Amanda Boyer
I work with clients struggling with unhelpful or painful thoughts, feelings or memories, and who feel anxious or uncertain of how to handle or let them go. My goal is for clients to feel more present, connected and confident; living a life that's more aligned with their personal values.
My goal is for clients to feel more present, connected and confident; living a life that's more aligned with their personal values.
I have had the privilege of being a therapist for 15 years with experience including anxiety, depression, trauma and relationship issues. Self worth, relational challenges and navigating stress are important areas I tend to focus on improving with clients. I am also trained in financial therapy and love adding that in to our work where it's helpful.
First session
I focus on getting to know what I can about new clients in the first session, and exploring their goals and what they hope to get out of therapy.
Strengths
I am endlessly curious, and I make an effort to meet clients wherever they are, whether that means listening quietly while they process, or giving gentle and direct feedback where helpful.
Ideal clients
My ideal client is someone who is open and willing for therapy. I often see individuals who are high achieving and wanting to explore deeper issues and feelings. Goals may include processing trauma, coping with current stress or anxiety, or working on improving communication or relationships. The life history of my clients tends to vary greatly, but also often has threads of similar experiences woven in.
Treatment methods
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy has resonated with me since I was first introduced to it 8 years ago. It fits easily into the work I do with clients, allowing me to validate their experiences and give examples of how to practice seeing things differently. There are also many helpful resources available to support the work done in sessions and I sometimes share with clients to allow them space to integrate and make their own meaning of the concepts.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I often use CBT to begin to have a shared language with clients about thoughts and how they can help or harm us with even just slight variations. Doing this from the start allows us both to call out when there are cognitive distortions coming up, such as black/white or all/nothing thinking, minimizing the positive, or mind reading. We also work on challenging and reframing certain thoughts, explicitly or in more subtle ways.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
I love some good DBT skills for distress tolerance and emotional regulation. And when we get to also bring in interpersonal effectiveness, having clarity about when to ask for something or say no, and being able to see that 2 opposite things can be true at the same time, these concepts can be life changing. I had the change to take 2 full weeks of training on DBT back in 2019 and it was extremely beneficial to see how it can be adapted and useful with so many clients.
EMDR
I'm an EMDR certified therapist and I think this technique, and how it has changed me personally as well, allows me to stay present no matter what comes up in sessions. Even if actual by-the-book reprocessing is not a step taken with every client, EMDR provides a thorough way to explore and organize what is happening in the present, how the past might be influencing the present, and how clients want to be able to feel and handle things moving forward. I offer this if clients feel really stuck, despite trying to work on something with other techniques and not seeing the change they have wanted.
Location
Virtual sessions
Identifies as
Top specialties
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Licensed in
- ConnecticutLicense 46.003580
- FloridaLicense MH13325
- PennsylvaniaLicense PC011314