Hello! My name is Andrea Boyd, (she, her) LCSW-C and I am a psychotherapist specializing in working with teens and young adults.   I use an integrative trauma informed and attachment based approach to help young people develop positive self identity, cope with hard times, form healthy, and heal from past traumas and negative beliefs. 

I specialize in working with young people coping with general and social anxiety, depression, trauma histories, self esteem struggles, LGBT (or questioning) identities, chronic illnesses, and ADHD. I am trained to provide EMDR.

In my approach to therapy, I strive to be an integrationist, meaning that I believe almost all schools of psychotherapy offer value that can greatly help people who are suffering.I find that for many young people, a combination of cognitively based approaches that start in the head, and emotionally based approaches that start in the body, is called for–though certainly some people benefit more from one than the other. 

With all the complex tasks and decisions that young people have to negotiate, including school and career choices, approaches that target thoughts and behaviors, such as those found in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and behavioral activation (BA) can be extremely beneficial in helping young identify and organize their thoughts and feelings, articulate their values, set goals, and make actions plans. This can be especially true for clients with neurodiverse brains. 

And I also find that for deeper levels of healing and for targeting underlying causes behind mental distress and mental blocks, and deeply entrenched patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, approaches that focus on the body, human relationships, and emotions are crucial. When it comes to deeply entrenched wounds and unhelpful beliefs, oftentimes being able to identify and know their causes cognitively will not be enough. Body, emotion, and relationship focused approaches enable young people to target places where the wounds and traumas are stored and to actively engage in shifting their inner landscapes toward healing.

To this end, I use methods found in family therapy, approaches based in trauma and attachment theory including, expressive therapies, and body based mindfulness methods to help clients access and rework outdated and harmful emotional, relational, and somatic patterns.

Also key to my approach is having a continuous and evolving social justice lens. I believe that oftentimes a key source of mental distress for young people, has to do with being told explicitly or implicitly that who they are or the way they are is not acceptable. Messages from the larger culture, and from other people about how they are supposed to be, can become internalized and can have profound effects, especially those with non-dominant identities, which can lead to feelings of self hatred or worthlessness.

My work centers around helping young people undo these toxic messages and claim pride in who they are, no matter their gender identity, sexuality, ability level, body size, neurotype, or any other characteristic. I believe that every individual has incredible strengths and their own form of brilliance within them and I strive to help young people use self compassion, assertiveness, and many more tools to create safer microcosms for themselves in which they can grow and thrive.

I practice from a body positive/ body liberation, health at every size (HAES) perspective and am also polyamory informed and affirming. 

Andrea and Berniece 🙂