Amanda Edwards, LCSW

Amanda Edwards, LCSW, is the Founder and Clinical Director of Cognitive and Behavioral Care Center of Connecticut, LLC and is licensed to practice in both Connecticut and New York.  Ms. Edwards specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and is a DBT-Linehan Board Certified Clinician in Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Ms. Edwards graduated cum laude from New York University with a BFA and received her Masters of Science in Social Work from Columbia University.  Ms. Edwards began her professional career providing evidence-based treatment in both English and Spanish to clients in outpatient clinic settings in Brooklyn and Bronx before being recruited as the Director of Consultation Services at Cognitive and Behavioral Consultants of Westchester and Manhattan.  While serving as DoCS, Ms. Edwards provided professional workshops and training on the implementation of DBT for schools and agencies throughout New York State, while concurrently supervising six school-based consultation teams on the adaptation and utilization of DBT within a school setting.  Additionally, she collaborated with Dr. Lata McGinn, a renowned expert in CBT, in developing a CBT Foundational Training curriculum for seasoned mental health professionals.  In addition to providing trainings in DBT, Ms. Edwards has lectured on adaptations of CBT skills with younger children as well as the integration of behavioral health into primary care settings for immigrant families within the NYC Health and Hospital Organization. 

Ms. Edwards has specific expertise in treating clients struggling with anxiety, depression, chronic procrastination, interpersonal conflict, and life-stage transitions.  She is co-author on a manual on DBT for Elementary School Aged Children and has adapted the DBT manual to provide skills for Parents of Young Adults, who often struggle with finding the most effective ways to support the launching of their adolescent into adulthood.  She has received advanced training in a range of approaches including Prolonged Exposure for trauma, Exposure and Response Prevention, the Incredible Years Program (for parents and children ages 5-12 with disruptive behavior), Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Supporting Parents with Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE), psychodrama, and Motivational Interviewing. Additionally, Ms. Edwards has authored a scholarly article published in Cognitive and Behavioral Practice on the application of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Prolonged Exposure for adolescents with histories of interpersonal trauma. A link to this article can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S107772291830021X