Biography

Dr. Amy Lynch is an associate professor at the College of Public Health in the occupational therapy program at Temple University and has been an OT for 30 years. Her postdoctoral training has included intensive trauma training and an approved educator status of Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI ® - Dr. Karyn Purvis, Texas Christian University) and Phase 1 certification in the NMT measure (Bruce Perry, Child Trauma Academy). She is trained in all of the HALO Project curriculum, is a Making Sense of Your Self Worth facilitator and a Parenting for Positive Self Worth facilitator, and has trained in Theraplay. She is the lead editor for the American Occupational Therapy Association’s first ever book on trauma: Trauma, Occupation, and Participation: Foundations and Population Considerations for Occupational Therapy.

Since 2019, she has received over $1,000,000 in funding as PI or Co-PI to support trauma-informed, occupation-focused education setting-related research. She has developed Promoting Relationships and Emotion Regulation for Permanency and Stability in Schools (PREPSS), which is a trauma-informed, evidence applied, play and activity based interactive social emotional learning curriculum for early childhood education and care centers. From fall 2020-spring 2023, PREPSS as a platform has trained over 90 early childhood educators in trauma-informed strategies and provided over 400 children with intensive social emotional learning experiences. PREPSS has also become a vehicle for over 30 occupational therapy FWI, FWII, and eOTD Capstone students. Dr. Lynch has presented regionally, nationally, and internationally on topics including but not limited to: trauma & early adversity, attachment, social emotional regulation, family occupations, international/domestic adoption and foster care, feeding, eating, and swallowing, and developmental care. Her favorite role is one of proud “Mom” to two amazing children. As she navigates parenting amidst the complex during- and post-pandemic climate atop her professional experiences, Lynch aims to realize and respond to just how pervasive trauma can be upon habits, roles, routines. She seeks to utilize meaningful occupational engagement and principles from OT theory and evidence-based trauma-informed care models throughout her teaching and professional and personal interactions: empowering regulation; prioritizing safe, connected relationships; and supporting the learning and reasoning skills of herself, her family, her students, and all of the communities she is honored to work alongside.

Education

• PhD, Biomechanics and Movement Sciences, University of Delaware
• MS, Occupational Therapy, Tufts University
• BA, Psychology, Gettysburg College

Curriculum Vitae