Meet Angie Hanson

she/her, MA, LPCA

I built this practice because I have fought like hell to trust myself.

I know what it’s like to argue with yourself about whether your reactions are valid. I know what it’s like to try harder, be better, and still feel like something inside you isn’t settling.

The more I tried to ignore myself, the more disconnected and chaotic I felt.

Eventually, I stopped asking “What’s wrong with me?”

Why I Do This Work

I started asking, “What is this feeling trying to tell me?”

That shift changed everything- to assume my body is not telling me something incorrect, but that I simply haven’t figured it out.

Now my energy goes toward understanding what’s happening, not arguing about whether it’s valid.

It’s liberating to believe yourself, to trust yourself, and to support yourself.

People come to therapy for many reasons, but the development of self-trust is invaluable.

It’s possible to trust yourself.

I’m Angie. I’m a trauma-informed mental health therapist and body image photographer in Louisville, KY. I work with folks who are tired of fighting themselves and need a break.

I’ve sat in the client chair. I have felt disoriented, powerless, confused, and ashamed of my own feelings. It doesn’t have to stay that way. I know in my bones that self-trust can be both taught and learned, because I’ve done both.

What It’s Like to Work With Me

Therapy with me is collaborative and paced according to your needs. I tend to show my cards (when requested) and talk like a real person, but I try to only do 10% of the talking in our sessions. I figure the truly unique value of therapy is being able to say and feel what you need to without being judged or shamed, so this is what I prioritize.

As we talk about what’s going on for you, we pay close attention to your nervous system. That means…

  • We move at a speed your body can tolerate. We don’t want to stay stuck, but we don’t want to rush the process either. Sometimes you need to be challenged, sometimes you need to rest. Your nervous system will help us discern when to do what.

  • We don’t bulldoze past reactions that feel inconvenient. Internal chaos may likely be a part of your experience, but healing comes with integration. If you are saying one thing but feeling the opposite, we need to slow down to recalibrate.

I’m not here to tell you what you should feel. I’m here to help you understand what’s happening internally and decide what to do with that information without ignoring your other priorities.

You don’t need to have everything figured out to explain before you come in. We can sort it out together.

My Approach

I view symptoms and feelings as data, and our thoughts are the interpretation of the data points. It could be that your body needs more movement, stimulation, nutrition, or rest.

It could be that you are in an environment or relationship that isn’t aligned with your core values.

It could be that there’s a chapter of your story that needs to be processed and witnessed in order to settle.

Your body isn’t the enemy. It’s the messenger.

Masking, people-pleasing, over-responsibility… these responses didn’t appear randomly. They developed in a context for a reason.

They made sense somewhere.

Even if they’re not working anymore.

Our work isn’t about erasing those parts of you. It’s about understanding them. When we understand, then we can create intentional and caring solutions.

Then you don’t have to keep fighting yourself in order to function; you can add meaningful support to the way your body already knows to function.

My approach is trauma-informed, experiential, and grounded in attachment and nervous-system awareness.

I draw from modalities like accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy, internal family systems, somatic work, and narrative therapy.

Still, the most important thing is not the modality, but how it feels to sit in the room together.

Areas I Specialize In

    • Relationship anxiety

      • Co-dependency or people pleasing

      • Adult children of emotionally immature parents; adult children of alcoholics and dysfunctional families

      • Masking for neurodivergent folks or codeswitching for marginalized folks

    • Religious trauma and spiritual abuse

      • Religious deconstruction

      • Reclaiming spirituality after spiritual injury

    • Chronic illness and medical trauma

      • Adjusting to a life-altering diagnoses

      • Managing chronic illness

      • Emotional healing from a medical trauma

    • Body image and embodied self-trust

      • Sexual and gender identity

      • Body dysmorphia

      • Self-esteem and self-acceptance

  • We could talk for a long time about what a diagnosis means and the philosophy behind a term like “mental health disorder,” but to be brief, I have experience treating the following types of mental health disorders:

    • Depressive disorders

    • Anxiety disorders

    • Trauma and stressor-related disorders

    • Dissociative disorders

    • Somatic symptom and related disorders

    • Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD)

  • I will never know what it’s like to be you.

    I am mindful of generalizing my knowledge and experience of various cultural identities by focusing on the guiding question, “how did this person’s experience as XYZ affect them?” rather than assuming you fit my limited idea of what I assume it means to be affected by XYZ.

    I have listed group identities that I have substantial familiarity, training and/or professional experience with so you can know that you won’t have to spend an entire hour translating and teaching me about it. Like you, I personally belong in some of these groups and not others.

    However, if you do not see yourself here, feel free to ask me about the extent of my knowledge with your group identities if that’s important to you (some folks prefer their therapist to have extensive knowledge on a subject, some prefer they have no pre-conceived notions). I want to help you find a good fit, regardless of that being me.

    • First and second generation immigrants to the United States

    • BIPOC folks

    • Folks using English as a second language

    • Deaf and Hard of Hearing

    • Neurodivergent folks

    • Folks with physical disabilities

    • Caretakers of loved ones

    • Christian faith traditions

    • Buddhist faith traditions

    • High-control religions

    • Spiritual/mystic beliefs

    • Healthcare professionals

    • Entrepreneurs and small-business owners

    • Queer or LGBTQ+ folks

    • Kink and/or poly folks

Credentials

  • Licensed professional counseling associate in Kentucky (LPCA 297663)

  • Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Concordia University Irvine

  • Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Linguistics from Liberty University

work with me