FOCUS AREAS:
Anxiety, Trauma & Depression Counseling
To book an initial appointment with Andrea, call (517) 258-0026 or click here to send a message.
Andrea Dowsett, MA, LLP
Therapist
Providing In-Person & Virtual Services
she / her / hers
About Andrea
Life is beautiful! But the human experience can also be painful and confusing. Are you longing for peace and emotional well-being? Do you desire to make changes in your life, gain a new perspective, and heal? Anxiety, depression, trauma, abuse, grief, guilt, shame, and broken relationships can take a toll on the mind and body. I believe that restoration, wholeness, and health are possible. Sometimes we all need a radically non-judgmental ally to hear us, understand us, offer support and insight, and help equip us with the tools we need to live our best lives.
My own life experience combined with my education have provided me the foundation to accompany you through life’s struggles. I use a diversity of therapeutic modalities as each person is unique. I specialize in working with adults, adolescents, and couples struggling with stress, anxiety, depression, domestic abuse, trauma, and interpersonal conflict.
My goal is to create a safe space for you to explore your self openly and vulnerably through a strong therapeutic relationship. Together we can navigate the best strategies for you to reach your goals. I will walk with you on your journey, I will listen to you, invest in you, and you will matter to me.
Andrea's Introduction Video
In this introduction video, Andrea shares what inspired her to become a therapist, a book that guides how she holds therapy sessions and her desire to connect and truly understand her clients.
Video Transcript:
Interviewer: So, Andrea, tell me what made you want to become a therapist?
Andrea: Well, I actually knew I didn't know it was called a therapist, but I knew at a very young age, probably about age four or five, that I wanted to help people like my dad. My dad suffered from bipolar and very severe depression. So much so that he would lay in bed for 18 hours a day. And so as a little girl, loved her dad. I thought when I grow up, I'm going to help people like that. Whatever is wrong with my that's what that's who I want to help. So, and then as I grew and you begin to understand these things a little bit more, um, but that was still my drive and still my hope. And as I sort of started to grow into adulthood and have some of my own anxieties and my own depression and my own stuff that a lot of us deal with in life, um, I realized, yes, this is for me because not only have I seen it in other people and my heart is drawn to try to help, but I've also experienced a lot of these things myself and have worked through them and um you know through my life I've experienced a lot of of different issues. So I think that that's what really compelled me to want to do it. And um so it's really been my whole life honestly and I think it was just having a dad who had um severe mental illness for quite a long time that gave me the heart for this.
Interviewer: Andrea, you mentioned a book that really influences how you do therapy. Tell me about this book and how to how it shapes how you do therapy.
Andrea: Yeah, it's it's a book by Abraham Maslow uh who is known a lot of people know him for writing about a hierarchy of needs. But the book that he wrote called "The Third Force" uh has really impacted me personally and also how I do therapy. It's a really good blueprint for how to help individuals and yourself overcome obstacles, take risks, do the work that needs to be done to reach the goals that you want to reach in your life and kind of become your best self and and your happiest, healthiest self.
Interviewer: Andrea, can you give clients a snapshot of what they can expect when they come in and do a therapy session with you?
Andrea: Sure. Um, I really try to create a safe space for people. I am super non-judgmental. And I also really work to empathize with my clients and truly get to know them, listen to them. And I find that that that therapeutic relationship is really the foundation of everything else that we do because if my clients don't trust me or aren't comfortable with me, it's really hard to have uh a successful experience. So meeting with me, I will get to know you the best that I can and I will really care about you and I will do all that I can to help.