Amy Summers, LPC

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and Board Approved Supervisor in the State of Oklahoma. I am also a Certified Practitioner of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and training to obtain the Registered Play Therapist and Infant Mental Health Endorsement Credentials. I obtained a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Psychology from Armstrong Atlantic State University in 2010 and a Master’s of Education degree in Community Counseling from the University of Oklahoma in 2012. During my graduate training, I completed an internship at a juvenile detention center working with adolescents with various criminal charges and/or delinquency issues. This experience led me to begin my career as a counselor in a residential treatment facility where I provided individual and family therapy to children and their families for over seven years. I then began my own private practice in 2019. While I have worked with many populations, I have a passion for working with families of children displaying behaviors that are difficult to manage such as angry and emotional outbursts, aggression to self and/or others, anxiety interfering with daily living, inattention or hyperactivity, and defiance to rules and expectations at home and at school. In order to best support those experiencing these struggles, I provide Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for children ages 2 to 7 years of age and a modified version for toddlers ages 12 to 24 months of age under the supervision of Dr. Emma Girard. I also provide a model PCIT treatment, for children ages 8-11, that is currently being developed. In all versions of PCIT, the focus is on improving the parent-child relationship and aiding parents in better managing the difficult behaviors of children. Because many adolescents initially deny the need for improvement, I use Motivational Interviewing to encourage the youth to identify their own need for change. I also work with parents of youth this age to improve the parent-child relationship, set age-appropriate boundaries and expectations, and implement effective discipline techniques. I have also developed an expertise in working with both parents and children experiencing changes within the family structure such as divorce, custody changes, death, and other family conflict. In addition to individual counseling for each member of the family, I offer coparenting, conflict resolution, and family therapy sessions.