Andraya Hayward, Andraya Hayward

I am a feminist therapist trained in EMDR, grounded in IFS, offering telehealth with optional experiential therapy for folx navigating burnout, anxiety, major life transitions, and eating disorders.

Feminist burnout is real. The pressure to be composed, capable, and self sacrificing takes a quiet but profound toll, especially for women and gender expansive folx who have been conditioned to hold everything together at the expense of their own needs. My work centers on naming these pressures, reconnecting you with your values, and helping you reclaim your power in steady, sustainable ways.

My practice is built for people navigating experiences that disproportionately affect women: PMDD, burnout, eating disorders, chronic self criticism, and the exhaustion of carrying emotional labor. I also specialize in PTSD and complex trauma, neurodivergence (ADHD/OCD), grief and loss, end of life care, and major life transitions. Many of my clients arrive feeling stretched thin, disconnected from themselves, or stuck in patterns that once kept them safe but now keep them small. Together, we work toward clarity, regulation, and grounded movement forward.
My approach supports nervous system regulation, values aligned decision making, and the slow, meaningful work of reconnecting with your internal world. I rely heavily on IFS because it honors the complexity of who we are — the protective parts, the hurting parts, the parts that learned to survive, and the parts that are ready to grow. IFS pairs beautifully with EMDR, which helps the nervous system process trauma and release old patterns that no longer serve you. I also integrate CPT and ERP when helpful, especially for trauma, OCD, and anxiety based looping.

My style is warm, very human, and trauma informed. I don’t sit behind a clinical wall; I show up as a real person. Therapy with me is collaborative, relational, and grounded in authentic connection. I believe healing happens when we feel safe enough to be honest, curious, and imperfect. You don’t have to perform here. You don’t have to be “fine.” You get to be exactly where you are, and we’ll work from there.

My frameworks are evidence informed and include HAES (Health at Every Size), feminist therapy, EAGALA certified equine assisted work, and licensed art therapy. Even when we’re not actively using art or animals in session, these frameworks shape how I understand healing: as embodied, relational, creative, and deeply influenced by the systems we live in. I hold an anti patriarchal lens that recognizes how cultural expectations shape burnout, anxiety, eating disorders, and self worth. You are not “too sensitive.” You are responding to a world that has asked too much of you for too long.

My experiential offerings are available for folx who want something beyond traditional talk therapy. Some people find that words can only take them so far — especially when trauma, overwhelm, or chronic self criticism live in the body. Clayworks offers optional nature based sessions, animal assisted therapy, and clay based art therapy in quiet, outdoor settings during the warmer months. These modalities help you reconnect with yourself in ways that reach beyond language, offering access to truths your heart has held long before words were available. You are welcome to stay fully telehealth or join in experiential therapy, depending on your needs and comfort.

Clayworks Counseling follows a seasonal rhythm: virtual sessions in fall and winter, with optional experiential sessions (animal assisted or clay based art therapy) in spring and summer. This rhythm honors the natural cycles of rest, emergence, and creativity - and allows therapy to feel less like an appointment and more like something to look forward to.

I also offer a portrait based therapeutic offering year round: Unspoken Women Sitting: Witness the Woman They Told You Not to Be. Many of us were told, directly or indirectly, to stop feeling sorry for ourselves. To toughen up. To be grateful. To keep the peace. To not make things harder for anyone else. Those messages don’t make us stronger; they make us disappear. They teach us to override our own needs, silence our own pain, and perform a version of ourselves that feels acceptable to others but disconnected from who we actually are.

This is where self compassion lives: in the quiet, radical act of unlearning the belief that your feelings are “too much,” “dramatic,” or “inconvenient.” Whether you come for the experience of portrait sitting or more traditional therapy, this becomes a place to practice being seen without shrinking, to let your emotions exist without apology, and to rebuild trust with the parts of you that were told to stay small. Together, we explore the patterns you inherited, the roles you were handed, and the truths you had to bury to survive - and we create space for the version of you that is ready to emerge with clarity, steadiness, and self respect.

A little bit about me outside of being a clinician: I’m an animal lover, rock hunter, and self tattooer. I enjoy saving the unpopular wasps but will evict harmless boxelder bugs for loitering in groups of two or more. I do my best thinking while lying on my 250 pound goat’s belly, watching the stars and pretending I’m not technically using him as outdoor furniture. My own pottery is often lopsided because adapting has become my artistic philosophy. When I’m not in session, I’m usually playing outside, watching 90 Day Fiancé, feeding goats, or laughing at my dog’s dramatic negotiations for a piece of chicken.

With me, you get a therapist who is warm, human, and deeply committed to helping people reconnect with their hearts. You get someone who understands burnout from the inside, who knows what it means to rebuild identity after trauma, and who believes that healing is not an obscure destination without a map; it’s returning to yourself with compassion and clarity.