Amanda (Amy) Richardson (she/her)

Anxiety is often the result of a hyperactive fear response system, which can happen for a variety of reasons. I believe the best approach to treating anxiety is a combination of body-based skills that encourage developing a felt sense of safety in the body, as well as cognitive skills that tackle the distorted thoughts that may be contributing to feelings of anxiety.

Depression is a heavy burden that many people bear for a multitude of reasons. In my experience, there is often much more under the surface of depression than initially meets the eye, and it is important to explore that in order to resolve the true issues. I believe in providing psychoeducation, teaching coping skills, and helping people get in touch with their authentic self so that they may live a freer life, true to themselves.

Trauma is an insidious and silent epidemic that gives rise to many health problems (not just mental health issues!) over the lifespan. I believe the most important thing in trauma therapy is helping the client to feel safe within themselves, to integrate the different parts of themselves that may be acting out and causing distress, and giving them skills to help manage the symptoms they experience.

My approach to trauma therapy is one that cultivates a felt sense of safety in the client, connecting them to their body in a way that is nonthreatening. I provide ample psychoeducation and work with clients to help them integrate their experiences, all the while using coping and grounding skills to ease the process. I believe the therapeutic relationship is of the utmost importance and is the foundation upon which healing can take place.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy posits that emotions and behaviors are the result of our thoughts about people, situations, and experiences, and if we are able to change our thoughts we can change our emotional reactions. We all have core beliefs that color how we view ourselves, the world, and other people, so getting in touch with what those are can help us figure out how we might need to change our perspective in order to lead a more fulfilling life.

The most fundamental relationships in our lives are those that we form early on, with our caregivers. They provide the scaffolding upon which we base our interactions with other people, the world, and ourselves. If a caregiver does not meet the basic physical and emotional needs of the child, then wounds are formed that influence how we relate to everything in our lives going forward. I work with people to understand how their attachment patterns might be influencing their life currently.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and PTSD symptoms. EMDR is a structured therapy that encourages the client to focus briefly on a trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories.