2024 Remarkable Women nominee Marty Amos
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — March is Women’s History Month, and here at WesternSlopeNow we’re celebrating this year’s most remarkable women on the Western Slope. Now we have the pleasure of introducing you to one of those remarkable women, the founder of Amos Counseling, Dr. Marty Amos.
What I do is help people, as far as mental health, addiction, help them get the right tools, the right direction.
Marty Amos
Dr. Amos started Amos Counseling back in 2012 with her daughter. “[We had a] little house on Ute Avenue just her and I, then we brought another counselor on board and it’s just systematically grown from there,” Amos told WesternSlopeNow.
In the past decade, the growth of Amos Counseling has been more exponential than systematic.
At the time of writing this article, Amos Counseling offers recovery coaching, sober living homes, an overnight shelter called The Hangout, and more. The latter came to fruition after Amos noticed a need in the community.
Recently, I recognized that I had a lot of people who would come in, we have a shelf out in front and it’s just some peanut butter and bread, and people were coming in more and more and just taking stuff off [the shelf]—not even clients. Or sleeping on my property at night. We had a lot of tents that were coming, people sleeping on the balcony just trying to get out of the weather.
Marty Amos
After seeing that, Dr. Amos decided she needed to do more. “We went to our team, our team is amazing, and that’s all of our therapists, recovery coaches and instead of traditional raises what we asked is can we put this back into the business?” Dr. Amos retold the story to WesternSlopeNow. Then after finding the perfect spot on Ute Ave., The Hangout was born. They open from 3 p.m. to 9 a.m. and do much more than offer a place to ‘hang out’. “They come in, they get food, they take a hot shower. We put a laundry service in there because of how important it is to have a clean shirt,” said Dr. Amos.
The Hangout opened in August of 2023 and Dr. Amos says it’s already made an impact. “Last year it was said that 22 people died of hypothermia in this valley. That should never have happened. So we opened the hangout, so no one died. So far no one has been reported of dying from hypothermia,” Amos said.
It’s nearly impossible to quantify how many lives Marty Amos has saved or how much time she’s given to help others, so, why does she do it? Why does she give so much? And with plans for expansion in the future—including another hangout spot—why does she continue to do it?
I grew up with an alcoholic father and could never understand, like, he would say I’m going to quit drinking, I love you I’m going to do this but he never could make that threshold. Growing up I was kind of bitter and then in college I didn’t start off to be a therapist, it just happened that way. One day, I volunteered and went, hold on maybe I should be a therapist and really got to understand this community and when they say they’re struggling they really are struggling. It’s not just a if you love me you can quit thing.
Marty Amos
“This is my motto honestly, love and grace. You see people that are struggling, [and] instead of turning away or hoping someone else. For me, it’s that, if not me who?” Dr. Amos said.
That’s why Marty Amos is one of the most remarkable women on the Western Slope.
“That was tough because I had no idea. The people around me noticed that I was in the trenches with them and that it made a difference. It was very humbling,” Dr. Amos told WesternSlopeNow.
2024 Remarkable Women nominee Taylor Erby
2024 Remarkable Women nominee Trish Mahre
2024 Remarkable Women nominee Denise Rodriguez
Tune in to KREX 5 and FOX 4 News on April 2 to find out who is the most remarkable woman on the Western Slope in 2024.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WesternSlopeNow.com.
