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Amy O'Dell        

Healthcare Pioneer, Neurodiversity Advocate & Founder of Jacob’s Ladder

Amy knows what it feels like to have an unexpected turn of events dramatically shift life’s course, and she knows what it’s like to weather a storm in the face of significant adversity.

Amy founded Jacob’s Ladder, an accredited, non-profit school and research center, and AHAVA, a digital platform for human flourishing, because she was determined that if there were no paths towards hope, she’d create one. Her hope came hard-won after a long battle to give her son the best shot at life she could. When Amy’s son, Jacob, was diagnosed as an infant with extensive developmental delay, she found it difficult to find guidance to help him thrive. So, Amy built upon her therapy and counseling background to extensively study neurodevelopment and related interventions.

Based on decades of research of the brain and the scientific principle of neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to grow and change — she developed a revolutionary approach to human flourishing that can help you, and those you love, reach your full potential. Amy fiercely believes that healing comes at the intersection of science and love. She has experienced the power of this methodology in action in her own life and has seen it transform the lives of thousands of others who had little to no hope remaining. However, it’s important to Amy that it’s not her story that is remembered, but rather the stories of the brave children and adults who have experienced healing.

Speech Topics


The Fire in Your Heart

What do you do when you have a fire burning in your heart? In Amy’s life and career, she was handed a unique set of skills and experiences that perfectly positioned her to change the world. But her personal challenges could have easily sidelined her—and for good reason.

Amy wasn’t content to allow the embers of her dream and her passion get smothered by the helplessness she saw around her. She fanned the flames, discovered her greater purpose, and threw herself into her work completely focused and open-hearted.

In this talk, Amy inspires audiences to lean into the challenges life throws at us, as they are clues to our purpose. She shares specific leadership lessons about love and innovation stemming from her work with children with neurobiological delays and disorders AND the amazing caregivers she’s helped along the way.

Often, leaders will find that the unique challenges and passions they feel lead them to do something that’s never been done before. In that vulnerable space of the unknown, fear can hold you back from what you’re meant to do. However, the world needs the work you’re meant to do. Follow the fire. It’s the fire in Amy’s heart that caused her to not simply sit on the sidelines, but to lean in and pioneer life-changing solutions.

Note: Secular and faith-based versions of Amy’s talks are available upon request.

Free to Flourish

Amy has worked among the neurodivergent for decades years as a teacher, scientist, and caregiver. After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees from Clemson University in behavioral science, Amy worked as a licensed counselor in clinical settings, primarily working with patients with autism and neurodevelopmental disorders. Then, her own son was born with significant neurological challenges.

This life-altering diagnosis led her to combine her career experience with the profound and passionate love of a parent. Not content to leave Jacob without hope of a future, her work and passion propelled her to develop a methodology in which anyone can play a part of the solution and create the conditions for everyone to have an equal chance to flourish.

Jacob indeed has flourished, as have hundreds of students at Jacob’s Ladder, a non-profit, accredited school and research center, which Amy founded in 1999 (and where Jacob is now a teacher). Through the use of first-hand accounts and inspirational success stories, Amy gives practical guidance to caregivers and hope to all individuals with neurobiological delays and disorders.

Audiences will leave educated on the importance of playing a part in the solution and completely inspired as to what’s possible through heart-led counseling, education, and therapeutic intervention.

Note: Secular and faith-based versions of Amy’s talks are available upon request.

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