MEET
Amanda Phillips
Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Speaker for College Students
Amanda Phillips' Programs
Be the Friend Down the Hall: How A Classmate Saved My Life
Be the Friend Down the Hall: How a Classmate Saved My Life is a powerful and compassionate program that teaches students how to recognize signs of suicide and support their peers through empathy and action. Through her own story of being saved by a classmate, Amanda Phillips helps audiences understand that you don’t have to be an expert to make a difference—you just have to care enough to check in and know what to do next. This session is ideal for any campus committed to improving mental health awareness and connection.
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You don’t have to be an expert to help someone who’s struggling – you just have to be willing to listen and know what to do next.
Amanda Phillips has a robust support system – her therapist, her psychiatrist, and a social community that supports her battle with depression. But all of that was possible in the first place because of how a regular college student checked on her when she was feeling suicidal her sophomore year.
Suicidal thoughts are exactly that — a type of thought. Any of us can experience them. We all have mental health, we all have hardship, and we all need to know how to support each other in that space.
Learn how to see signs someone might be thinking about suicide as invitations to check in and show you’re a safe person to talk to. After this program, you will understand how to use the power of empathy and connection to change the mental health climate on your campus, within your chapter, or with the person who lives down the hall.
It’s time to do what’s next!
Audience members will…
Understand the science of emotion, how that applies to feeling suicidal, and what we can do to make difficult feelings easier to talk about
Explore ways to check in with a friend who you’re worried may be thinking about suicide, as well has how to respond and connect them to help
Ideal Audiences
- First-Year Experience/Orientation
- Student Leadership
- Fraternity/Sorority Life
- Risk Management/Harm Reduction
Sometimes the “Life of the Party” Gets Depressed, Too
Sometimes the “Life of the Party” Gets Depressed, Too is a real and relatable conversation about mental health that moves beyond awareness into action. Amanda Phillips shares her personal experiences and research to help students recognize when they or someone else may be struggling, and how to respond with empathy and support. This program empowers students to create a campus culture where mental health is openly discussed and seeking help is seen as strength, not stigma.
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By now, we’re all pretty aware that our mental health matters. But what does that really mean, and what do we do next? How do we actually change campus culture to be supportive of it?
Consider this your Mental Health Realness 101.
Amanda will guide students and campus leaders on what to do when faced with anything from a difficult mental health moment to a more severe crisis using her own stories and research that’s helped along the way. Our mental health impacts every single thing we think, feel, and do, so let’s make it no big deal to actually take care of it.
Audience members will…
- Understand how to use the power of connection to change the mental health climate on campus from one of silence to one of support
- Develop ways to check in with a friend who you’re worried may be struggling with their mental health, as well as how to respond and connect them to help
- Consider what to do when you’re the one struggling – who to talk to and how to do it, and what else can help
Ideal Audiences
- Student Wellness Programming
- Community Colleges
- First-Year Experience/Orientation
- Fraternity/Sorority Life
I’m Glad You’re Here: The Art of Mattering
We all know connection is crucial, but why does it have to also be so complicated? That’s where Amanda Phillips comes in. I’m Glad You’re Here: The Art of Mattering is an inspirational and tactical program that illuminates one of the most fundamental things we all have in common: we thrive when we feel like we belong and we matter. Using vibrant storytelling and compelling research, Amanda shares tips and techniques for helping students feel more connected. It all starts with four powerful words: “I’m glad you’re here.”
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Do we truly understand the power we have to create environments that say “not only do you belong here, but you matter?”
Connection and belonging are critical to student well-being across mental health, academics, social dynamics, transition, adjustment – you name it.
But often we forget a third thing: mattering.
In this signature program, Amanda will guide audience members through how we can help people feel not only included, but significant. In either a keynote or workshop format, attendees will explore the three core messages of belonging – you are seen, you have potential, and you are not alone.
Together, we’ll answer some crucial questions: What is mattering, and how do we construct it? What threatens it, and how can we not only protect it, but strengthen it? Most of all, how do we do it?
We may say “you belong here” and “you matter” often…but we need to do better in demonstrating it to those closest to us. Can we do better? Let’s find out what’s possible when we do.
Audience members will…
- Understand the power and importance of connection, belonging, and mattering for college students retention and wellness, leadership development, sorority and fraternity community-building, etc.
- Identify your role in contributing to the current sense of connection, belonging, and mattering in your organization
- Explore the opportunities and tools we have to make an impact on each other’s sense of connection, belonging, and mattering
Ideal Audiences
- Student Wellness Programming
- Fraternity/Sorority Life
- Residence Life
- Leadership Development
Meet Amanda Phillips
Amanda Phillips is a triple threat in the mental health arena.
Her decades-long experiences with depression, anxiety, and suicidality allow her to discuss mental health in accessible and relatable ways. Her counseling degree and past experience as a Project Director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness move her to do it in ways bolstered by research and current best practices. Her spunk, vivaciousness, and captivating storytelling make it all come together to remind us of the bottomless well of human resilience.
Impactful, uplifting, and disarmingly authentic, Amanda empowers college students to build campuses where mental health is talked about openly and asking for help is seen as both a reflex and a strength, moving them from awareness to action.
Amanda has shared her story of a suicide attempt as a college sophomore with tens of thousands of students, who consistently describe her talks as mental health “realness” with someone who genuinely gets it, has been where they are, and who gives them the tools to help themselves and the people around them.
Her work and stories have been featured on NBC’s Today Show, in USA Today, and by organizations including the One Love Foundation, the Child Mind Institute, Zero Suicide Institute, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Amanda holds a Bachelor’s degree from Wofford College and a Master’s in Counseling from Appalachian State University. She is a full-time speaker and writer living in New York City and is passionate about fast food, joy, and making the world an easier place to be.
