Dr. Amy Eichler

I grew up in Houston. My parents have been married over 50 years, and I have one younger brother. Until I was in high school, my mom was a stay at home mom, and my dad was a photographer. My mom started teaching high school English, and my dad went back to school to get his Master's in counseling. He then started teaching at a community college. I actually never thought I would teach, but life is funny that way.

I decided in high school that I wanted to be a child psychologist and advocate for kids. I went to Baylor for my undergraduate degree--majored in psychology and minored in Spanish. Then I went straight to UT for into their school psychology doctoral degree. I graduated with my PhD in my late 20s so I was young. I started working in the schools as a licensed specialist in school psychology in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I had three children in my first marriage, but one of them passed away when he was seven months old. My first marriage did not work out due to extinuating circumstances. We get along fine so fortunately, our two daughters don't get dragged into conflict.

I moved up to Temple in late 2008 to start a private practice. That was a total leap of faith--single mom, two girls, no salary, no child support--but I knew it is what God wanted me to do. Within a month of moving here, the university needed someone to be an adjunct as one of the adjuncts was having some health problems. I am still not sure how they found out I was in town, but I am guessing the head of the group practice I had joined was called for names. I thought a little guaranteed income would be a good thing so I agreed. I had no idea I would enjoy it as much as I did.

While I was here, I met another single father who was raising his three kids. Soon after, they had a full time position open up here so I applied and started teaching in the fall of 2009. I married this man soon after, and we had one more child together (if you do the math, that means we have six children all together). Now our kids range in ages from 9 to 22 (only two left at home!). I still keep a small private practice going, and I think it keeps my application of topics fresh.

I teach developmental psychology, child abnormal psychology, and abnormal psychology. In the Minimester, I also teach Psychology of Relationships.