Amanda Umlah, MS, MSW, LCSW, CRAADC

Specializations: Substance Abuse, Trauma/PTSD, Eating Disorders (ED), Borderline Personality Disorder, Dissociative Disorders, Depression, Anxiety, Domestic Violence

Treatment Modalities: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy, Psychoanalytic, Expressive, Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Schema Therapy, Trauma-Informed Yoga, and Motivational Interviewing

Certifications: DBT

Sometimes you can feel like you are all alone in life. Like no one can understand the deep internal pain you are feeling and you don’t know what to do. You may feel hopeless, stuck, thinking life will never get better…

This is a common theme among many of the clients who walk through my door. There is a great need for a place where they can feel safe, secure, and validated. I believe I am able to provide this for my clients. A place where you can truly feel understood, a haven where you don’t have to feel so alone.

My top priority is providing compassionate care while still presenting honest feedback, when needed. I continuously seek out new evidence-based treatments to be able to individualize treatment plans to best fit needs rather than providing a “one size fits all” plan. I also believe in complete collaboration between provider and client. We will work together to come up with the best plan to fit your needs for wherever you are at in your therapeutic process.

Before coming to St. Louis DBT, I obtained significant experience working in residential and intensive outpatient substance abuse and eating disorder treatment centers. I also specialize in the treatment of trauma, particularly developmental and complex trauma, utilizing Prolonged Exposure Therapy with the incorporation of Trauma Informed Yoga and Internal Family Systems (IFS) techniques, when needed.

I believe every individual has the power to change at any given point during their lifetime. Someone just has to reach the crucial point of not wanting their life to continue going on this way and believing as Carl Jung said, “I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.”