Traci Andes

You may be someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about yourself and trying to understand what's going on. You may even have pretty good insight into your patterns, your relationships, and the things you'd like to change. And yet, somehow, knowing what you want to change hasn't made changing it as easy as you expected.

Maybe you wonder, “Why can't I let this go?” or “Why did I get so angry about that?” Maybe you find yourself repeating a pattern you understand intellectually, criticizing yourself for it, and wondering why you can't seem to move past it.

I don't see these struggles as evidence that you're broken or lacking willpower. I'm interested in helping you understand what your thoughts, emotions, and reactions are communicating—and what might be underneath the patterns you're trying to change.

I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Registered Nurse. I've worked with people in a variety of settings and especially enjoy working with thoughtful, self-aware people who want to understand themselves more deeply while also finding practical ways to move forward.

I have particular interest in working with healthcare and caregiving professionals, people navigating religious deconstruction or reconstruction, highly sensitive or emotionally reactive people, LGBTQ+ clients, and people exploring changes in their relationship with substances outside of a traditional 12-step framework.

You don't need to arrive with a perfectly articulated problem or a plan for fixing it. We can figure out together what the work is for you.

I believe insight is important, but insight alone isn't always enough to create lasting change.

I approach therapy with curiosity, compassion, and respect for your existing knowledge and ability to make decisions about your own life. Rather than simply trying to eliminate difficult thoughts, feelings, or behaviors, we'll explore what they're trying to tell us and what needs may be underneath them.

I see emotions as information rather than problems to be solved or suppressed. Learning to listen to them can help you understand yourself, identify what matters to you, establish boundaries, and make choices that are more consistent with your values.

The relationship between us is part of the work, too. Therapy should be a place where you can be honest without being judged or managed, where your experience is taken seriously, and where we can notice what happens in the room together. I'll offer observations, questions, education, and suggestions, while trusting you to decide what fits.

My goal isn't simply to help you accept yourself or to push you to change. It's to help you develop a more compassionate and useful relationship with yourself—one that makes meaningful, sustainable change more possible.

Our first session is a chance for us to get oriented and begin figuring out what brings you to therapy and what you hope will be different.

I'll ask about what's been happening, what you've already tried, and what you're noticing about yourself. I'll also ask questions to help us identify what might be most useful for us to work on together. You don't need to have all the answers.

I may offer some initial observations, ideas, or education during the session, but I won't expect you to immediately adopt my perspective. I want to understand how you make sense of your experience and work collaboratively with you to develop a direction that feels useful.

By the end of our first session, my hope is that you have a clearer sense of what we're working toward, why it matters to you, and what our next steps might look like.