Heartland Play Therapy - Amber Johnson

Amber Johnson, LCPC, RPT-S

Amber is co-owner of the Heartland Play Therapy Institute.  Amber obtained her Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology from John Brown University in 2003, her Master’s degree in Counseling from Mid America Nazarene University in 2007 and her Play Therapy Certification from KC Play Therapy Institute in 2006.

Amber began working with children and teenagers in high school, dedicating summers to being a camp counselor with inner city children, Christian youth camps and adolescent girl camps.  After high school, Amber continued her work with children as a tutor and substitute teacher in the De Soto School District.  During her graduate program in Counseling, Amber completed a 15 month internship at SAFEHOME, providing therapy to victims of domestic violence.  Shortly after completing her graduate degree in 2008, Amber was hired by SAFEHOME as a full time Clinical Therapist providing individual, family and group therapy for adults and children. Amber is currently the Clinical Director at SAFEHOME and is responsible for overseeing the agency’s counseling program, which serves over 1,000 clients a year. In addition to her work at SAFEHOME, Amber has expanded her experience by teaching workshops for KC Play Therapist Institute, providing Play Therapy supervision and providing Clinical Supervision for individuals pursuing clinical licensure.  

Throughout her career as a therapist, Amber has pursued training in a variety of therapeutic models including Play Therapy, Theraplay, Emotional Transformation Therapy, Resonance Repatterning, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Psychodrama, and Art Therapy. Amber especially enjoys working with adults and utilizing Play Therapy to explore inner child processing for clients.  She believes that with the proper guidance and counseling, healing can be achieved. Play Therapy allows clients to naturally work through trauma taking them back to their roots to truly heal from within for sustaining life changes.