Amy Leary, LCSW, LCAS

Everyone deserves support. I nurture your skills for self-awareness and self-compassion. These can be powerful catalysts for change.

I work with adults who want to overcome or cope with difficult emotions, restore hope and confidence, repair or build relationships, create healthier patterns, or establish and maintain recovery. Are you seeking relief, insight, courage? Safe support? Skills for change? To slow down, shift priorities, speak up, or step out? Some come with ideas about what they want or need. Others don't. Some are just hurting, overwhelmed, at wits end, and don't know what to do next. Therapy works for both.

I'm passionate about sparking and supporting recovery and wellness even when people think it's beyond their reach. Sometimes what we think is the problem is only a symptom. The process of discovery, broadening perspective, looking and seeing together, can be transformative. Insight fosters compassion. When we can bring both clarity and kindness to our challenges, change becomes more possible.

Since 1994, I've worked in assessment, counseling, crisis intervention and resource connection for diverse needs. For most of my 15 years in agencies prior to private practice, I helped adults overcoming addiction and mental illness move from crisis to stability. My work focused at different times on young adults transitioning to independence, teenagers overcoming crisis, and adults with disabilities and histories of trauma and loss. I've coordinated care in inpatient behavioral health and outpatient substance abuse treatment settings, and understand medication is sometimes needed for recovery.

Mindfulness. I value paying attention on purpose to present moment experience. CBT, ACT and DBT all use mindfulness skills because of their effectiveness. I’m trained in these and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.

Emotional literacy. I value emotional awareness and the work of Brené Brown who teaches “language does not just communicate what we’re feeling, it shapes it.” I did both her Rising Strong and Daring Way group processes and they inform my approach to emotions.

Body awareness. I value the body’s innate healing power. From training in the Trauma Resiliency Model, EMDR, and yoga for trauma, anxiety, and addiction recovery, I incorporate somatic experiencing skills for trauma healing and coping with traumatic stress.

Integrative Health. I value functional approaches that promote food as medicine, movement to reduce anxiety or improve mood, and social support to strengthen change efforts; I’m trained in MH Integrative Medicine.

Integrated Care. Adverse childhood events impact adult physical and mental health and make co-occurring conditions common. I'm experienced in behavioral health integration with healthcare settings and I value coordinating care for co-occurring conditions with medical or psychiatric providers.