research practices as the first social worker at the U.S. Digital Service, where I improved disaster and healthcare services for millions of people. I’ve provided clinical supervision, reflective practice, and organizational care consultation to professionals working with trauma, moral distress, and public accountability. Through Social Workers Who Design, I help teams within mission-driven organizations apply rigorous care principles to service delivery, team culture, and decision-making under pressure.

I’m a design care strategist, civic tech ethicist, and trauma-informed designer working to make public systems safer, more humane, and grounded in care. With roots in clinical social work and public service, I help individuals, teams, and organizations recognize and reduce harms arising from design, technology, and service delivery.

As the founder of Social Workers Who Design, I partner with leaders who are ready to move beyond urgency culture, fear, and extractive research toward environments that center dignity, healing, and collective well-being. A simple truth guides my work: care is critical infrastructure — essential to a just and thriving society.