nice to “meet” you!
If you’re looking for a personable mental health professional who’s genuinely relatable and offers science-backed ways to change, let’s GO!
Specialties
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps with human suffering no matter how it’s labeled. When using its strategies outside of psychotherapy, ACT refers to Acceptance & Commitment Training. Either way, as an ACT practitioner, I’m less concerned with labels, diagnoses, and how you appear to behave on the outside. I’m much more concerned with what you get (or get to avoid) by doing (or not doing) whatever it is that keeps you struggling.
For example, you may people-please because you fear being judged. Or you may go along to get along because you’re very empathic and prefer not to feel other people’s disappointment. In these scenarios, your outward behaviors look the same, but what’s going on for you behind-the-scenes is quite different.
That’s why we’ll look at what you do, think, and feel in both your inner and outer life. Then, I help you experience new ways to be with your thoughts and feelings. I ensure you understand how to use those strategies in your real life, so you can do the things that matter to you.
Our work helps you be who you want to be-no matter what your mind says about it.
Though ACT allows me to work with many human experiences, I am especially effective at helping:
- people-pleasers and highly sensitive or empathic people
- people who struggle with anxiety or body image
- adults who had hard childhoods
- people moving through grief, loss, or difficult change (e.g., divorce, empty-nesting, death, silhouette-altering breast surgeries)
WHY THESE SPECIALTIES?
I always say “your truth is all you need.” So my honest answer about why I gravitate toward these experiences is that I’ve been there myself. I may not know your exact experiences or lived your life, but I’m a highly sensitive gal who has personally dealt with the things on my specialty list. I understand the feelings that come with them far beyond the clinical level.
You can visit my blog to learn more about my approach to women’s wellbeing, people-pleasing, adverse childhood experiences, anxiety, and adjusting to difficult change, grief, or loss. It also offers many articles for women moving through explant or explant-to-flat.
Bottom line – I’m good at this work…and I enjoy it. Though I can’t end your suffering, I promise that I’ll honor it and teach you things that help you live your life despite the inevitability of inner pain. If you’ve read this far, it probably means you’re ready for some real, meaningful, and lasting change.
personal bio
I enjoy spending time outside as much as possible. I love sunlight sparkling on water, moonglow is even better. The sound of leaves rustling in a breeze is my favorite. I’m a total bird nerd.
I consider myself a southerner, having grown up in Orlando, FL and then spending over two decades in Atlanta, GA. I’ve lived outside Chicago since 2017 and winters are super hard on me because the sun abandons us for weeks at a time!
I’m a hard core Star Wars fan. I’m pretty sure I’m totally in love with Edward Cullen. And I would go back to school again if I got a letter from Hogwarts!
I’m a wife, mom, daughter, and sister. Although our nest is emptying out, I’m still “momma cat” to our two Siberian Forest cats.
Though I’m a survivor of sibling suicide and someone familiar with chronic pain, both experiences remind me to fully embrace life every single day.
professional bio
Amanda Savage Brown, PhD, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) practitioner, author, speaker, and meditation and Qigong teacher. Her work centers on helping people understand the often unseen processes that keep them stuck and develop greater psychological flexibility to live in ways that matter to them.
Amanda’s professional path began in science. She earned a PhD in Genetics from Emory University and spent 12 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an officer in the U.S. Public Health Service before earning her MSW from the University of Georgia. During her final semester, she completed a concentration practicum at Skyland Trail, where she was introduced to ACT in 2015. She later completed a two-year clinical residency at Metropolitan Counseling Services while working toward independent licensure.
ACT has been the foundation of Amanda’s clinical work for more than a decade. She has pursued extensive training in ACT and Relational Frame Theory, including training with ACT’s original founders, and has been a member of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) for over a decade. She has also provided ACT-focused clinical supervision and especially enjoys helping other clinicians deepen their understanding and application of ACT.
In 2023, ACBS honored Amanda with its Outstanding Social Worker Award for her original application of ACT to an emerging women’s health issue. That work became her ACT-based self-help book, Busting Free, winner of the Best Independent Book Award for Women’s Well-Being and endorsed by internationally recognized ACT trainer and author Russ Harris, whom Amanda considers a professional mentor.
Amanda’s work has increasingly expanded into embodied and contemplative practice. She completed the Masters of Wisdom & Meditation Teacher Training with davidji in 2025 and Level 1 Qigong Teacher Certification through Yoga Farm Ithaca in 2026. She now teaches weekly community Qigong and meditation classes alongside her psychotherapy practice.
Across psychotherapy, ACT, meditation, and Qigong, a common thread guides Amanda’s work: helping people change their relationship with what happens inside them so they have greater freedom to engage with the life happening around them.