The mission of Second City Counseling Services (SCCS) is to foster therapeutic connections that cultivate a healthier lifestyle for clients and in turn, strengthen their relationships, families, and communities.
The vision of SCCS is to provide quality counseling services to individuals, couples, and families of Hawai’i, including low or no income clients who may have difficulty obtaining counseling services.
Amanda L. Hess (pronouns: she/her/hers) established Second City Counseling Services in 2014. She is a licensed mental health counselor (MHC-342) and licensed marriage and family therapist (MFT-506) in the state of Hawai’i. She earned her Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology, with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy, from Chaminade University of Honolulu. Ms. Hess is a Clinical Fellow with the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy and a Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. She is a Graduate Member with the British Psychological Society and is a National Certified Counselor with the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC).
Ms. Hess has over 10 years of experience in the mental health field, which includes working in a psychiatric hospital, a substance abuse treatment facility, the Child Welfare Services system, the military community, and an outpatient grief support program. She currently volunteers with O’ahu Medical Reserve Corps and O’ahu Search and Rescue.
Ms. Hess was part of the inaugural delegation to Rwanda in 2015 for NBCC’s Mental Health Facilitator training and returned to Rwanda in 2016 for Global Engagement Institute’s Multicultural Trauma Treatment training. Currently, she is working with international colleagues to provide mental health training to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ms. Hess is a contributing writer for the Hawaiian Islands Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and Context, the magazine for family therapy and systemic practice in the UK. She has also been featured on Hawai’i’s KUMU 94.7FM. She is a participating provider with the Hawai’i Mental Health Consortium Pro Bono COVID-19 Project, the Give an Hour program, the Theraplay Institute, and the Gottman Referral Network. She is trained in Culture-Centered Disaster Mental Health Counseling and is currently participating in certification training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy, using Gottman Method Therapy in her work.
Gottman Training Level 1 – December 2014
Rwanda Mental Health Facilitator Training – August 2015
Italy Play Therapy Institute – March 2017
Gottman Training Level 3 – August 2017
Theraplay Level 2 Training – Milton Keynes, England – September 2018
