Hello! I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I work with adult couples and individuals who have come across some blocks on their path to happiness and fulfillment. Whether it be a painful past, a troublesome present, or a fearful future, I can help you create the relationships, with others and yourself, that you desire to have. I have 5+ years of professional practice and 50+ years of personal experience!
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
Our first session will entail you doing most of the talking. I will ask questions as I feel necessary, but I want you to have time to share your story with me. The first appointment is our introduction to each other and time for us to discover if we are a good fit to work together. For therapy to be effective and beneficial to you, you must feel comfortable, heard, and emotionally safe sharing details of your life with a virtual stranger. I am attuned to that and will do my best to create that space for you, in the first session and each subsequent appointment.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
Don't you just hate questions like this? I wonder, "Are they answering based on what they think I want to hear, how they feel about themselves, what clients have shared about their experiences working together, or something else?". But, I need to answer this question and I will answer it from my perspective of myself and what clients have shared with me. You will be heard. Your feelings will be validated. I will be quiet when it is best and speak up when it's important for your journey. I will honor your experience as unique and not assume. Clients have shared they feel understood. I do not talk about emotional safety as much as I simply provide it; they never feel judged by me and feel free to express every emotion. I encourage that. They appreciate that while I have the education and training behind me, guiding me, no session is "cookie cutter" and taken out of a book; I have lived life and that provides comfort to them in feeling less alone. One last strength of mine is a sense of humor. Therapy can be very heavy, even daunting or overwhelming, but imagine purging feelings, releasing what has been pent up for so long, and ending it with a smile, a chuckle, or even a full-on laugh. I find laughter through tears incredibly satisfying and cathartic! I can continue, but wouldn't it be more to your benefit to meet with me and find out for yourself?
About Amy Johns
Serves ages
Licensed in
Accepts
Address
3707 East Southern Avenue, Mesa, AZ 85206, 2010Appointments
Virtual & in-personMy treatment methods
Compassion Focused
Whether working with individuals or couples, I create a compassionate space for my clients. Everyone will feel heard and recognized, their feelings validated, and offered compassionate challenging when necessary.
Attachment-based
Clients often wonder why they continue to carry past trauma and hurt with them. Attachment-based therapy can offer insights as to why and how to release the pain. When we truly understand why we uniquely hurt, we can then move towards healing.
Couples Counseling
When working with couples I use a combination of EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) and the Gottman Method. Just as no two people are the same, no two clients are either. I tailor my work with all clients based on their needs, utiliizing one or both of these modalities.
Grief Therapy
There are times in our lives when we are grieving and we don't even realize it. We have become so stuck in grief only around death that we do not realize that a lost relationship, job, friendship, etc., can be incredibly painful. We do not allow ourselves to grieve, but then do not understand why we are struggling with "life" so much. I will walk with you on this journey. I will offer tools to help manage your feelings, while encouraging you to feel all that you are feeling.
Solution Focused Brief Treatment
I have found that some clients shy away from therapy because of the "feelings". While feelings will always play an impactful role in therapy, Solution Focused Therapy can be a more direct approach and one some clients feel more comfortable with. It is just as it sounds. Instead of putting too much energy into the problem(s), we focus on the solution(s).