Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Hearne
Hi Amanda, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Becoming a therapist is not something I always had my sights set on. I thought I would go to college, maybe become a lawyer, get involved with law enforcement in some capacity to follow in my family’s footsteps. However, the 2010 recession didn’t fare well for job hunting after college and I decided to take some time to think about what I really wanted to do with my life. Two years later, I found myself in my first class as a student learning how to become a therapist and help people through challenging seasons in their lives. I still wasn’t convinced this was my “calling” but I went with it anyway. Through my master’s program I learned SO much about why I am who I am and what truly makes me tick. It was the first time I felt like I ever really go to know myself. I cried my way through MANY classes, and in the end, I was able to connect the dots that I was exactly where I needed to be. My final year was spent researching and writing my thesis about people who have experienced trauma in childhood and the correlation to Fibromyalgia – something my mother has struggled with for many years. In my research I learned about an amazing therapy called EMDR. And that was the beginning of my journey as an EMDR therapist. After getting trained in this therapy, I was able to help survivors of intimate partner violence grow to experience empowerment they have never experienced before. Like, life-changing stuff. Then, in 2017, I experienced the scariest and most horrifying event in my entire life. I survived the Route 91 mass shooting in Las Vegas, NV. My entire world was turned on its head, but I knew (and my family knew) I needed to get into therapy immediately. This is when I booked my first EMDR therapy session as a client and showed up for the second hardest experience of my life – healing from the first. It changed my life. It saved my life. Once I was able to return to helping others, I moved on after becoming a fully licensed therapist and worked for a group practice that solely offered EMDR therapy. As a therapist, and as a client, I can speak from both experiences that this therapy SAVES LIVES. Eventually I started my own practice, Live & Align: The EMDR Healing Practice where I plan to continue helping others who have or continue to still struggle with PTSD, Acute Stress Disorder, Anxiety, and any kind of self-worth trauma. I am so lucky to do what I love every day.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It was difficult having to take a break and focus on my own healing (from the story mentioned previously) so I could continue to effectively help others. Not to mention the actual therapy I had to do to heal myself.
We’ve been impressed with Live and Align: The EMDR Healing Practice, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Live and Align: The EMDR Healing Practice is centered around the goal of helping others heal their trauma so they can live their life and align with all versions of themselves, past and present. I specialize in helping individual adults heal wounds and trauma that presently cause symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and self-worth challenges. I have specialized training and use a recent traumatic event protocol that specifically helps individuals who have suffered a trauma within the last 6 months. How this is different is that it is thought that before 6. months, trauma still has a chance to be adaptively integrated into the brain and nervous system and completely prevent it from getting “stuck”. This is best for those who have experienced loss due to natural disaster, mass shootings, assault, witnessing violence and car accidents to name a few. What sets me apart is my personal experience. I know what it’s like to wake up from night-terrors, feel gut-wrenching survivors guilt, hypervigilance, disconnection from the world and people around me, and anxiety – among others. I’m so proud of the messaging of my brand because I truly feel we must heal the parts of selves in order to feel fully aligned and integrated as a whole. I offer a Prep for EMDR Success e-guide that is 27-pages jam packed with everything you need to get prepared for the journey of EMDR therapy. I want clients to be empowered to build a safe foundation to work from, because this therapy is no joke and one must have a solid foundation to stand on when doing this work. I also have a freebie on my website for subscribers. I am 100% virtual for California and Texas residents.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The quicker you take judgement out of your life and process, the faster you can get to living the life you want.
Pricing:
- $220 per 55-minute individual EMDR therapy session
- $375 per 90-minute individual EMDR therapy session (for established clients)
- $18 e-guide – Prep for EMDR Success: The Essentials
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.liveandaligntherapy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theemdrhealingpractice/
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/amanda-hearne-emdr-for-ptsd-anxiety-ca-tx-dallas-tx/1334956
Image Credits
Kate Gardner
