Amanda is the founder and Director of Turnways Therapies, a creative therapies service established in 2013.

She has worked as a dramatherapist in CAMHS for 20 years, with many children, adolescents, and families with acute mental health and systemic difficulties.

Within Turnways Therapies, Amanda has led teams of creative therapists in research projects, with children in schools, refugees and asylum seekers, and more recently, adopted youngsters and families, with One Adoption West Yorkshire.

Amanda comes from a professional theatre background. After training at Bristol Old Vic, she was an actor in a professional theatre for over a decade and then a Drama and English teacher in schools and colleges, and finally, a drama therapist.

Amanda has classical acting training, a degree in English and Drama, a Masters in Drama therapy from York St Johns, followed by further training in Systemic Family Practice, Creative Supervision, and Developmental Trauma.

Amanda has used theatre and drama in all its forms; professional entertainment, in community theatre and storytelling, and for educational, teaching, learning and training purposes. Nowadays, she uses drama to help clients process and heal from distress and trauma in an embodied way.