Andy Pfandler

Who I am as a Therapist

Hiya, I’m Andy, a couples and family therapist specializing in sex therapy. I help people communicate better, find meaning, and build stronger communities. I believe that relationships drive the quality of our lives, and that we all need occasional help to address barriers to connection, self and others.

In session, you bring your expertise in your life, and I bring my compassion, training, and skills. I’m kind, a bit silly, and will sometimes say things that feel hard. As a therapist I focus on emotions as communication, the ways our past informs our present, and how our body and thoughts connect. We all develop survival behaviors due to personal struggles and systemic injustice. At times those old survival strategies hold us back, and therapy can help us learn new strategies to match our present moment and move us towards the future we want.

I have experience with couples in conflict, teenagers and their families, and folx struggling with sexual pain and sexual satisfaction. I am interested in helping families move through big changes including separation and divorce, youth gender transitions, and loss. I have a special interest in helping address how conventional masculinity boxes in and dis-empowers everyone, including queer and trans folk, and cisgendered men and women.

Specialty Areas

Therapeutic Approaches 

• Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Attachment Based Therapy
• Emotionally Focused Therapy
• Gottman Method
• Mind-Body / Somatic
• Mindfulness
• Psychodynamic

Training & Experience  

• I was a crisis behavioral health worker helping folks living in homeless shelters
• As a trained mediator, volunteered in the Multnomah County Small Claims court
• I’ve been an archaeologist, a professional cook, and a builder and these are all huge parts of who I am