Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Espy.
Hi Amanda, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My conservationist grandfather raised me on walks through the woods of Missouri, investigating and memorizing the name of every natural thing. Nature became my refuge from a chaotic home and the place I felt most myself. It was where I experienced sporadic joy and felt seen without speaking. It was my catharsis. I read encyclopedias of the names of animals, drew animals, made plant dyes and pressed flowers in the pages of books. I found a peace in the natural world.
In college, I worked a summer on the line of a microwave popcorn factory. Eight hours a day, I systematically put bags of popcorn in boxes on a conveyor belt. That summer was my first touch with meditation and falling in love with the soothing effects of hours of rhythmic motion (I now find comfort in walking outside for multiple hours a day to help me deal with the stress of life and my job). Working on the line also highlighted my privilege to be in the factory for only one summer and develop an understanding and appreciation for deep Midwestern culture.
Fast-forward to my early 20’s where I worked in the kitchen of a vegetarian kitchen in Los Angeles and dreamed about being a pastry chef. I was an educated person who had to move my body, sitting at a desk was not an option for me. I quit a desk job six months after college and synonymously quit the white-collar work my degree had apparently afforded me. I entered Jungian analysis at the Jung Institute of L.A., confused and in deep need to touch painful places inside from my childhood and to process my neurodiversity. At the institute, I fell in love with studying symbolism and myths of other cultures, usually steeped deep in the language of the natural world. I would spend the long hours prepping food and contemplating my dreams.
At 27, I decided to apply to graduate school and become a therapist myself. 12 years later, I am trying to blend my passion of walking along others through the painful parts of psyche + the skills I have acquired + the humbling lessons of the natural world. In my mid-30s, I was reunited with my Korean and Puerto Rican father, opening a family dynamic I could have never imagined and reconnecting me to my multi-racial heritage. And, now I am here in private practice trying to bring all parts of myself to others and help them locate and allow all parts of themselves to also exist in a complicated world.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There was so much isolation and otherness in my experience of life, which called me to go inward and unearth myself.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a psychotherapist who focuses on connecting individuals with all parts of self as well as the natural world and others. I offer hiking therapy and use the assistance of wilderness to soften and open individuals to what is going on within them and connect with all parts of themselves and who they want to be.
I use symbolism and nature in my own work, as well as long daily walks outdoors. This connection I have to myself helps me connect my clients to themselves and the concentric rings of connection throughout life.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
My grandfather, as covered in the 1st question. All those I have happened upon who take the time to try to understand.
Contact Info:
- Website: Fieldpsychology.com
- Instagram: Fieldpsychology
Image Credits
The image of me was taken by Lauren Purves
