About Andie

Andie Coston, LSW

“Shame dies when stories
are told in safe spaces.”

- Ann Voskamp

About:

Andie likes to tell people that she has four children, 3 dogs, two cats, and one husband. A more recent transplant to Illinois, formerly from Michigan, Andie has been in private practice since 2022 when she graduated with her MSW. Andie has been with CHAT since 2023. Andie is an avid reader, writer, artist, humorist, and outdoors dabbler. She is also an advocate for the Neurodiverse, Adoption, and Queer communities both online and as an speaker and educator. If money were not an issue, she would be traveling with her family, taking long walks on the beach (literally) collecting rocks, DIYing her house, or would move to a cabin in the woods on a lake to do art and write.

Theoretical Framework and Modalities:

Professionally Andie seeks to help you understand how we react to change, adapt, and heal from traumatic experiences and living in them. Her goal is to help clients work towards acceptance with past traumas, become more able to fully live in the present and gain agency over their own life journey by working to improving their internal view of self, increase skills through a growth mindset to improve functioning, and help process traumas detracting them from being peacefully present and engaged in their lives.

Beyond talk therapy modalities such as CBT and DBT, Andie utilizes the Expressive Arts, Somatic EMDR, Sand Tray, Narrative Therapy, Psychoeducation, ITR, and TF-CBT.

Andie’s Typical Clientele:

Andie’s clientele usually have a Venn Diagram of experiences or diagnosis ranging from Neurodivergence, Trauma, Religious Trauma, LGBTQIA+ and Transgender issues, Pathological Demand Avoidance, Attachment, Chronic Pain, or have experienced biological family separation through adoption, foster care, or family dysfunction.

Education and Training:

Andie’s educational background is diverse with a Bachelor’s of Intercultural Studies and Marketing having originally studied Fine art and Theater. She began her Master of Social Work right before the pandemic and graduated in 2022. Andie is a trauma trained clinician through the Mindsight Institute/PESI having taken and completed an Intensive Trauma Treatment Course, as well as training and certifications in EMDR, ITR, TF-CBT, and Sand Tray.

License number: 150.111370

Andie might be a good fit if:

You use humor as a coping skill.
You like to learn and info dumping.
You like to stim, move, play, or do art while you talk.
You are interested in politics and policy, religious and oppressive system deconstruction.
You are a bit nerdy.
You like to show people photos of your pets.