Amy Vallerand, LMSW
she/her
Support that meets you where you are.
I enjoy working with children, teens, parents, adults, couples, and families who are navigating stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, family changes, parenting challenges, relationships, medical issues, school concerns, grief, and everyday life challenges. You DESERVE a space that is supportive, collaborative, and grounded in real-world strategies.
Some seasons of life change us forever. One moment everything feels familiar, and the next we’re navigating trauma, uncertainty, or loss that reshapes how we see ourselves and the world around us. I understand this deeply — both personally and professionally. When I was a teenager, I was involved in a serious boating accident that altered my life and my family’s life in an instant. While the physical injuries were treated, the emotional impact on both me and my parents went largely unaddressed. No one at the hospital asked how we were feeling. I watched my family struggle quietly through one of the most painful seasons we had ever known, without the kind of emotional support that could have made a meaningful difference. That experience stayed with me and ultimately shaped the work I do today.
Once I learned about the field of social work, I knew with certainty that this was the path for me. My journey into the profession wasn’t linear — I had to pause my education early in adulthood and return years later with a clearer sense of purpose and commitment. When I did return, I moved through my education with determination, earning my Bachelor of Social Work from Wayne State University and my Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan, with a concentration in Interpersonal Practice and Medical Social Work.
From the beginning, my goal was to become the support I wish my family had during our most vulnerable moments — someone who could sit with people in crisis, help them make sense of what they were experiencing, and walk alongside them as they rebuilt stability and meaning.
Over the past decade, I’ve worked across a wide range of settings including hospitals, Level One Trauma Centers, schools, Special Education programs, crisis assessment teams, and community-based behavioral health organizations. These experiences have allowed me to work with children, teens, adults, couples, and families facing medical trauma, developmental and neurological differences, grief and loss, chronic illness, family system stress, identity-related concerns, and significant life transitions.
Therapeutic Style
My approach to therapy is deeply relational, collaborative, and individualized. I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all model. Therapy should adapt to you, not the other way around. Across all ages, the core traits I bring into every session are consistency, curiosity, transparency, and a genuine commitment to walking alongside you through your journey.
I often describe therapy as a balance between thoughtful reflection and supportive encouragement. We spend time understanding patterns, emotions, and experiences, while also focusing on building confidence, skills, and momentum for real-life change.
Because I’ve worked extensively in both clinical and systems-based roles, I’m especially attuned to how outside systems (schools, medical providers, child welfare, special education, and healthcare systems) impact mental health. I regularly help clients and families navigate these systems while also processing the emotional weight that comes with them. I also have significant experience with therapy in fully virtual settings — both as a clinician and as a client myself. I work intentionally to make sessions feel engaging, connected, and meaningful through the screen.
If you’re nervous about starting therapy, that’s completely okay and understandable! Many fears come from the unknown, what I often call “the monster in the closet.” My hope is that once we turn on the lights together, things feel more manageable and less intimidating than you initially thought. I promise to simply be a human being with you, genuinely curious about getting to know you, and feeling honored to be invited into your thoughts and feelings. You don’t need to know exactly what you need. You just need a willingness to begin.
I’m here for YOU. Let’s talk about what’s on your mind.
EDUCATION
- BSW, Wayne State University
- MSW, University of Michigan
WORKS WITH
- Kids
- Teens
- Adults
- Couples
- Families
TYPES OF THERAPY
- Person-Centered Therapy
- Strengths-Based Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Children & Teens
Working with younger clients requires creativity, patience, and genuine connection. I view therapy as a team effort that includes parents, guardians, and caregivers as essential partners. Rather than focusing solely on behaviors, I pay close attention to how young people express themselves — through play, storytelling, conversation, and the patterns that show up in their relationships and daily lives. Most challenging behaviors serve a purpose, and once we understand that purpose, we can develop strategies that help them feel safer, more regulated, and better understood.
My first priority is always building trust, because without it, therapy doesn’t work. I approach every client with honesty, respect, and patience, working to affirm their reality rather than minimize it. Early sessions focus on getting to know them, their world, their relationships, and how they make sense of their experiences. As trust builds, our work may include creative and personalized approaches alongside skill-building for emotional regulation, communication, resilience, and processing trauma, identity concerns, or relational stress.
