Amanda began working for Sea Mar's Visions Youth Treatment Center art program in 1999. She earned a Master's degree in counseling from Antioch University, Seattle.

Working at Visions has helped Amanda to achieve one of her most important goals-working in her community helping under-served populations, with a focus on youth and the arts.

She believes in a holistic approach to life, therapy, and the healing power of individual creativity. Amanda and her colleagues have developed a unique, "best-practices" working model for what art therapy groups should constitute:

    • Offer patients teachable moments.
    • Bring out confidence in patients and validate them through their work.
    • Help patients visualize concepts they are learning in chemical dependency and treatment process groups.
    • Foster group respect and patient responsibility.
    • Familiarize patients to various art forms and nurture a comfortable relationship between them and the arts.
    • Show patients that art can be both healing and fun and a clean and sober outlet for them.


Amanda's personal interests include art making, costuming, cooking, gardening, taking daily walks with her dogs on beautiful trails in and around Bellingham, spirituality, and enjoying the company of her friends, family, and work colleagues.