Amanda Hardy

Amanda is licensed as a mental health counselor (LMHC) certified in perinatal mental health (PMH-C). She began working in the mental health field in 2005, after completing her master's in psychological counseling from Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. From 2009 until 2011, she took some leave from direct care as a therapist to re-enter graduate school and work towards a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from Iowa State University. Amanda's doctoral studies and post-graduate work focus on childbirth, child development, parenting, and the intersectionality of these three. She has also been a birth doula and childbirth educator. For more than a decade, she has worked with local, national, and international birth and human rights advocacy organizations promoting improvement to our maternity care systems. In 2022, Amanda left her faculty position as a teaching professor at Iowa State University to focus on Meadowlark full-time. Amanda has extensive training in perinatal mental health and birth trauma including EMDR. Training programs have included: Postpartum Support Internation, Seleni, Birth & Trauma Support Center, and Center for Creative Mindfulness. Amand is the author of Dear Mama, You Matter: Honest Talk about the Transition to Motherhood (2020).