Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Butler.
Hi Amanda, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt like an outsider. Growing up, I preferred painting, drawing, or reading alone over playing in groups or engaging in school activities. This sense of alienation continued into adulthood. While others seemed content with routine jobs, I grew restless, longing for a unique path but unsure how to find it. For years, I believed something was fundamentally wrong with me, preventing me from fitting in and finding happiness.
By age 35, I felt hopeless about making my life worthwhile. Despite a long-standing interest in psychology, I doubted I could turn it into a career. I dreamed of meaningful self-employment but felt trapped in a cycle of failure. Then, I met and fell in love with a man who was a psychotherapist in private practice. The fact that he had made this career change in his 30s inspired me. Though our relationship didn’t work out, his success made my dreams seem attainable.
Around my 36th birthday, I hit a low point. Heartbroken and miserable in my job as a content manager in healthcare publishing, I felt I had failed in both love and work. The future seemed bleak, filled with monotonous work and shallow connections.
One night, I tried dream incubation, a technique I learned from my psychotherapist friend, where you write down a question before sleep to prompt a meaningful dream. I asked, “Why should I continue living?” The dream that night didn’t seem to answer my question, but the next day, an old childhood friend reached out to wish me a belated happy birthday. She invited me to meet up while she was visiting town.
Reflecting on our friendship as I drove to meet her, I remembered how we drifted apart after her mother’s affair and move. Her father’s suicide when we were 20 had deeply traumatized her, leading to abusive relationships, loss of custody of her children, and ongoing mental health struggles. As she recounted her hardships, I felt a deep urge to help her but was overwhelmed by the enormity of her pain.
Driving home, a voice within asked if I wanted my loved ones to suffer as my friend had. I realized my suicidal thoughts were not about ending my life but ending the unfulfilling circumstances in it. Falling in love with a therapist had been a sign to pursue a more meaningful path. Inspired, I applied to graduate programs in counseling psychology, got accepted, and started my journey shortly after my 37th birthday.
This decision marked the beginning of a new chapter, one where I finally felt aligned with my true path and calling.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Starting over in a new career field in my mid-30s was a daunting journey. I had little support and had to juggle a full-time job, school, and an internship, often working 70-hour weeks just to make ends meet.
I hoped transitioning to the mental health profession would bring better work environments. My corporate experiences had been marred by questionable ethics, poor treatment of employees and clients, and a lack of work-life balance. However, my first job as a marriage and family therapist intern was no better. Supervision was inadequate, with group sessions offering little real guidance. Despite my requests for proper supervision, I was treated as a problem. Overloaded with clients and underpaid at $10/hour, I found it even worse than the corporate world in which I’d spent nearly 20 years.
Fortunately, I found a better supervisor, though I had to pay for her time. After a year, a friend helped me get a slightly better position at his clinic. The mental health field can be brutal, especially for those not independently licensed, who often face long hours, low pay, and little support. Despite the hardships, the vision of having my own private practice kept me going.
Starting my practice presented its own challenges, from managing taxes and business expenses to dealing with the overwhelm of running everything myself. But it has been the most rewarding endeavor of my life. Carving your own path, even when starting over, is challenging but worthwhile when it aligns with your authentic self.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Utah, a life coach, and an energy healer serving clients worldwide. My practice offers soul-centered psychotherapy, coaching, and psychologically-informed energy work, aiming to help people connect with their inherent wholeness, authenticity, and divinity. I also provide case consultations for other mental health professionals.
After 16 years in an unfulfilling career, I transitioned to this field, driven by personal struggles with depression, anxiety, and relationship issues. Inspired by a psychotherapist I once loved, I discovered the importance of relationships in reflecting our inner selves, a key philosophy in my work.
My practice specializes in depth psychology, particularly Jungian psychology, which focuses on making unconscious processes conscious. This approach includes working with dreams and creating art to explore unconscious images, integrated with talk therapy to foster significant shifts in clients’ relationships with themselves and others. I typically work with adults facing depression, anxiety, trauma, relationship issues, career challenges, faith and spirituality dilemmas, grief, identity concerns, women-specific issues, and health-related psychological aspects. I work with both individuals and couples.
What sets me apart is my training in individual and couple therapy, depth psychology, various energy healing modalities, and creative arts therapeutic interventions. I offer a highly personalized approach tailored to each client, whether they seek psychotherapy, case consultation, coaching, or energy work. My methods are person-centered, gentle, and direct, emphasizing support and practical feedback to help clients overcome personal challenges and achieve growth.
My brand prides itself on the belief that it’s never too late to transition into a more meaningful life. We all possess inherent inner wisdom that can guide us, and there’s always hope, no matter how bleak things may seem. You’re never too old to find a way of being in the world that truly works for you.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Over the years, I’ve realized that the greater danger lies in staying stagnant rather than taking risks to live an authentic life. My father worked at the same job for over 30 years. While it provided stability for our family, he was often unhappy, and this unhappiness affected his relationships with my mom, sister, and me. Despite having multiple opportunities to change careers, he chose familiarity. He retired at 57 and passed away ten years later, at 67. I often wonder if taking a risk and pursuing work he loved might have led to a longer, more fulfilling life.
I almost followed in his footsteps. In college, I considered studying psychology, a field I loved, but worried about job prospects and didn’t want to end up like my dad, who was unhappy in his social work career. Instead, I majored in biology but soon hated it. Then, I got a master’s degree in technical writing, only to find myself just as unhappy. By 35, I had tried two careers and hated both.
There’s a quote by Carl Jung: “Nothing is possible without love… for love puts one in the mood to risk everything.” This became true for me when I fell in love and it gave me the courage to take the risk of doing something completely different with my life. This love pointed me in a better direction, encouraging me to pursue something more authentic to myself. Transitioning from graduate student to private practice owner has been challenging, with moments of doubt. However, going back to unfulfilling work would have been a greater danger to my sense of self and well-being.
Taking risks to live authentically is worthwhile. Staying stagnant in something that makes you unhappy is the real danger. Embrace change and pursue what truly resonates with you.
Pricing:
- Psychotherapy (50 minutes) – $185
- Coaching (50 minutes) – $185
- Coaching (75 minutes) – $277
- Energy Work (45 minutes) – $115
- Energy Work (75 minutes) – $175
Contact Info:
- Website: https://amandabutlermft.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alembicamanda/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmandaButlerLMFT/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-butler-9267aa7
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcHT0WCVn3jCZuRP4Kigpow/videos
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/amanda-butler-murray-ut/991222 https://amandabutler.net/ https://www.instagram.com/integrativehealingamandabutler/
