About
About Andrea (she/her/hers)
In my heart, I am a social worker, a distinction that is very important to the core of how I approach my work as a therapist. While social work has its own history of causing harm within the communities it claimed to help, its focus on centering a person's own experience as the authority of their own lives and inherent recognition of structural oppressions' impacts on individuals' mental health is part of how I orient myself to working with client. I am a queer white butch woman and each of those identities has the potential for impacting our work together.
Therapeutic Approach
At its core, therapy is about the people sitting in a room together (or often sitting on computers together), and that safety within the relationship is one of the most important aspects of finding a good fit. I am honored to create that space with you. As a therapist, I start with one basic assumption: you are the expert of your own experience. My hope is to empower people to better understand those experiences or to bring in additional perspectives that might shed more light on aspects of one’s life. Informed by my background in queer theory, feminist theory, and anti-racist ideologies, I work with my clients to identify the external structures of power impacting their lives, then engage with the areas of their lives within their control where they can make changes and achieve their goals.
While many forms of therapy take from one another and blend together, I begin with trauma informed relational-focused work and draw heavily on DBT/CBT/mindfulness-based therapy modalities. I view therapeutic relationships as dynamic, and work to tailor the experience to my clients’ needs and preferences. Whether you are someone who likes sessions to feel more conversational, someone who appreciates tangible takeaways like worksheets, or someone who wants to spend time practicing skills in our sessions, we can work together to find a treatment plan that suits you.
Experience
I have had the privilege of working across multiple settings –from large hospital systems to crisis and stabilization care— in individual counseling, group therapy, and couples’ counseling with clients across a range of identities and personal backgrounds. I have a particular history in working with women and members of the LGBT community on a range of concerns: forming and maintaining intimate relationships, healthy sex lives, coming out, exploring gender identities, trauma, aging, chronic illness, HIV stigma, and addictive behaviors.