Hi There!
Let me introduce myself and tell you a little about me…
My Approach
Holistic, Integrative, Evidence-Based, & Cutting Edge. My two passions in life are learning & helping others. I rigorously seek out the most effective trainings in my field to stay on top of the best treatments for a multitude of life’s challenges. Mental health is not something that can be treated by talk alone, although it can be very helpful! My style integrates body approaches that help regulate nervous system function to help you live from a place of ease and flow in your body. It also includes a year long study in nutrition and how food can play a major role in ailments like depression and anxiety. Combining nearly two decades of training and experience, I have cultivated an eclectic treatment that can be tailored to your specific needs and desires.
My Story
We can all agree that this human experience can be difficult and challenging at times. I’ve not met anyone yet that hasn’t confronted struggle in life. Counseling means that you don’t have to do it alone. It can also help you challenge ways you see the world, ways that helped you survive at one point, but are no longer serving you as an adult.
Being a counselor has been one of the biggest privileges of my life. It’s also my passion, which means I dedicate many hours per year learning, training, and experiencing my own growth in therapy. This allows me to bring my best self to the counseling room to help you experience your best self in life.
Born in central Kentucky, I grew up playing on my grandparent’s farm. To this day my love for nature and animals is still an important part of my life. After graduating from Centre college, I moved to Austin, TX for graduate school. At Baylor University I obtained a Masters of Divinity and a Masters in Social Work. I spent 20 years in the Texas sunshine, growing my private practice and learning in an area where therapy is cutting-edge. In Austin, I partnered with a local psychiatrist to open Austin Center for Psychological Care, trauma-informed Intensive Outpatient Program. After years of friendship with a holistic, integrative psychiatrist in Houston, Dr. Carlos Vargas, I decided to move. In Houston, I began to grow the counseling department for his clinic, Benjamin’s Behavioral Health. Sharing our passion for holistic, integrative care we joined forces and opened Azurite Counseling & Wellness, a one-of-a-kind, trauma-informed, DBT based Intensive Outpatient Program that also provides services in Spanish.
Although I miss the warm weather, Texas wasn’t always sunny for me. Early in my career I was engaged and planning for a happy future. Just before the wedding we learned that my fiance had an incurable neurological disease, Huntingtons Disease. Watching him decline and my dreams fade, taught me more about the human experience, suffering, grief, and joy then any training I could have attended. Desiring to live closer to family, I made the decision to move home and now spend time between Lexington, KY and Houston, TX. Relocating back to beautiful Lexington area was a wonderful experience. We truly live in one of the most beautiful areas of our country. I look forward to working with you!
My Values & Beliefs
The Counseling Room is a Non-Judgmental Space
Your struggles will be met with the utmost compassion and understanding. I am here to help you, not place judgement on you.
You Are Not A Diagnosis
You are a uniquely beautiful person. Together we will start to work on the traumas, struggles, and heartaches that have covered over your authentic self.
Trauma Can Effect Our Physical Health
Trauma or nervous system dysregulation can stay “stuck” in our bodies causing physical health issues such as migraines, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and irritable bowl syndrome. When you work on trauma you are literally healing your physical body.
Your Therapist's Training & Education Matter
Psychotherapy is far more than asking how you feel. The field of neurobiology is changing rapidly and therefore providing great insight into how counseling can literally re-wire our brain and provide you with greater healing at a faster pace.
Words Shared from Current & Past Clients
I started working with Amanda at one of the most desperate and frightening times of my life. I was extremely ill with depression and anxiety and had little hope of surviving it. I believe I’m still alive today because of Amanda’s therapeutic talent, deep sense of compassion and commitment to my recovery. Amanda is kind, smart, intuitive and has an uncanny ability to get to the root of an issue that takes the fear out of exploring it and getting to the other side of it. I’ve grown exponentially and have become much more whole-hearted with her help. She’s an invaluable companion in my journey of self-discovery and living a life I’m truly learning to love. She’s a gift from God.
Amanda is so calm and reassuring. She handles my wild swings of emotion from talking through childhood trauma with grace and kindness.
My Curriculum Vitae
Training & Assisting
8/23 FMHP, Level 1 & 2 (in progress).
4/21 Embodied Recovery, Level 1, Paula Scataloni & Rachel Lewis
3/21 NARM-Post Master Class (in progress), Laurence Heller, PhD
9/20 NARM- Master Class 2 of 3, Laurence Heller, PhD
1/21- Covid, Post ICU, Ventilator Trauma SE Master Class, Assistant
10/20-Syndromes & Chronic Pain Master Class, Assistant
07/20- Interpersonal Neurobiology, Mindsight Institute, Dan Siegel, MD
06/20-Birth’s Hidden Legacy, Annie Brooke
08/19- Concussion & PTSD, BASE Training Assistant
08/18- Concussions and PTSD, BASE specialty training
03/18- NeuroAffective Relational Model for Developmental Trauma
03/18-Eye of the Needle, Somatic Experiencing for Near Death, Surgical, and Anesthesia Trauma
03/18- Nutrition Health Coach Certification, Integrative Institute for Nutrition
09/17- Body & Somatic Education (BASE) certification, and BASE international assistant
10/16- Somatic Experiencing, SEP certification, and SE assistant
4/15- Depression, Aggression, Triumph & Breath: SE Master Class, Peter Levine, PhD
1/15- Attachment Styles & Relationship Trauma Training, Diane Poole Heller, PhD
3/14- Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), Edna Foa, PhD
5/13- Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) Externship & Cores Skills
5/13- Gottman Method Level I, II, & III
1/15- Transforming Difficult Moments in Therapy
9/13- Radically Open DBT Introduction
8/13- Dialectical Behavior Therapy Intensive
6/11- DBT Updated to Emotion Regulation & Crisis Survival Skills
10/10- Dialectical Behavior Therapy Foundational
Education & Employment
Co-Owner & Clinical Director of Azurite Counseling & Wellness, Houston TX
Co-Owner & Clinical Director of Austin Center for Psychological Care, Austin, TX
2008-Present, Private Practice
*Licensed in Kentucky (254619) & Texas (50134)
*Licensed Clinical Supervisor: Kentucky & Texas
05/2007 Baylor University, MDiv
05/2006 Baylor University, MSW
08/2002- Centre College. Double Major, BA in Sociology &
Religion
I would love to hear from you!
AMANDA HUFFMAN, LCSWS, MDiv, SEP
Psychotherapist, Somatic Experiencing Practioner, BASE Practioner, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach