Testimonials

Your “cup of sludge” analogy was so simple but possibly the best way I have been able to explain how I feel to others. I have never directly shared my story with anyone because I never felt I was justified in doing so, it was refreshing to hear you also say similar. All I really wanted to say was thank you and wow……you have allowed my gates to be cracked open….

Thank you for your explanations in the video you posted today. I really thought I was going nuts! I know everyone has trauma and you have heard every story in the book – but to have the 13 year old me trauma validated (I have never told anyone and now I am 54!). And then the health trauma and horse wreck trauma I have experienced during the last 5 years has me in tears. I have sucked it in for so long.  Watching your video is a release for me in itself.

If you can make to to one of Amanda's many workshops over the next month I highly recommend it. Amanda is changing lives with the knowledge and tools she shares around trauma and how to find healing from it.

We genuinely appreciated your honesty, chatting directly to us and sharing your own life story and your journey(s) made trauma, and the healing process, so relatable and so possible.

I just want to say how much I valued your Trauma Talk last night. You have an incredible way of explaining things in a very easy-to-understand way and you made it applicable and understandable to all. You have a lot to offer people, and I look forward to following along.

I attended your talk a week or so ago and found it absolutely brilliant. You managed to draw together and fill in the gaps in my own trauma knowledge, in an easy to understand format. I found it amazing and am still processing all the information we got.

Thank you so so much for your talk. It was a life defining experience and evening!!

What an interesting evening. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us tonight. Such a lot to process and I will make time to sit quietly and work through my identity. During your talk it identified for me that I have some deeply repressed trauma that I thought I had addressed but I had obviously only peeled away the top layer. Great news is that you're never too old to learn even at 70 years old.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to attend your talk. I found the evening very informative and relevant! I resonate so much with what you've explained and I can't wait to find my own freedom.

I just wanted to say thank you for such an interesting and informative evening. It has definitely helped me to understand how trauma works and how our brains work against us if we let them and hold us back. I thought you were very open and vulnerable with the traumas and information you shared with us tonight. A lot of it was very personal to you and getting to that place where you can talk so freely about it shows that how you have released yourself from those traumas has worked so well.

I had a feeling the talk I went to last week in Taupo would be a game changer. There aren’t many explanations for emotional baggage that I really feel target the root cause - your talks definitely do.

I went to your talk last night and just wanted to say a huge thank you. I've been on a 'journey' for the last 15 or so years to help with panic, anxiety etc and despite having had some counselling and hypnotherapy. I feel like the information you shared was the missing piece of the puzzle.  I now realise that being able to actually process/release the original trauma is key to moving forward. I also now realise that I have so many more fears than I thought (I thought it was mostly just public speaking/judgement of others but I now know there's a lot more sitting behind that!). I had many lightbulb moments last night about where those fears have originated from too. I actually feel excited about the prospect of being the real me and release the fears like you have.  

No words can thank you enough for last night. I was going to catch up after the evening but I wasn’t too good at putting words together. So many actions and behaviours I express which made me think there was something seriously wrong with me make so much sense now.  The significant ups and downs of moods you talked about resonate so strongly with myself and I just thought it was "who I was" and searched for labels and medications to "fix" myself. The anxiety around social settings and how I act completely makes sense now! I actually wasn’t even going to come to the event because I felt sick to my stomach with anxiety, but I'm so grateful I did.

Even over the course of the night so many fears and trauma memories popped up in my brain. I cannot wait to begin the release process and make it part of my lifestyle. I can’t even describe how thankful and excited I am to grow my identity. Thank you so much!

As a woman in my early 20s, the information you have shared is such a game changer. I cannot wait to actually live for myself and not for everyone around me. 

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!! 

Your talk was so incredibly inspiring and eye opening. 

Your work is so incredibly Amanda, you should be proud of yourself and all the hard work you have put into learning about all this and for sharing it with others, its truly amazing and so so inspiring! 

Thank you so much for your talk tonight, and for offering this information to us! The amount of research you have done into this is eye opening. I drove over from the Hokitika today, because from the moment you shared the Trauma Talks on your Facebook page I knew I wanted/needed to attend. Which isn't normally something I would do, I feel what you're offering is so helpful to so many people. 

I just wanted to share that midway through the talk I had tears in my eyes, and I was trying to figure out why. I realized that I had happy tears because your story resonated with me so much on such a deep level, and learning that it was possible to get better and resolve fears. Something that I'd so wanted help with as I was starting to think it was nearly impossible and that anxiety would just always be there. Thank you for sharing your story.

I can't thank you enough for this talk, you are such an inspiration. I'm so excited to work on this, and so excited for the future

I know how often you get messages like these but I have to say it, I need to express what I should have expressed last night. I'd never experienced a moment where I couldn't find words for someone before. So many changes have hit me over time but especially recently with my current diagnosis. The amount of times a day I know you receive the words 'I'm your biggest fan', I'm not like that. But all my life I've had so much respect and admiration for you, and a big part of that lies around the fact that everything about your life in earlier years is almost too relatable. The books based on you three are the only books I've ever felt an immediate connection with. I have huge amounts of respect for you because you don't hit a milestone anc call it quits. You're always striving to be better, learn more and that really changed my perspective on my whole life. Honestly I wish you could see yourself through my eyes - I can't emphasise that enough. I'll admit that I really do idolise you. I hope you don't forget that. Up until yesterday I thought that a fearful nature was just who I was. I didn't think there was anything I could do about it, I just thought it was who I was. It was how I was known within my riding, the nervous one, and I've always felt like I've had to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. And up until now I didn't know it was possible to get rid of that fear. The fear of failure, of not being good enough, of getting hurt, I didn't know there was a way to let go. To say last night was truly life changing is the understatement of the century. It's quite possible that you've already forgotten who I am, and I wish I'd said these things last night, but they're things I knew I had to say or I'd regret it forever. So when I see you again at a trauma talk, workshop, lesson, or whatever it is - just know how much of an impact you've made on the person I am today and I truly wouldn't be this person without your influence on my life. So thank you from every place in my heart.

I wanted to thank you for the talk last night. You are so talented and it was so easy to listen to you. I want to say how brave you are not only to have undergone this journey but also for being so generous in sharing this with others.

I came primarily for my 14 year old daughter, Eva, who has been struggling with fear when jumping and riding. She was avidly taking notes and really gained a lot from it. 

Thank you again for showing up as the truest version of yourself and being of service to others, our world needs more like you in it, and if we continue to learn and share our knowledge with others I believe we will see a shift that needs to happen in this world. 

Thanks so much for tonight. It all really made so much sense to me and highlighted some pretty big traumas I need to resolve!

I came to the talk with my work colleague. We are both social workers assisting families affected by family harm (immediate and historical). I also work as a play therapist in a school  and have a particular interest in the impacts of trauma. As well as having my own trauma history, I’ve worked alongside people impacted by trauma in its many forms. And so I do thank you for adding to my kete and also showing a clear and safe healing and hopeful pathway for trauma survivors. 

Thanks so much for your inspiring talk on Tuesday night. The passion in your delivery was amazing it was so engaging throughout the whole evening, I could have not stopped for tea and just kept listening. Hearing your real life experiences throughout your delivery made it all the more real. You are an inspiration! I look forward to working on myself. 

As a staff, we took alot away from it. For our personal lives but also several of our children at school. We are a small rural school so we know and care for all our students and we pride ourselves on looking at the bigger pictures and why someone might be triggered.

So lovely to attend your Trauma Talk. Life changing!!

To see your transformation Amanda and how far you have come and the hard work you have put in, so very proud of you and look where it’s taking you! Achieving, working towards and making your dreams, goals and aspirations happen!! So excited for you, you absolutely deserve it. 

Thank you for being you, keep up the fantastic work.

Thank you so much for your Christchurch talk. I feel so blessed to have been able to attend, and I am really looking forward to your book release.