My Approach

My clients might describe me as warm, authentic, and direct. I show up with curiosity and gentleness, while also offering supportive guidance without judgment. Many of my clients have a history of childhood trauma, anxiety, attachment wounds, chronic shame, low self-esteem, substance use, and relationship challenges. I help my clients uncover patterns and blindspots that may be holding them back, so they can make meaningful progress and achieve real change.

Therapy with me will feel collaborative. I prioritize creating a space where you feel truly supported as you explore issues that can feel tender, overwhelming, and deeply vulnerable.

My approach is trauma-informed, non-pathologizing, and rooted in deep respect for the adaptive ways we learn to survive. To me, success in therapy means building radical self-trust and reclaiming your power to shape a life that feels aligned with who you are and what you truly desire.

A young woman with long wavy brown hair, wearing glasses, a white top, and a beige and white striped button-up shirt, stands outdoors in front of green leafy bushes with some pink flowers. She has gold hoop earrings, a delicate necklace, and multiple bracelets on her left wrist, with her arms crossed.

Specialties

  • Anxiety issues

  • Complex PTSD & Single-Event PTSD

  • Relationship Issues & Breakups

  • Love & Sex Addiction

  • Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

  • Chronic Shame & Self-Esteem Issues

  • High Achievers & Perfectionists

  • Spiritual & Religious Trauma

  • Self-Aware Intellectualizers

  • Substance Use & Dependency

Modalities

Internal Family Systems (IFS) helps us understand and work with the different “parts” within you—protective or wounded—and how they’ve developed to help you cope. We will work together to identify, update, and heal these "parts” of you, so that you can lead your inner system with agency and compassion.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a powerful tool for processing and releasing distressing memories or beliefs that may be stuck in the nervous system. We will identify and “re-process” painful beliefs, memories, and emotions that might be preventing you from moving forward.

Attachment-Focused Therapy helps us understand how early relationships shape how we connect with ourselves and others, and how we can begin to repair those patterns over time. Together we'll identify the patterns keeping you stuck, understand their origins, and begin rewriting them.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) supports you in building a healthier relationship with your thoughts and feelings while connecting to values that make life meaningful. this might look like learning to sit with discomfort without being controlled by it, noticing self-critical thoughts without fusing with them, and taking meaningful action in your life even when anxiety or fear shows up.

Relational Therapy is rooted in the understanding that relationships are at the heart of healing. Working with the "here and now," I help you identify patterns by pointing out how they show up between us in the room — because what happens here often reflects what happens everywhere else in your life.

Young woman with long curly hair, smiling, wearing a white T-shirt, beige pants, tan belt, and a striped shirt draped over her shoulders, standing against a weathered beige wall.

About Me

Hi, I’m Amanda!

I’m a licensed psychotherapist deeply committed to helping people heal from the distortions imprinted by relational trauma and shame-based conditioning.

My path to becoming a therapist began in university, where I conducted clinical research on PTSD and worked in an eating disorder treatment center. I went on to earn my Master’s in Social Welfare from UCLA, training in diverse settings—from community mental health and severe mental illness to cancer support focused on existential issues.

After graduation, I worked in dual diagnosis treatment, which deepened my curiosity about the role trauma and shame play in both addiction and mental illness. I later joined a trauma-focused group practice, where I received training and supervision in trauma therapy and continued to refine my clinical skills.

I believe many mental health “disorders” are not signs of brokenness, but responses to deep internal pain and chronic shame. These aren’t flaws to be numbed or “fixed”—they’re experiences to be met with care, curiosity, and compassion.

When I’m not in therapist mode, I love spending time outdoors, traveling, reading, and cuddling my two sweet kitties: Carl Jung and Carl Rogers.

Training + Education

Education

  • Master of Social Welfare (MSW), UCLA

  • Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Northeastern University

Training + Experience

  • Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 1, IFS Institute, 2025

  • Therapy on Fig, Trauma Therapist, 2022-2024

  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Basic Training, Institute of Creative Mindfulness, 2021

  • Multi-Concept Recovery, Primary Therapist, 2021-2022

  • Portals at Pacific Clinics, Therapist Trainee, 2020-2021

  • Cancer Support Community Los Angeles, 2019-2020

  • Cambridge Eating Disorder Center, Residential Counselor, 2018-2019