Present Tense Counseling

I’m Andrew Wright, a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and National Certified Counselor (NCC) with a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling; I am the sole practitioner at Present Tense Counseling. Before relocating to the Netherlands, I worked with clients across a wide range of backgrounds, presentations, and life circumstances in Chicago — individuals navigating anxiety, depression, identity, grief, major transitions, and the quiet but persistent sense that something in their life isn’t quite right.

My approach draws on existential and psychodynamic traditions, both of which take seriously the idea that understanding yourself more deeply is the path to living more freely. I’m especially interested in how people relate to meaning, choice, and the friction that life and change inevitably bring. That friction isn’t always the enemy — often it’s the most important thing in the room, and the catalyst for the change we most need.

I work particularly well with expats and international professionals. Whether the move was a choice you made boldly or a circumstance that arrived and asked you to adapt, living abroad puts you in direct contact with questions most people spend a lifetime avoiding. It’s an extraordinary opportunity — and yet remarkably easy to trade for just getting through the week. Part of what we can explore together is how to actually inhabit the life you’re living, not just manage it.