LMSW-C, 7 years of experience
Hello! My name is Amanda and I am a Licensed Clinical Social worker (LMSW-C) based in Michigan. My areas of specialty are in anxiety, depression, OCD, and PTSD with a specialty in postpartum mental health disorders. If you are here reading my profile, that tells me you are at a point in your life where you may be feeling stuck and in need of help. Whether this is your first time coming to see a therapist, or you are reengaging in therapy after some time away, I want to welcome you and congratulate you for taking the time to prioritize your mental health. My number one priority as a therapist is to provide an environment where you feel safe to be your most true and authentic self. Many people come to therapy with a sort of "mask," and my goal is to help you feel safe enough to remove the mask in session. I want to provide an environment where you can say whatever you are thinking or feeling without fear of judgment.
In our first session, we will spend time getting to know each other. In order for therapy to be effective, trust and mutual respect must be developed. This will be an ongoing process that starts in the first session and continues throughout our journey together. Once we have done brief introductions, we will dive head first into your unique story. My goal is to learn what it is you are hoping to gain by coming to therapy. In order to do that, I will need to learn more about what lead you to the point you are at today. After our first session, we should have a solid idea of who you are, where you've come from, and where you would like to go. We will then come up with a treatment plan that is tailored to meet your specific needs.
What stands out about my therapeutic approach is that I do not have just one approach. What works for one client, might not work for another. I will work with you to discover exactly what approach will work best for you! So, whether you are looking for a space to vent about your problems, looking for solutions, or learning to process past trauma and understand it's current impact I am here to help with all of the above. And if you are not entirely sure what it is you are looking for, than I'm here to help you figure that out as well!
If you have ever been on an airplane and paid attention to the flight attendant as they give their instructions, you will learn that if there is an emergency and you have to use the provided oxygen masks that you must put your mask on first before helping someone else. The very simple reason for this is that you cannot help someone if you are incapacitated due to a lack of oxygen. This seems like a simple concept on an airplane, yet we have such a hard time doing this in every day life. We wait until we are already burnt out, in a state of crisis or dysregulated from anxiety and depression because we have spent so much time helping others put their masks on that we ran out of oxygen ourselves. If you find this to be true for yourself, then I am here to help you break this pattern! I am here to help you learn that practicing self-care does not make you selfish. It makes you stronger and more capable of continuing to care for those you love without burning yourself out.
I have practiced from a CBT model for the past 7 years. When used effectively, I have seen client's learn to identify a direct connection between how their thoughts impact the way they feel and how the subsequent feelings impact the way they interact with the world. I like to say that knowledge is power! When we know the problem we can work harder to address it.
Exposure and response prevention is a modality I use specifically for clients suffering from OCD. Being able to practice exposure to our identified fears and anxieties allows us to retrain the neuropathways that are being formed in our brain and experience less anxiety.