Are you having trouble in life or in your relationships? I can offer the effective and compassionate support you need. I help clients to build rich, meaningful lives that are psychologically and physically more healthful. I earned my Master's degree in clinical social work from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014, and have over a decade of experience treating people presenting with a diverse range of psychological and emotional challenges. I specialize in helping people to heal their relationships and change destructive cycles. I honor the courage it takes for clients to come to therapy and explore difficult issues, and strive to create a safe and empowering environment for my clients.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
During our first session or two, I’ll ask you questions and talk with you to get to know you and understand your areas of need. I'll use the information you share and your intake questionnaire results to provide clinical recommendations and a general overview of what our work together might look like. My ultimate aim is to have you leave each session with a simple action plan: something practical to take away and use to actively make a difference in your life. My priority is to help you relate to yourself and others with with a greater sense of compassion and curiosity.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I practice with a warm, attuned approach that emphasizes self-acceptance, compassion, and change. As a therapist, I work to create a space where my clients can feel understood, safe, and cared for, in which they can effectively explore their current difficulties and challenges. I help people relate to their thoughts and feelings differently so that they can focus on building meaning and fulfillment. In addition, I have advanced training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and am passionate about helping individuals and couples to break free from negative cycles of communication and conflict. EFT research shows that 70% of couples move from marital distress to recovery and approximately 90% show significant improvements.
About Amanda Prendergast
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VirtualMy treatment methods
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
A humanistic, evidence-based approach to psychotherapy, drawing primarily from attachment theory to facilitate the creation of secure, vibrant connection with self and others. Rooted in the science of emotions and attachment, EFT helps clients identify and transform the negative processing and interaction patterns that create distress. It’s effective in treating individuals, couples, and families, addressing a wide range of issues from marital distress to individual anxiety and trauma.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
An action-oriented therapy that evolved from cognitive behavioral therapy. Rather than avoiding, denying, and struggling with their inner emotions, clients learn to accept these deeper feelings as appropriate responses to certain situations that shouldn’t prevent them from finding peace and moving forward in their lives. With this understanding, clients begin to accept their hardships and engage in commitment and action towards living a valued life.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
An evidence-based treatment that focuses on helping people to identify thoughts, feelings, and emotions that drive behaviors. I help clients to understand how and why they respond to situations in the ways they do and help them to restructure these cognitive processes so that they can engage with themselves and others with a greater sense of curiosity and resilience. I often infuse principles of mindfulness and compassion into my CBT approach.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
Psychotherapy with a strong educational component designed to provide skills for managing intense emotions and negotiating social relationships. DBT acknowledges the need for change in a context of acceptance of situations and recognizes the constant flux of feelings—many of them contradictory—without having to get caught up in them. It is continually aimed at balancing opposing forces and investigating the truth of powerful negative emotions.
Exposure Response Prevention (ERP)
A type of therapy that helps clients to practice confronting the thoughts, images, objects, and situations that make them anxious and provoke obsessions. Over time, ERP helps clients to increase their abilities to tolerate distress and anxiety without engaging in compulsive behaviors and to help them to live more value-driven lives.