Amy McCabe Heibel
I am committed to supporting the well-being of people and their communities. Child abuse prevention and recovery, the complex dynamics of parent/child relationships, and post-traumatic resilience are among my areas of focus. I am trained in CBT, TF-CBT, MAP, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, crisis management, psychodynamic techniques and other evidence-based practices. Before I was a therapist, I studied and taught political science and worked at the Alliance for Children’s Rights on notable state policy initiatives including the extension of foster care benefits to age 21 and the 2017 policy victory that gave children’s own relatives access to the foster care resources that non-relatives were receiving. I care deeply about the health effects of poverty, and the self-determination of children. I am a foster/adoptive parent in a biracial family; my work is informed by my lived experience as well as my education.
I earned my MSW at USC Suzanne Dworak Peck School of Social Work in the Department of Children, Youth and Family, graduating with a 3.97 GPA. I also hold a graduate degree in Political Science from UC Berkeley. I completed my graduate internship at Walden Family Services, supporting foster and adoptive families across Los Angeles and San Diego counties. Today, I work as an outpatient therapist at Penny Lane Centers, and serve on-call with the Unarmed Mental Health Crisis Response Team for the City of Los Angeles through Penny Lane.
