Amy Howell

Amy Howell is a Lecturer and Field Education Coordinator in the Bachelor Social Work program at RMIT. She is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, EMDR therapist, and Mindfulness Teacher with over 13 years of diverse clinical experience across community mental health, crisis response, group work, gender-based violence, homelessness, youth services, addiction, and private practice. She runs a group private practice called Centre Self Collective and leads a team of mental health social workers.

 

Amy is passionate about supporting the next generation of social workers. She has supervised social work students for over a decade and finds it inspiring and enriching walking alongside emerging practitioners as they develop their professional identity, skills, and confidence. Her approach to supervision reflects her broader values; relational, reflective, and grounded in social work's commitment to social justice.

 

Amy holds a strong critique of biomedical and Western models of mental health that reduce people to diagnostic labels and overlook the structural conditions that create distress. She brings this critical lens into her teaching, encouraging students to think beyond the individual and to understand distress as a deeply human response to unmet needs, trauma, and marginalisation. Her practice is both anti-oppressive, LGBTQIA+ and neurodiversity-affirming, and guided by a lifelong commitment to learning and unlearning.

 

Clinically, Amy works with adults navigating complex trauma, attachment wounding, emotional dysregulation, and the impacts of systemic and relational harm. She draws from Schema Therapy, EMDR, Mindfulness, DNMS, and nervous system-informed frameworks, and is based in Darebin on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung country, where she offers individual therapy, EMDR immersives, and group therapy.

 

Outside of her clinical and academic work, Amy can be found at one of her many book clubs, wandering through art galleries, or exploring nature, usually with her dog Pepperoni.

 

 

Qualifications

 

• Bachelor of Social Work and Social Science (Psychology)
• Graduate Diploma of Psychology
• Advanced Diploma in Mindfuless Teaching