Amanda Antenucci (she/her)

EMDR

As an EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Certified Therapist, and Basic Training Assistant for over four cohorts, I possess an advanced understanding of the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. Beyond clinical practice, I provide consultation to other clinicians to refine their EMDR skills. I have extensive experience using EMDR to resolve complex trauma, chronic health issues, performance anxiety, and identity-based harm, among other physiological roots of distress.

Psychodynamic 

Trained at the Smith College School for Social Work (MSW, 2004), my approach is rooted in a clinically intensive biopsychosocial framework. This model emphasizes ego psychology and object relations, focusing on how early life experiences and unconscious processes shape current relational patterns. I help clients explore these underlying dynamics to gain insight and facilitate deep characterological change rather than just temporary symptom management.

Attachment Theory

Building a secure therapeutic relationship is paramount to my work. I specialize in identifying how early attachment injuries inform adult patterns of relating and self-regulation. By providing an affirming, attuned environment, I help clients move toward "earned security." This approach allows for the processing of relational trauma and the development of more adaptive, grounded responses to the present, ultimately fostering a more settled and resilient internal state.

PTSD

Research demonstrates that EMDR therapy is an effective, evidence-based treatment for PTSD. I have worked extensively with both complex, long-term trauma and single-incident events. My approach moves beyond symptom management to target the physiological roots of the trauma, facilitating a shift from chronic survival mode toward a more settled and secure internal state. By reprocessing maladaptively stored memories, the brain’s natural healing process can integrate the past and reduce distress.

Gender Identity

I recognize gender diversity as a natural expression of human experience, not a mental disorder. My practice provides an affirming attachment relationship that respects individual expertise on one's own identity. While EMDR is not used to change identity, it is highly effective for processing the systemic trauma and sociocultural stressors often experienced by the LGBTQIA+ community. I support individuals across the spectrum, honoring that the relationship to gender may be fluid.

Political Climate

Threats to physical safety, systemic loss of rights, and public displays of injustice may evoke responses of fear, grief, rage, and hopelessness. These stressors often activate past memories of powerlessness or threats to safety. While therapy cannot change the external environment, it can help process underlying trauma and the terror of the present moment. This work allows for a more adaptive, grounded response, moving beyond paralyzed distress toward a clearer sense of internal agency.

Domestic Abuse

Having spent four years as a therapist and clinical manager at an agency serving intimate partner violence and sexual violence, I understand that abuse forces individuals to adapt to chronically invalidating environments. Therapy provides a space for validation, attunement, and the dismantling of deeply held shame. I provide support for those choosing to remain, those planning to leave, and those recovering from the impact of harm. The focus is on restoring autonomy and processing trauma.

Compassion Fatigue

Drawing on 15 years as a clinical supervisor, I have supported many clinicians navigating high-trauma environments and moral injury. This background informs my ability to help professionals process the cumulative weight of systemic trauma and threats to their safety. Additionally, I support parents and family caregivers experiencing the heavy responsibility of caring for loved ones. Therapy can help "unload" this chronic exposure and restore the capacity to care.