Amanda Nolan

Therapy is dynamic in nature. It is  characterized by constant change, various treatment goals, and progress   towards those goals. There are many benefits of therapy such as gaining more   insight of yourself, developing healthy coping strategies, and receiving   treatment for mental illness (just to name a few). At the same time, there   are risks as well. Therapy may bring up emotions and past trauma that you are   afraid to deal with; you may feel worse before feeling better; and you may be   triggered to think that you will never see the light of day. This is normal.   When these moments occur, I will encourage you to hang in there with me as we   address them gently and in a safe manner. Everything we do together will be for  you and not done to you in a harmful way.

Having overcome homelessness, family   discord, enduring sickness, and taking care of my aging parents, I bring a   unique understanding of the flood of emotions that come with tragedy, life  transitions, and moments of celebration and the need of a safe place to  process these emotions while finding healthy ways to cope with them.   Figuratively speaking, as a therapist, my hand is reaching out to you; as you   grasp it, we walk this journey together to discover issues, strengths, and areas of change.

I identify as an integrative therapist  which means I use various techniques from multiple types of therapy   modalities in my treatment approach. I practice empathy, sensitivity,   humility, and curiosity when discovering with you what might work best. I am   also a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist which means I believe that how   individuals think about a situation impacts how they feel which in turn may   determine their behavior. For example, let’s say you have to make a speech at   a conference. You think to yourself, This must be a perfect speech!  Based on this thought, you begin to feel nervous, anxious, and even a little   nauseous. You start to practice your speech over and over again; you take   things out and replace it with something else. Now you hate it instead of   having confidence in your intellect and ability to perform well. As your  therapist, my job is to help you become aware of and ultimately change those   irrational thoughts so you can feel, behave, and think differently about   situations in your life.

At this point you may be thinking, where  in the world do I fit in here? I encourage you to know that I will meet  you where you are and if you feel lost, don’t worry, I brought my binoculars and together we will look into what works best for you.

My areas of focus include depression,  anxiety, student issues, racial challenges, Christianity issues, women’s   issues, existential challenges, individual therapy, Family Therapy, Cognitive  Behavioral Therapy, and Person-Centered Therapy.

Special   Trainings

Throughout my program at Santa Clara University, I received trainings: in Suicide Prevention; California Mandated  Reporter; Student-led peer group facilitation; Grief, Loss & Trauma;   Motivational Interviewing; Clinical Assessment; At Risk Mental Health for  students (Kognito); Race-Based Traumatic Stress and Healing; Crisis   De-Escalation; Mental Health among BIPOC communities; Treating Complex Trauma;  Treating Second Generation Asian Americans; Stress Management; Mindfulness;   Multicultural Counseling; Human Development; Ethical and Legal Issues;   Psychodynamic, Marriage and couples counseling

Education

Master’s Degree Candidate - Santa Clara University 2023