Prior to moving to Santa Fe in 2013, Amy was a full-time psychotherapist and clinical social worker at The Trauma Center (Brookline, MA) and its sister subsidiary, Metrowest Behavioral Health Center (Acton, MA). Headed by Medical Director Bessel van Der Kolk, M.D., and several other thought leaders in the treatment of trauma, such as: Dr. Margaret Blaustein (ARC Framework), Dr. Liz Warner (SMART therapy for children), Anne Westcott (lead trainer for Boston Sensorimotor Psychotherapy), and Joseph Spinazzola (diagnosis of Disorders of Extreme Stress), Deborah Korn (lead EMDR trainer), and many other expert practitioners and researchers in the treatment of trauma, Amy was fortunate to train amongst and  learn from some of the top leaders in the neurobiology and treatment of trauma and post-traumatic growth. She learned the Adolescent-Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA) for a 3-year SAMSHA grant where the team worked together to create a trauma-informed variation of the motivational interviewing approach for teens who have addiction issues.

Since 2010, Amy has had the honor of working with clients who share their painful memories and oftentimes painful daily existence, and to journey with them in finding and developing resiliency within. Many clients who have experienced childhood trauma, neglect, or an episode(s) of trauma that may seem long since past, are still affected in their daily lives, relationships, and identity. Amy prefers to work collaboratively with clients, seeing them as already whole and knowledgable within themselves; she focuses on neurobiological and post-traumatic growth interventions to support clients in discovering and developing their own skills to fully be present and emotionally regulated in their lives, relationships, and careers.

Amy earned her Master of Social Work degree at Simmons College in 2010. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 1995 with a dual degree in Comparative Religion and English Literature which started her exploration into the study of phenomenology. Phenomenology is the study of phenomena and their meaning, or “What is the meaning of the phenomenon to the meaning-maker?” This fit very well with her degree in Social Work, which examines the client within their systems and their relationship to those systems (identity, relational, career, family). Prior to becoming a clinical social worker, she had left a long and successful career (1995-2008) in the technology sector as an editor and project manager at publishing and telecom companies, including Adobe, Inc. While an editor, she found herself thinking about phenomenology and consciousness studies from her undergraduate studies in comparative religion. She ultimately realized that she was interested in always supporting others in their connection to themselves and to one-another, and also supporting clients in exploring their relationship to their own experiences. While at Simmons School of Social Work, she had a strong focus in policy and studying the neurobiology of trauma. She was an Albert Schweitzer Fellow (2009-2010) and created a trauma-informed mindfulness program with adjudicated teenagers in the West Roxbury area through the Trinity Boston Counseling Center. She completed a program evaluation of her fellowship project and presented on the topic of mindfulness, trauma-informed interventions, and emotional/relational regulation skills, to parole officers, department of children/family services, and youth adjudication system in Boston.