Professional Bio

Andala Yakubu is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Substance Abuse Counselor, and the founder of Rarsana Wellness—a healing-centered practice grounded in cultural humility, community care, and evidence-based treatment.

She provides individual, couples, and family therapy, with clinical focus areas that include trauma, anxiety, depression, substance use and recovery, relationship challenges, adoption and attachment-related concerns, identity exploration, life transitions, and stress related to migration, family systems, and generational responsibilities.

Andala is trained in multiple evidence-based and trauma-informed modalities, including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), adoption-competent counseling, strengths-based therapy, and culturally responsive interventions. Her work with substance use emphasizes harm reduction, emotional regulation, relapse prevention, and restoring dignity and hope throughout the recovery process.

Her clinical approach is holistic and integrative—honoring the connection between mind, body, spirit, and community—while remaining deeply rooted in African cultural frameworks and lived experience. She is especially passionate about supporting individuals and families who have felt unseen, stigmatized, or misunderstood in traditional mental-health and substance-use treatment spaces.

Through Rarsana Wellness, Andala is committed to creating safe, affirming environments where healing is collaborative, identity is respected, and clients are supported in reconnecting with their inner strength and cultural roots. She believes healing is both personal and collective—and that sustainable wellness grows when people are met with compassion, accountability, and care.

My Story

Rarsana Wellness was born from my own healing journey—and from the stories of many people who, like me, learned early how to be strong while quietly carrying pain.

I was raised between worlds: grounded in African culture, community, and faith, while navigating systems that often did not understand or make space for who I was. Like many, I learned how to survive—how to adapt, achieve, and care for others—long before I learned how to rest, feel, or ask for help.

As I grew older and pursued my education and professional training in mental health, I began to notice a pattern. Many of the people I served were not "broken." They were exhausted. They were carrying unspoken grief, generational wounds, cultural expectations, migration stress, family responsibilities, and spiritual questions—often without language, safety, or support to process them.

I also noticed that traditional mental-health spaces did not always reflect our realities. Our stories were often misunderstood, minimized, or separated from our culture, faith, and lived experiences.

Rarsana Wellness exists to change that.

This space was created to honor the fullness of who we are—our histories, our families, our faith, our bodies, and our resilience. Healing here is not about fixing what is "wrong" with you. It is about remembering what has always been right, reconnecting to your roots, and learning new ways to carry yourself with compassion, boundaries, and strength.

As a licensed therapist, my work is shaped not only by clinical training, but by lived experience, cultural humility, and deep respect for community wisdom. I believe healing is both personal and collective. It happens in conversation, in reflection, in relationships, and sometimes in silence. It happens when we are seen, believed, and supported.

Rarsana means roots—and wellness, to me, is about returning to those roots while still allowing ourselves to grow.

This is more than a practice. It is a home for healing. Rooted in our stories. Held with care. Guided with intention.