Amber Louise Howard

Hello. My name is Amber and I am keen to work with you into the future. Firstly, I would like to congratulate you on your courage to seek a psychologist to help you with your current challenges. Secondly, I would like to share a little about myself to help you with this decision-making process.

I have over 25 years of experience working with a range of clients, including children, adolescents, adults, and their families in Australia and the United Kingdom to address a variety of life challenges. As a mature-aged student, I now have over 17 years of experience working as a clinical psychologist and over 15 years of experience supervising people who want to become a psychologist or a psychology supervisor. That means, I have a real interest in helping a range of clients to design a pathway to achieve their goals.

I draw from my variety of work and life experiences to support all clients. I have worked in mental health rehabilitation accommodation settings, mental health education, training, and employment settings, drug and alcohol rehabilitation accommodation settings, the disability sector, homeless sector, and prison service. I have also worked in child health research centres, a number of WA universities, non-government training organisations, a variety of government agencies, with more recent experience running my own business.

I love helping people address their sleep difficulties, and view sleep as foundational to an individual’s overall health, wellbeing, and life satisfaction. I also find it hugely rewarding to help clients find long term solutions to manage their sleep, and put worry about sleep at the back of their mind. I have also personally experienced my own sleep challenges since childhood and underwent surgery in 2019 to address related challenges and now use a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine to support my breathing at night.

I see clients not only for their sleep difficulties, but also to address a range of other life challenges. This can include supporting clients to manage their stress, adjustments to life transitions, interpersonal challenges such as work conflict, transition, and/or domestic violence, depression, and anxiety, including social anxiety, generalised anxiety (GAD), fears/phobias, and trauma (e.g. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: PTSD or complex trauma: CPTSD). I also have extensive experience working with cognitively and neurologically diverse clients (e.g. clients who have received diagnosis of intellectual disability (ID), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and/or Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD).

As a therapist and supervisor I am highly skilled, as well as kind, caring, and supportive. I have a personal connection with the LTGBQIA+ community and am respectful, non-judgemental, and welcome client diversity. I also use a range of evidence-based therapies, which are proven to support longer lasting change. My preferred therapies are Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I), Eye Movement and Desensitisation Processes (EMDR) for trauma, Solution Focused Therapy (SFT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI), and Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) strategies. Additionally, I have training in Family Systems Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and am currently training in Schema Therapy.

I look forward to meeting you and having the opportunity to learn more about your current situation and goals. I also look forward to empowering you to connect to your current resilience, build upon your coping strategies, and help you to achieve meaningful change.