Meet Amanda
Amanda Hankins, MSW, RSW, T.S (Social Worker, Psychotherapist)
Locations: Quebec, Ontario
Languages: English
Office Hours: Flexible
Individual Therapy
Couples Therapy
Family Therapy
Clinical Supervision
Trauma and Couples Therapy Intensives
Brainspotting + EMDR
BIPOC Friendly
LGBTQ Affirming
Non-Monogamy + Sex Positive Friendly
Safe and Sound Protocol
Founder, Clinical Director & Clinical Faculty, The Altera Institute
Social Worker, Psychotherapist
Amanda Hankins is a social worker, psychotherapist, educator, supervisor, and founder of Clinique Altera and the Altera Institute. Licensed in both Quebec and Ontario, she has spent more than a decade working across healthcare, higher education, community organizations, and private practice, supporting clients, clinicians, students, and helping professionals.
Amanda began her career in sexual violence prevention, advocacy, intervention, and education, developing training programs, leading workshops, and supporting survivors in university and community settings. Her work has included roles at McGill University, Harvard Medical School, MIT, and other educational and healthcare institutions, where she developed a deep appreciation for the role of mentorship, consultation, and interdisciplinary learning in professional growth.
As a clinician, Amanda's work is grounded in relational, psychodynamic, attachment-based, and experiential approaches to psychotherapy. She has pursued advanced training in Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Brainspotting, EMDR, parts work, somatic therapies, mindfulness-based approaches, leadership development, and nervous system regulation. Her clinical interests include trauma and complex trauma, burnout, healthcare professionals, high performers, relationships, identity development, and the integration of emotion, attachment, and embodied experience in psychotherapy.
Amanda believes that suffering is part of being human, a natural response to the complexities of life. Discomfort can become a catalyst for resilience, meaning, and growth. Yet when suffering exceeds our capacity to cope, it can become overwhelming and immobilizing. In those moments, people do not need fixing. They need presence, curiosity, understanding, and connection. Whether working with clients, students, or fellow clinicians, Amanda approaches her role as both a collaborative partner and a compassionate witness to the process of change.
Alongside her clinical work, Amanda has always been drawn to teaching. Throughout her career, she has supervised students, mentored early-career clinicians, facilitated professional development programs, and created educational initiatives focused on trauma-informed care, leadership, relational health, sexuality, consent, and clinician development. She believes that becoming a skilled therapist requires far more than mastering a set of techniques. It requires curiosity, humility, clinical judgment, self-reflection, and the support of a community willing to think deeply together.
The Altera Institute was born from this belief. Amanda envisioned a place where clinicians could learn in relationship rather than in isolation. A place where supervision extends beyond compliance requirements, where consultation encourages genuine inquiry, and where knowledge is shared generously rather than guarded behind increasingly narrow pathways of certification.
Building Clinique Altera and the Altera Institute has long been a dream. Amanda feels deeply honoured to lead organizations that reflect the values she holds most dear: meaningful relationships, intellectual curiosity, clinical excellence, generosity in teaching, and a commitment to supporting both clients and clinicians in their growth.
Her work through the Institute focuses on clinical supervision, consultation, psychotherapy training, professional mentorship, and the cultivation of a vibrant learning community. She is particularly passionate about helping clinicians develop depth, confidence, and flexibility in their work while remaining connected to both the science and the art of psychotherapy.
At the heart of Amanda's teaching philosophy is a simple idea: meaningful clinical growth happens in relationship. Through the Altera Institute, she hopes to contribute to a living lineage of clinicians who support one another, challenge one another thoughtfully, and carry forward a tradition of rigorous, compassionate, and deeply human care.
Licenses & Professional Registration
Licensed Psychotherapist, Ordre des psychologues du Québec (OPQ)
Licensed Social Worker, Ordre des travailleurs sociaux et des thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec (OTSTCFQ)
Registered Social Worker, Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW)