Meet Amanda!

Positionality: I identify as an Afro-Latina cishet woman.

​

My Background & Approach:

Navigating today’s world can be challenging enough—finding culturally competent therapeutic support shouldn’t add to that burden. I am committed to providing a safe, empathetic, and compassionate space where we can collaboratively explore and address your concerns. Using a relational, trauma-informed, and strengths-based approach, I strive to truly understand your unique journey and support your path toward health, wellness, and growth.

​

As a therapist, I bring a social justice lens to my work, recognizing the impact that systems of oppression and marginalization can have on mental health. I am dedicated to offering culturally competent care that honors your identity and lived experiences. Together, we will explore how these dynamics influence your personal challenges, while also empowering you to navigate and resist these barriers with resilience and strength.

​

I recognize that trust is at the core of an effective therapeutic relationship, and I am dedicated to earning your trust through genuine care, understanding, and respect for your lived experiences. Together, we will work to create a supportive environment where you can reflect on how these experiences have shaped your life. By building a foundation of psychoeducation, emotional tools, acceptance, and self-compassion, we can empower you to move forward with greater clarity and confidence.

​

Taking the step to seek therapy is an act of courage, and I’m here to walk alongside you on this journey toward healing and self-discovery.

​

Theoretical & Clinical Orientation:

I specialize in issues related to trauma, intimate partner violence, culture, identity/ exploration, and gender affirming care. By using a social work lens, I not only look at the individual’s access to resources, but how a lack of resources can impact a person’s mental and emotional wellbeing. My therapeutic approach encompasses a wide variety of approaches including, but not limited to, the following:

 

• Cultural Competence:  Differences in cultures, backgrounds, gender expression, and sexual orientation make the world a better place to live in. As an Afro-latina, my cultures are the cornerstone of my identity. My therapeutic approach is based on understanding your culture/cultural influences and their impact on your mental health while still practicing cultural humility with identities outside of my own. 

• ​Systems approach: Oppressive legislation has impacted the mental and emotional well being of minorities in this country for centuries. By understanding how these systems continue to disenfranchise marginalized populations, we can work together to find access to resources, process the pain of oppression, and find ways to create meaningful change physically and emotionally. 
  Psychoeducation: Understanding how your presenting concerns manifest physiologically is the first step in addressing any issue. Knowing how trauma, anxiety, depression, etc.. can impact a person neurocognitively and somatically helps separate the individual from their presenting problem. Once we can begin to identify what is occurring somatically and emotionally, we can work to implement proper skills interventions to address these concerns.

• Self-Compassion/Strength-Based: It takes courage and bravery to seek mental health services. I will work with you to help you realize that you are so much more than your struggles with mental health. Highlighting your positive attributes can help provide an alternative, kinder lens to view yourself when feeling low. Speaking compassionately to/about yourself in spite of your mental health concerns provides you the ability to stand strong against intrusive, self-deprecating thoughts.