Andrea James, LCMHC-A - Clinical Counselor

Andrea began her undergraduate studies at the University of Maine at Augusta studying Mental Health & Human Services. She graduated in 2014 with a B.S. in this area & a minor of Psychology. Andrea began her career at a community based mental health program; where she focused on areas specific to crisis intervention, employment related coaching & in-home/community support for young adults with a broad spectrum of mental health concerns & intellectual disabilities. 

Andrea completed her Internship interning at a public health facility that specialized in substance abuse prevention & healthy living in the community. She was involved in public health projects, served on a substance use prevention coalition board & created community-based projects for substance use prevention for teens. 

Upon completing her graduate degree she moved to North Carolina, stepping into a role as a Residential Counselor at a mental health facility that primarily served inner-city adolescents. Her time there was spent working with young males with sexual behavioral concerns. This opportunity provided Andrea a great deal of training & experience working in areas specific to sexual trauma, healthy sexualization & facilitating group therapy. 

Andrea continued pursuing different avenues of mental health programs, expanding her tool box with rich experiences. After her time spent there, she moved on to prolong her experience working with adolescents in a wilderness-based programs. She relocated to Western North Carolina in 2015 where she began her two year journey working with wilderness clients struggling with substance use concerns. 

She started at Whipporwill as a Therapeutic Mentor before joining our Administrative Team as an On-Call Director. Andrea worked with us while completing a graduate studies program at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. After earning her Masters of Arts in Clinical Counseling Andrea joined our Team as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor. Her focus in therapy is rooted in a person-centers & experiential approach that includes somatic experiencing, empowerment-focus movement therapy, and attachment theories.