Akshina Trentacoste, LGSW

Approach:

Akshina (Shina) creates a supportive and calm therapeutic space to help students better understand themselves, navigate life's challenges, and cultivate a life that feels aligned with their goals and values. Her style is warm and collaborative, grounded in the belief that healing and change happens through genuine, honest, and supportive relationships. Working primarily from a relational and cultural lens, Akshina draws on mindfulness, somatic and body-based approaches, psychodynamic therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) to approach exploration, growth, and healing holistically.

Akshina also co-facilitates the 'Healing with Clay and Paint: Understanding and Managing Anxiety' group in the Fall and Spring semesters. Meeting times and how to sign up can be found on the Student Health Center Website.

Area of Focus:
- Identity exploration and identity-related concerns
- Migration-related or cross-cultural adjustment concerns and trauma
- Third-culture-kids (TCK) and international student experiences
- Anxiety, including social anxiety issues
- Loss and Grief

About Me: 

Akshina transitioned from an 18-year career in FinTech to social and mental health work in 2024, joining CAPS as a full-time clinician in July 2026. As a third culture-kid (TCK) and someone who moved to the United States for a college as a young adult, she is especially passionate in helping students navigate the confusion and stress associated with experiencing changes in cultural contexts - be it between national cultures or through changes in life's circumstances.

Outside of work, her favorite thing to do is to make pottery. Sunday afternoons are for clay, her pottery wheel, a cup of coffee, and great music.