I have nearly a decade of experience across schools, medical settings, and crisis environments, and extensive experience working with developmental differences, neurological concerns, histories of trauma or loss, and challenges related to school, family systems, or major life changes. I also regularly support families with advocacy across school and medical systems, and the additional stressors that come with caring for a young person with complex needs.
Parents
Parenting can be deeply meaningful — and also incredibly isolating, overwhelming, and emotionally complex, especially during seasons of change. I bring both professional experience and personal understanding to my work with parents, including those navigating divorce, co-parenting, single-parent homes, and the challenges of raising children while also caring for yourself.
I especially enjoy working with single parents, new moms, and mothers at all stages of parenting. I understand the pressure to hold everything together, the judgment that can come from others, and the exhaustion that builds when your own needs are consistently placed last. Therapy can be a space where you don’t have to be “on,” strong, or perfect — a place to process, heal, and reconnect with yourself alongside your role as a parent.
Together we may work on navigating family transitions, strengthening confidence in your parenting, processing grief or loss, managing stress and burnout, and supporting your child while also supporting yourself. My goal is to help parents feel validated, empowered, and more grounded — not only as caregivers, but as whole people.
Couples, & Families
Couples therapy is work I genuinely love and a population I have a huge passion for. I welcome every kind of partnership, at every relationship stage: newly committed, long-term, navigating separation, co-parenting after divorce, or trying again after time apart. I love the accountability and action that comes from a strong relationship between the couple and therapist.
I believe the most needed, and often most missing, ingredients in any partnership are transparency and communication, which I’ve learned in not just from clinical training, but from lived experience: watching my own parents’ late-in-life divorce, going through a divorce myself at 31 with a one-year-old, and building a healthy remarriage. I’ve done this work the wrong way, right way, the hard way, and every way in between — and that shapes how I show up for the couples I work with.
In our sessions, I view the relationship itself as my client. A healthy partnership is made up of two healthy individuals, and I’m here to take over as the temporary team manager. I focus on slowing conversations down, clarifying misunderstandings, and identifying the patterns that create conflict or disconnection. The goal is never to assign blame to be hateful but to label the actions and feelings as they are knowing it’ll lead to an increase understanding and help you all build the practical skills that allow a relationship to grow.
I’m also particularly well-suited to working with couples where one or both partners are neurodivergent (ADHD, autism, OCD, etc.). From my years working in Emergency Rooms and big school systems, I’m comfortable being more direct when it’s needed, building rapport quickly, and can hold space for all the difficult and messy conversations. I’m here to make sure our time together is both productive and feels safe and comfy for both people, and I take that job very seriously!
Across all of my work with couples and families, the common thread is collaboration, honesty, and respect. Meaningful change happens when people feel safe enough to be open, supported enough to take risks, and equipped with practical tools to move forward. My goal is to help create that space — one where growth feels possible and progress feels sustainable.
FAVORITE SELF-CARE
Self-care for me is about finding small, realistic moments that offer an internal sense of comfort. As a working mom of young children, I’ve learned to release guilt around doing things “perfectly.” Sometimes that means drive-thru dinner instead of cooking, or intentionally sitting still, putting my phone down, and simply watching my children play and interact. Those ordinary moments often restore me the most.
FUN FACTS
- I’m a mom to a spicy, high-spirited almost-6-year-old girl and a joyful 1-year-old boy.
- I’m married to an engineer, who has the stereotypical “engineer-brain,” which has been great to learn and grow with!
- We share our home with a goofy golden retriever and a delightfully chunky cat. They bring a great mix of humor and chaos to our lives!
LIFE MOTTOS
- “We all make mistakes, those do not define us. Instead, how we recover, learn, and grow after the mistake is what defines us.”
- “When things feel out of control, focusing on your what you CAN control is the quickest way to regain internal stability.”
- “We have to grow through what we go through before we can blossom into our best selves.”
- “Almost all short-term, temporary pain is worth it if there is going to be a long-term gain.”
