Reviewed by Andreau Charles, LCSW, last updated October 2026
I became a depth psychotherapist through work and study that kept showing me how social conditions, stigma, and early relational wounds shape emotional life. This page explains the values and clinical orientation behind AREALE COUNSELING & WELLNESS.
Choosing a therapist is an act of trust made mostly in the dark. This page is my attempt to hold up a light: an account of how I came to this work and why AREALE COUNSELING & WELLNESS exists.
Guyana, 1999
As a young sociology student at the University of Guyana, I studied the relationship between poverty and wellness. What I came to understand changed my thinking permanently. Mental suffering is not limited to the poor or disadvantaged. It runs through every layer of a society. What poverty often does is delay the search for help.
Stigma does something worse. I saw its sting up close. I understood early that people who are suffering need places where they are treated with care, respect, and dignity, and that such places do not appear on their own. Someone has to build them.
The Long Apprenticeship
A close friend, an excellent social worker, drew me toward the helping professions, and I studied clinical social work in his honor. My path ran through HIV and AIDS advocacy, prevention, care, and treatment; substance use and addiction work; homelessness prevention; child welfare; and mental health counseling.
Each role taught me something essential, and none was the destination. I knew this from a persistent unsettledness I eventually learned to trust. I was working at the level of circumstance, but the wounds I kept encountering, such as childhood trauma, abandonment, abuse, and neglect, lived at the level of the psyche. Reaching them would mean going deeper than the systems I served were built to go.
The Practice I Built
Depth psychotherapy answered that unsettledness, and my practice grew from it. I built a reflective space where men, people of African descent, multicultural individuals, and LGBTQ+ people can explore their inner lives without judgment or fear, in service of self-discovery, emotional health, and healing.
Today, I practice as a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with more than 15 years of clinical experience. AREALE COUNSELING & WELLNESS serves high-achieving professionals, artists, and creatives in Midtown Manhattan and through secure telehealth. My long-term depth psychotherapy is grounded in a postgraduate certification in advanced clinical practice from New York University and doctoral training in depth psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute. The commitments I formed in Guyana have not changed. The depth of the work has grown.
What I Know About Asking
Asking for help is one of the harder things a person does, and therapy asks even more: facing painful experience directly. I hold both of those truths, along with a third that every year of this work has confirmed. It is possible to move through pain into a life marked by self-acceptance, worth, and real happiness.
I have seen this happen in my consulting room more times than I can count. Sometimes the whole journey begins with one person asking another a simple question: How are you doing? Consider this page my way of asking you.
Related reading: An Integrative Depth Psychological Approach (https://arealecounselingandwellness.com/2023-08-07-an-integrative-depth-psychological-approach-to-mental-health-and-wellness/); How Depth Psychotherapy Works with the Unconscious (https://arealecounselingandwellness.com/how-depth-psychotherapy-works-with-the-unconscious/)
Frequently Asked Questions
What led Andreau Charles to become a depth psychotherapist?
Andreau Charles began as a sociology student at the University of Guyana, studying poverty and wellness, and saw how stigma delays people from seeking help. A close friend who was a social worker drew him into the helping professions. He then spent years in HIV and AIDS care, addiction treatment, homelessness prevention, child welfare, and mental health counseling. That work showed him that many wounds, such as childhood trauma, abandonment, and neglect, lived at the level of the psyche rather than circumstance. Depth psychotherapy offered a way to reach them, and he now practices as an LCSW with more than 15 years of clinical experience, a postgraduate certification in advanced clinical practice from New York University, and doctoral training in depth psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Who does AREALE COUNSELING & WELLNESS serve?
AREALE COUNSELING & WELLNESS serves high-achieving professionals, artists, and creatives who want therapy that goes beyond symptom management. The practice has a particular commitment to men, people of African descent, multicultural individuals, and LGBTQ+ people, who are often underserved or misunderstood in traditional mental health settings. Patients often come with anxiety, burnout, relationship patterns, imposter feelings, creative blocks, grief, or a sense that something important remains unresolved despite outward success. Sessions are available in person in Midtown Manhattan, near Herald Square, and through secure telehealth across New York State. As an out-of-network practice, its billing team verifies benefits, submits claims, and provides superbills on request.
What should someone expect if they reach out?
A person can begin with a free 15-minute virtual consultation to talk about what brings them in, ask questions about the approach, and decide whether the fit feels right. There is no obligation to continue. If someone chooses to begin, early sessions focus on understanding their concerns, history, relationships, and goals. Depth psychotherapy is usually longer-term work that involves facing painful experience directly, in a space free of judgment and paced with care. Over time, the aim is to move toward self-acceptance, a clearer sense of worth, and a fuller life. Many people find that simply taking the first step brings some relief.
Disclaimer
This article is for educational purposes and is not a diagnosis, medical advice, or a substitute for individualized mental-health care. If you are in immediate danger or thinking about harming yourself or someone else, call or text 988 in the United States or contact local emergency services.
Last reviewed: October 2026.
About the Author
Andreau Charles, LCSW, is the founder of AREALE COUNSELING & WELLNESS, an out-of-network depth psychotherapy practice in Midtown Manhattan serving high-achieving professionals, artists, and creatives, in person and through secure telehealth. His clinical work draws on more than 15 years of clinical experience, a postgraduate certification in advanced clinical practice from New York University, doctoral training in depth psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and over five years of supervision from a senior Jungian analyst.