Amanda T.R. Clemens
Meet Amanda T.R. Clemens
CADC-I, CPC
Amanda’s journey into the mental health industry serendipitously emerged from her long-term career in performing arts. Amanda began acting at age 7 in local, professional and Broadway theatre, and then after earning a B.A. in Theatre Arts and Performance from San Diego State University in 2010, would settle down in Los Angeles, CA with an active career in television and film. It wasn’t long, however, before Amanda continually found herself cast in roles that highlighted mental health struggles, suicide, and addiction. This experience ignited a fire—not only to study and understanding how to best tell these stories, but to give a real voice; a true platform to those who were faced to deal with the struggles that were, at the time, even more stigmatized than they are today.
In 2012, Amanda completed rigorous training to become a certified crisis counselor at The National Suicide Prevention Center, and thus began her work on ‘the lines’. Amanda coordinated hundreds of rescues, earned certifications in Suicide Intervention, Alertness & Safety (SAFEtalk) and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills (ASIST), led presentations and facilitated workshops for schools and organizations all over the greater Los Angeles and San Diego areas with Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). In 2015, Amanda was the sole volunteer crisis counselor chosen to represent The National Suicide Hotline to speak about her efforts and experience at World Suicide Prevention Day Conference. And what was supposed to be only a one-year commitment, turned into over five years on the lines, a new career, and a newfound life purpose.
Amanda T.R. Clemens is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC-I), earned her Certified Professional Coach (CPC) certification from the Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), a nationally accredited Coach Training Program (ACTP) by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), a Level I Certified Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma for Adolescents (ITCT-A) Clinician, is certified in Nonviolent Crisis Intervention (CPI), Mental Health First Aid, ECC/ILCOR and AHA® and is a Certified Suicide & Crisis Intervention and Prevention Specialist. Since 2018, Amanda has helped develop three IOP programs from the ground up, which has given her an immersive understanding of the intricate innerworkings and distinct potential of this brief but mighty level of care.
Today, Amanda has over a decade of hands-on clinical experience as a clinical first responder, recovery counselor, life coach, psychoeducation and therapeutic group facilitator, with a background in substance use, crisis intervention, partial hospitalization (PHP) and intensive outpatient programming (IOP) and has her own private practice serving primary substance use, dual diagnosis, and mental health clientele. She has spent most of her career working with and is most passionate about her work with teenagers (12yr – 19yr), young adults (20yr – 35yr), their families and other niche communities (of any age), who’ve especially had trouble safely connecting elsewhere.
Amanda feels incredibly lucky to have found Abhaya Wellness after moving to North Carolina only about a year ago. She is honored to be part of such a talented team offering the community such a special program, clinicians, and much needed resources that ensure individualized, progressive, evidence-based, human-centered care for individuals navigating the complexities of substance use and mental health challenges. In her free time Amanda runs teen mental health workshop intensives, continues acting, and loves spending as much time as possible with her dog-son Simon, and small gang of magical nieces and nephews.
