nice to “meet” you!
If you’re looking for a personable mental health professional who’s totally relatable and offers science-backed ways to change, let’s GO!
My 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
- 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 (including 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 all about my self-acceptance journey here.
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.
WE WILL BE A GOOD FIT IF YOU’RE WILLING TO:
let go
ARe you ready to Let go of old, unhelpful coping behaviors that provide you relief but also interfere with building and living a meaningful life?
learn
do you want to Learn new ways to respond to your thoughts and feelings?
experiment
will you Experiment with those new ways between sessions?
my 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 breast implant illness, both experiences remind me to fully embrace life every single day.
my professional bio
Amanda Savage Brown, Ph.D., LCSW is a torchbearer for women who want mental liberation from painful pasts, feared futures, and socially-learned rulebooks. In 1999, she earned a Ph.D. in genetics. She then worked for over a decade as an officer in the United States Public Health Service. In 2013, she earned a clinically-focused MSW. She now owns a private practice where she offers psychotherapy and health coaching.
In 2018, her personal life and professional expertise aligned as she moved through her own explant journey and witnessed countless other women struggling with the deeply felt, yet poorly supported, mental, emotional, and social aspects of breast implant removal.
To address these unmet needs, Amanda wrote the award-winning self-help book, Busting Free. She also founded Busting FreeSM Health Coaching for anyone facing silhouette-altering breast surgery like mastectomy, explant, or explant to flat. It reclaims women’s hearts, minds, and bodies from society’s “breast rulebook,” so they can live the rest of their lives with unshakeable self-acceptance.