Who is Leftist Psychotherapist?

Hi, I’m Dinandrea. I’m a compassionate, collective liberationist-oriented psychotherapist. During therapy sessions, I pull from politically leftist, liberationist theory, critical psychology, and humanistic and existentialist frameworks. I fold these into the psychodynamic, CBT and Solution-focused therapies I often use in treatment.

I center marginalized persons, including BIPOC and LGBTQIA persons.

I understand that persons in need of psychotherapy are more than a set of symptoms and diagnoses; our mental health conditions are a complex mixture of ancestral, epigenetic, familial, social and societal histories, issues and dynamics that need to be explored, processed and affirmed in order to improve our condition and functioning.

I’m a digital nomad and a former vanlifer. I’m a mom. I've been with my same-sex partner since 2010, and married to her since 2007 (almost immediately after it became legal in Washington, DC).

I love travelling, rollerskating, languages and journaling and have had a past life as a commercial hairstylist/makeup artist (Fun Fact: I had a junk journal before anyone knew what that was). Hey, life is l o n g; you don’t have to just do one thing the whole time … because that could get boring.

And about that vanlifing thing … I vanlifed for 18 months. It was one of the most weirdly-cathartic experiences I have ever lived. But not just because of the actual vanlifing. Vanlifing was “the thing that led me to the thing.”

The Universe sometimes gives us something that we think we don’t want, but that’s only because it knows that we aren’t quite ready for what we’re saying we want, quite yet. So it gives us the-thing-that-leads-us-to-the-thing.” Vanlifing turned two, little, AfroCaribbean, lesbian women; one (me) a then, burned-out clinical-forensic psychotherapist, and the other (my wife) a then, fearful and insecure, psychiatric registered nurse into some straight-up badasses, when it was all said and done.

Vanlifing inspired me, strengthened me and became a catalyst for a host of even greater and increasingly delightfully unorthodox and original life choices, adventures and experiences. Remember to be sometimes open to receiving the thing that comes to you, even if you don’t think is really the thing you want.

Now, for the boring stuff: I got my Masters of Social Work with a double-specialization in Clinical/Mental Health and Policy/Administration/Supervision from Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC (No. I am not Catholic … or Christian [I am pretty '“woo-woo,” tho]). CUA was a logistical decision; I was a single mom. DC was between my home and the job I had while I was in graduate school.

I’ve been a licensed psychotherapist since 2007.

If you think we'd be a good fit, I’d like to meet you. Please, reach out.