.jpeg.jpg "Amanda Butler photo")
Peer Wellness Coach
Egyptian Health Department
Eldorado, Illinois
Amanda Butler is a Peer Wellness Coach at Egyptian Health Department in Eldorado Illinois. Amanda experienced a number of traumatizing events and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Generalized Anxiety, and Major Depressive Disorder following a car accident in 2012. The car accident left her with a traumatic brain injury (TBI), speech and physical difficulties, an inability to drive for nearly six years, and a myriad of other problems. In 2015 she was hospitalized in an inpatient care facility following a bout of psychosis from unmanaged symptoms of PTSD. After the hospitalization, Amanda joined a three-month outpatient program and began the process of learning how to manage her mental illness. Amanda then joined groups at the local health department and learned about peer support for the first time. As she began developing coping skills and other wellness tools, she discovered a passion for the field of mental illness. Amanda began working again after six years with assistance from the Individual Placement Services (IPS) program. After gaining experience in the workforce, she was hired in October of 2020 at Egyptian Health Department as a Peer Wellness Coach, a position much like the one that was instrumental to her own recovery. In the two years since her employment, Amanda has been nominated as the September 2021 Employee of the Month, joined the IDHS/DMH Recovery & Empowerment Statewide Calls as a presenter, and will be presenting with the Peer Led Study Group at NatCon in Los Angeles this May. Amanda strives to be a light in the darkness, leading others to living a life that is focused on values, strength and achieving fulfillment. It is best said in her favorite quote: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something is more important than fear.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Monday, May 1, 2023
12:00 PM – 12:30 PM
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