Amanda Sovik-Johnston, Ph.D., is the Founder and CEO of Active & Connected Family Therapy — a group practice with ten locations across Virginia built on one belief: that connection is how people heal, grow, and actively pursue their highest aspirations. What began as a private practice in 2014 has grown into a team of deeply committed clinicians working every day to strengthen the mental health of individuals and families across the Commonwealth — because quality relational care should reach as many families as possible.
Amanda brings over twenty-five years of experience working with youth, families, and high-achieving athletes. Her clinical background spans residential settings, school psychology, and medical psychology. She has served as adjunct faculty at UVA's Clinical and School Psychology Department, co-authored the curriculum for the Young Women Leaders Program, and co-founded Charlottesville Families in Action — a community organization dedicated to making civic engagement a family value.
At the heart of everything Amanda builds is a simple conviction: human beings thrive with connection. Relationships give us the courage to pursue our individual goals, the resilience to weather our hardest moments, and the foundation from which meaning emerges. In the therapy room, in the community, and in every role they inhabit, relationships are where people become able to do their most important work. Amanda has spent her career creating spaces where that work can happen — and expanding the reach of it as far as it can go.
Amanda earned her Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate degrees from the University of Virginia and is proud to call Charlottesville home. She is a competitive athlete — a Masters National Champion in the 200 Butterfly and an active competitive pickleball player — and brings that same spirit of growth and curiosity to everything she does. She is raising three sons and remains deeply rooted in the Charlottesville community she has spent her career serving.