Before pursuing her passion for helping people move forward in their life journey, Danielle Andrews began her career in the business sector, gathering over a decade of experience. During this time, she worked in the Chicago suburb’s corporate landscape specializing in effective mediation strategies, labor and employee relations, leadership development, collective bargaining, and employment law. As she climbed the corporate ladder, Danielle realized that her role became less about relationships and working with people and more about blueprint conflict resolution and policy. She decided to go back to school to add on to her bachelor’s in psychology. In 2010, she received her masters in counseling (LCMHC) from Naropa University in Boulder, CO, with a concentration in wilderness therapy. Her studies brought her to Western North Carolina, where she became a primary therapist for a young adult recovery program specializing in addiction, trauma, and PTSD. From here, Danielle accepted a position to develop an aftercare program for Solstice East graduates and their families, one of the first programs of its kind. In 2015, Danielle joined Solstice East full time as its first Aftercare Specialist. Since then, she has helped hundreds of families on their path to transitioning home.
Danielle has astutely combined her experience in conflict resolution, systemic change management, and counseling, among other areas of knowledge, into enthusiastically working with adolescents and their families. In 2020, Danielle became the Director of Transitional Services for Solstice East and its sister program Journey Home East. Beyond her expertise in post-treatment aftercare, Danielle also specializes in addiction, anxiety and depression, autism spectrum disorders (ASD), complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), borderline personality disorder, and attachment issues. She is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Brainspotting, Somatic Psychotherapy, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). She is Certified as a Family Trauma Professional (CFTP).
When she’s not providing support for students at Solstice East and Journey Home East, Danielle can be found enjoying outdoor activities like mountain biking, snowboarding, and tennis, or visiting with friends and family. She is an avid learner and continues to seek fulfillment through personal growth and education. One of her favorite pastimes is sipping tea on her front porch in the company of her rescue dogs.
Bri graduated in 2009 from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a Bachelors degree in Psychology. Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Bri moved to Asheville after a year of backpacking internationally. Bri intended to stay in Asheville only temporarily but quickly fell in love with the mountains and her Solstice family. Bri started with Solstice as a Mentor and then Team Manager before moving into the Residential Director role. She feels both pride and gratitude to be a part of the growth and healing she’s seen in students and their families during her time at Solstice. In her free time, Bri is often getting as much of the outdoors as possible. She enjoys hiking, canoeing, biking, and running.
Emily graduated with her Master of Social Work degree from Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois. She moved from this midwestern state to the beautiful and sacred mountains of North Carolina after a long-time passion for supporting young people on their journeys of self-discovery in natural healing spaces. She gained her tenure in this work from working in wilderness therapy treatment settings, proudly embodying a number of roles throughout her time. As she climbed the professional ladder, Emily began to hone her work with young people toward a focus on identity development challenges and complex trauma. She realized that the self-discovery journey for young people is plagued with experiences of both systemic and episodic trauma and drew from her experience with unique and expressive modalities to “get to the roots” of the young people she was working with. Thinking “outside the box” is something that Emily enjoys and feels that it is essential in effectively collaborating with young people to achieve their goals. She utilizes a variety of experiential modalities such as expressive arts therapy, Brainspotting, somatic experiencing, and Trauma Centered Trauma Sensitive Yoga to name a few. Emily believes that the key to a healthier future is healthier relationships. She focuses on conflict resolution, trust based relational interventions, and the value of a felt-sense of safety in relationship to guide the work. When she isn’t on the job Emily is often found doing something creative, whether it’s being in the outdoors with her family and animals, tending to her garden, working on her latest home renovation project or baking a pie.
