Andrea de la Flor, LPC

I’m an EMDRIA-Certified Therapist™, and much of my work focuses on understanding how past experiences continue to shape what is happening in the present. What we think, feel, and do is connected to what we’ve experienced and what our brains and bodies have learned along the way. We get curious about those connections—what was learned, what keeps certain patterns active, and why those responses make sense in the context of someone’s life. Understanding those connections gives us a map for treatment. It helps clarify where to create space for processing, what to strengthen, and where we can help the brain update old information so there is more choice in the present. The same brain that learned how to adapt and protect itself also has the capacity to continue learning, adapting, and healing throughout our lives. That understanding is why EMDR is so central to my work. I specialize in treating recent trauma, PTSD, and complex trauma. My work with EMDR is about creating the conditions for the brain to process and resolve life experiences that are still influencing the present. Trauma doesn’t always arrive in therapy labeled “trauma.” Most often, someone comes in because of anxiety, panic, difficulty relaxing, chronic stress, burnout, depression, relationship problems, substance use, or reactions that are difficult to understand based only on what’s happening now. Those symptoms have a history. Understanding the experiences and adaptations underneath them helps us treat what is driving them. I pay attention, and I’m an active therapist. I remember details, notice patterns over time, ask questions, share what I’m noticing, and slow things down when something feels important. That space gives clients time to notice too, because what they discover about themselves helps guide our work. I also trust my clients. I bring training, experience, observations, and ideas. My clients bring the knowledge that comes from living inside their own experience. We pay close attention to both. Over time, that can build something more valuable than a collection of coping skills: greater trust in themselves. My clients have taught me some of the most important things I know about people and healing. I’ve spent thousands of hours listening to people at very different stages of adulthood, with different backgrounds, experiences, and ways of moving through the world. Before becoming a therapist, I also spent years working in nonprofits, managing projects and people, and working across teams, organizations, and communities. Those experiences have reinforced something my clients continue to teach me: no matter how different our lives may look, there is so much that connects us. The details matter—and so do the patterns underneath them. Recognizing those patterns helps me ask better questions and understand people more deeply without assuming I already know their story. I work with many successful professionals and business owners who have worked hard, accomplished a lot, and genuinely like the lives they’ve built. Slowing down can still be difficult. There can always seem to be something else to think about, solve, plan for, or stay ahead of. Rest doesn’t always feel restorative, and being fully present can be difficult. Drive, responsibility, preparation, independence, and the ability to anticipate problems are strengths. We can understand what those responses have helped someone manage or protect against—and what happens when they show up in moments when the person would rather have another option. I also have advanced training and experience with ADHD and neurodivergence. When that’s part of someone’s experience, it becomes part of the bigger picture too—how their brain works, what they’ve had to adapt to, and what they’ve learned about themselves along the way. My background includes crisis intervention and addiction treatment. I’m comfortable working with suicidal thoughts, self-harm, dissociation, substance use, and intense emotions. I take safety seriously while staying curious about what these responses are doing—what they may be protecting against and what they help someone survive or manage. I also work with couples using Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT). I slow things down—a lot—so we can understand the pattern partners keep getting pulled into and what’s happening underneath it. When unresolved experiences are contributing to that cycle, I can also integrate EMDR to help heal what continues to get in the way. My practice is affirming of all genders, sexualities, identities, backgrounds, and lived experiences.