Amanda F. Lowell, PhD

Amanda Lowell, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and loves working with both children and their caregivers.

"I love that the work I do impacts two generations: parent and child," she says. "The positive growth and development a parent achieves in therapy has the potential to be passed down from generation to generation and improve the lives of others for years to come."

Lowell is trained to evaluate and treat emotional and behavioral difficulties in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, as well as to support their caregivers and enhance parent-child relationships. She provides psychotherapy and parenting support to mothers and fathers with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

She particularly enjoys working with mothers who have experienced adversity or struggled with addiction. Lowell also conducts developmental evaluations and screens for delays in infants and toddlers who have graduated from the neonatal intensive care unit.

“My favorite part of my job is learning each individual caregiver's story. It is a privilege to learn about a person's family and why they think, feel, and respond in the ways that they do,” she says, adding that she often tells families that there is no such thing as “perfect” parenting. “I always assumed I would work with children, but in my training, I realized each child comes with a caregiver, and they often need support of their own. Standard mental health treatment often did not incorporate adults' roles as parents into their treatment. I see my job as helping to integrate a caregiver's experience as an individual and as a parent, and how this interplay can impact and support their mental health.”

An associate research scientist at the Yale Child Study Center, her research interests include understanding the impact of addiction, adversity, and attachment on the maternal brain, and the implementation of evidence-based parenting supports for mothers with addictions.

Lowell is actively involved in the training and supervision of therapists providing Mothering from the Inside Out, an evidence-based parenting support program designed specifically for mothers in recovery from substance use disorders. She is also passionate about reducing the stigma surrounding parents with substance use disorders.