Trauma Therapy In-Person | Tucson, Arizona
About Amanda
My work as a therapist is grounded in evidence-based practice, while also informed by my lived experiences as a trauma survivor. It is my life’s work to support others in developing lives rooted in freedom, safety, and self-trust.
What I Believe About Therapy
Healing begins with relationship.
Healing alone is often difficult. Trauma, grief, anxiety, burnout, major life transitions, and other challenging experiences shape the way we relate to ourselves and the world around us. Yet we don't always recognize the patterns because we are living inside of them.
What makes those patterns visible is the therapeutic relationship. A steady, grounded presence that does not flinch from what emerges. When you sit with someone who can hold space for your experience—not to judge it, fix it, or analyze it from a distance, but to be with you in it and help you move through it—something begins to shift. The patterns that once felt automatic begin to loosen their grip, creating space for greater awareness, choice, and self-trust.
From that foundation, deeper work becomes possible. We can explore the experiences, beliefs, and adaptations that have shaped your life. We can work with trauma through approaches such as EMDR and other evidence-based therapies. We can draw on moments of awe, insight, and perspective that expand what feels possible. And we can integrate different therapeutic approaches flexibly and collaboratively, because healing is not one-size-fits-all.
Most importantly, we can do this work with respect for the whole of who you are—your identity, relationships, values, culture, worldview, and lived experience. I believe therapy is most effective when it honors the complexity of being human and helps you develop a clearer, more trusting relationship with yourself.
Professional Background
My clinical work includes individual therapy, group facilitation, and intensive outpatient treatment at Zen Institute, where I serve as the Associate Clinical Director. Through this work, I have had the privilege of sitting with people from diverse backgrounds and life experiences.
One of the most meaningful lessons I have learned as a therapist is that insight alone is rarely enough. Lasting change often comes not simply from understanding our experiences, but from experiencing ourselves differently.
This understanding shapes my approach to therapy. I integrate evidence-based approaches, including EMDR, Narrative Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Gestalt Therapy, and existential therapy, while remaining responsive to the unique needs, identity, values, and lived experience of each individual. My goal is not to provide answers, but to create the conditions for deeper understanding, healing, and a more trusting relationship with oneself.
I hold a Master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Adams State University and a Bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Colorado State University. I am a National Certified Counselor (NCC), EMDR-trained therapist, and Licensed Associate Counselor in Arizona.
Why Threshold Counseling?
My work in intensive outpatient treatment has allowed me to witness both the challenges and resilience people bring to the healing process. Again and again, I have met individuals who are insightful, thoughtful, and deeply self-aware, yet still feel stuck in patterns they can understand but struggle to change.
Those experiences reinforced something I had already begun to suspect: healing is not simply about gaining insight. It is about creating the conditions for a different experience of ourselves. A space where we can slow down, listen more closely, and begin to trust our own experience.
Threshold Counseling was created to offer that kind of space in a traditional outpatient setting.
The name reflects my belief that meaningful change often begins at a threshold—a moment when we step beyond old patterns, inherited expectations, and self-judgments into a deeper relationship with ourselves. It is a place of curiosity rather than certainty; of exploration rather than prescription, and of healing that honors the complexity of being human.