Hello there and welcome! My name is Andrea Carin, and I am a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) in the state of Minnesota, and have a wide range of experience with individuals, families, and adolescent counseling. I became a therapist because I have always enjoyed working with people and felt the desire to be a helping influence that would make a positive difference in people’s lives. A supportive and trusting connection are the most important ingredients to the therapy relationship and I make them my priority. I believe in the power of seeing the positive possibilities in life and am focused on identifying people’s strengths and seeing the greater potential in each individual. In my practice, I like to establish a “down to earth” approach along with instilling humor and warmth, which I feel allows for the most beneficial therapeutic connection.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
In our first session together, we'll start with brief introductions, then dive into the specific challenges you're facing. This will help us to create a plan moving forward in follow-up sessions.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I have a strengths-based, solutions-focused, approach that allows me to work well with a variety of challenges. My clients and I work as a team to uncover and become aware of the reasons that may be holding them back from feeling greater satisfaction in life. Armed with this awareness and tools for change, individuals can move forward and make new choices . We spend only enough time in the past to identify and validate core issues, and allow for the expression of feelings that stem from this merging awareness. From that point, steps can be taken to create meaningful change.
My background as a therapist is comprehensive and driven by my founding belief that we inherently have the power to create the lives we want with more happiness, ease, and clarity. As part of my practice, I believe in the transformative power of mindfulness, appreciation, meditation, deep breathing techniques, yoga, visualization, and other life-affirming activities, such as being in nature.
About Andrea Carin
Appointments
Virtual
My treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a powerful tool that can change how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. It allows us to become aware of the thought patterns, beliefs, and the self-talk, that move through our minds and can feel out of our control. CBT examines these patterns, recognizing that we are not our thoughts, and puts us back in the "driver's seat" by highlighting our self-awareness. Together, we will examine patterns of thoughts and beliefs, with the focus of your awareness. We will look for those thought patterns that are beneficial to you, as well as the ones that are not. Awareness is key for making desired changes in our lives, and once there is recognition and understanding, we feel more empowered to make changes and can access the tools to allow for the change.
Compassion Focused
Compassion Focused Therapy teaches us to have compassion for ourselves first. Once we we allow ourselves to feel self-compassion, we can view the world through a softer lense, and allow the self- judgement and fear to dissipate. Compassion an important component for feeling a sense of trust and safety, and it is only in a safe space that one can allow for emotional and psychological trauma to be be expressed and released. Through this softer lense of compassion, we ultimately allow for more acceptance and love for ourselves, which then can allow the world to cycle back to us with more loving and joyful experiences. We will examine where in life you can have greater compassion for yourself, and how that impacts your life and the world around you. We will look as self-judgements, and how to embrace what you've learned from your past choices, so that you can move forward with understanding.
Mindfulness-Based Therapy
Mindfulness-Based Therapy teaches us to direct our focus with awareness and purpose. Living in the present moment is our point of power, instead of being in a state of reaction to circumstances, which creates the feeling of being out of control, as if our lives are happening to us. While there are things in the world we can't control, we do have the ability to choose what we think, and what we place our focus on. We will identify root causes to allow for understanding, but without spending too much time in the past. Emotional clearing can be a result of these understandings, and we will allow for whatever needs to come forward and be expressed and validated, with a balance of how it allows for greater understanding of the present moment. We can then access what we learn from these root causes, and apply them with a fresh perspective.
Strength-Based
Strength-based therapy focuses on solutions by placing the focus on where we have been successful in our lives, boosting our self-confidence by recognizing these areas of success. There can often be a preoccupation with what is wrong with our lives, and yet there are always strengths to draw from. By recognizing your previous successes, you will build on your inherent strengths, which can allow for more doors to open for you. Although it is important to have awareness of what you have learned from past choices, and to allow for feelings that may come up surrounding this, the focus comes back to what is possible based on what we have done well. With this perspective, we can open a door of possibility and progress begins to feel possible.
