Katie Amatruda, PsyD, MFT, EMT, CST-T, MFLC, BCETS

Katie Amatruda is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, an Emergency Medical Technician, a Certified Sandplay Therapist – Teaching Member of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy, a Military and Family Life Consultant, and a Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress. Dr. Amatruda has lectured internationally and taught at the California Institute of Integral Studies, the Professional School of Psychology, and in the Extended Education departments at U.C. Berkeley and Sonoma State University.

Dr. Amatruda had a private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area for 30+ years, where she worked with children, adolescents, adults, couples and families doing both brief and long-term therapy, conducted Critical Incident Stress Debriefings as well as worked with members of the Armed Forces and their families on bases in the US and in Europe. She did her sandplay training with Dora Kalff in Zollikon, Switzerland.

As a disaster responder, she has deployed to Haiti, the Southeast Asia and American Samoa tsunamis, Hurricanes Katrina, Gustav and Ike, Florida Tornadoes, the San Diego wildfires, and many local disasters. She also served on the Crisis Intervention Team at Burning Man. She specializes in pediatric populations during disasters, and in Force Protection – how to assist responders in self-care and prevention of secondary trauma in disasters where large numbers of people are impacted.

Dr. Amatruda is the author of Sandplay, The Sacred Healing, many journal articles and chapters, as well as many online courses at www.psychceu.com. She received her BA from UC Berkeley, her MA from John F. Kennedy University, and her PsyD from Ryokan College.

Dr. Amatruda is a member of the Medical Reserve Corps, of the Trauma Response Network, and of Disaster Medical Assistance Team DMAT CA-6. With the American Red Cross, she is a Disaster Service Mental Health volunteer and the former Mental Health Lead for the Marin County Chapter. She recently moved to Santa Fe and is very glad to be here.