Andrea Medrano LMHC

I am a daughter of immigrants. The stress and trauma connected to immigration status and acculturation stress are unique. My personal and professional experiences within this community have strengthened my ability to help people navigate this stress, find hope, and provide support that is non-oppressive, liberation focused, and identity-affirming.

I know that our policies, governments, organizations, and schools are rooted in a history of White Supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, and dehumanization. I use this knowledge in therapy to engage in dialogue that is honest, kind, respectful, and challenging. I specialize in supporting people with identifying how they can defeat oppression in meaningful and life-affirming ways.

If I have to pick a specialty it would be Psychoanalytic. However, this isn't your typical Freudian approach. Freud was WEIRD. My psychoanalysis is social, political, spiritual. I specialize in meaning making and finding patterns and connections both conscious and unconscious. My psychoanalysis is always an offering, but never a prescription.

You first, me second. This means my approach is centered on understanding you. You in all of your identities and communities and their interdependence and how they connect and sometimes disconnect. This also means that my understanding is biased by my own experiences and we must navigate this together. After safety and trust are established, however long that takes, we can look at the parts of self that lead to shame or discomfort and build comprehension of their origin story and function.

My entire graduate program was centered on a feminist ecological approach. I was trained to know and understand clinical interventions while at the same time critiquing them. One size does not fit all when it comes to our emotional and mental health. Psychology itself is very male and very White. Feminist therapy allows us to abolish those roots which contribute to imposter syndrome and remember our secure sense of self.