About Desired Futures
Aligning People, Purpose, and Practice
We believe that dedicated time and space for reflection, connection, and care are essential to living a values-aligned life. Founded in 2025 by Andi Phillips, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Desired Futures was born from the wisdom of lived experience—navigating personal loss, professional burnout, and the moral distress of witnessing broken systems.
We provide organizational and leadership consulting for mission-driven organizations that care deeply about safety, quality, retention, equity, and impact—but struggle with burnout, disengagement, and leadership gaps. We help translate values into actionable strategies, programs, and workplace cultures that deliver meaningful results for both people and the populations they serve.
We do this through our 4 areas of service: Leadership Development, Team & Culture Transformation, Culturally Responsive & Identity Affirming Practice, and Strategic Planning & Program Design.
Leadership Development
Team & Culture Transformation
Culturally Responsive & Identity Affirming Practice
Strategic Planning & Program Design
Leadership Development Team & Culture Transformation Culturally Responsive & Identity Affirming Practice Strategic Planning & Program Design
Our Guiding Priciples
More than values, these principles are the lenses that shape our perspectives and the strategies that help your organization thrive.
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We believe people thrive in workplaces led with empathy, respect, and genuine collaboration. A person-centered approach creates cultures where staff feel supported, valued, and able to grow.
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We ground our work in the 4 R’s of trauma-informed practice: realizing the impact of trauma, recognizing its signs, responding with informed policies and practices, and resisting re-traumatization. This builds safety and trust across organizations.
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We help leaders see the bigger picture—how processes, people, and outcomes are connected. By mapping these relationships, organizations can identify root causes, reduce pain points, and design effective, lasting solutions.
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We honor diversity and create spaces where all voices are valued. By embedding cultural responsiveness into strategy and practice, organizations foster belonging, well-being, and engagement.
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Empathy is at the heart of strong leadership. By truly understanding the needs of staff and clients, leaders can build trust, improve retention, and inspire collaboration and innovation.
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We align decisions with core values to keep organizations rooted in purpose and integrity. A values-based approach strengthens accountability, teamwork, and meaningful impact.
Andi Phillips, LCSW
Strategic Advisor and Culture Shifter
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Founder of Desired Futures
With nearly two decades of experience across diverse health care settings—and over ten years in federal health care leadership—Andi has witnessed firsthand the pressures leaders face in guiding teams, navigating complex systems, and sustaining their own wellbeing. Her career has shown her that professional fulfillment and organizational success often hinge on one critical factor: the relationship between leaders and the people they serve.
As a federal supervisor, she saw how trust in frontline managers and executive leadership could either cultivate resilience and belonging or erode morale and create harm. Those experiences deepened her conviction that supervisors and leaders carry immense influence—not just over workplace culture, but over how safe, valued, and supported people feel in their daily work. Today, she helps organizations understand how trauma shows up in individuals and systems, reducing the risk of retraumatization and strengthening cultures of safety, equity, and trust.
Andi’s work is informed by a belief that organizations, like people, have nervous systems. Just as humans thrive when co-regulation fosters calm and trust, teams thrive when leaders create psychologically safe environments where employees can engage fully and courageously. Her approach blends strategy with humanity: bringing a clear vision from the “balcony view” while also guiding leaders through the personal presence and moral courage required to inspire others.
Certified in Prosci® Change Management, Andi prioritizes the people side of transformation—empowering leaders to communicate with clarity, address resistance with empathy, and align change initiatives with core values and mission. She is known as both a strategist and a truth-teller, often described as a “canary in the mine” who can spot risks and opportunities early, helping organizations course-correct before harm is done.
At the heart of her work is a commitment to cultivating resilient, trauma-informed, and values-based workplaces where both people and organizations can thrive. She believes that creating cultures of resilience and wellbeing isn’t about surface-level wellness strategies, but about reshaping systems, leadership practices, and organizational norms to support lasting impact.
“I believe in the principle of ‘Nothing about us without us.’ Real, lasting change happens when the voices and lived experiences of those most impacted are centered in the solutions. My role is to bring systems-thinking, empathy, and strategy together so organizations can align people and practices toward desired futures with meaningful collaboration, inclusive cultures, and dignity for all.”
- Andi Phillips
Summary of Contributions and Impact
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Developed innovative well-being initiatives such as the VA’s first 24/7 multidisciplinary peer support program to help normalize care, reduce burnout and secondary trauma, and build resilience, and conceptualizing and informing the design of national clinical supervisor tools to monitor clinician well-being indicators for early intervention and improvement planning.
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Led strategic interventions to improve organizational governance structure, organization charts, work-life flexibility policies, and employee retention, including negotiating $600,000 in retention and recruitment incentives to increase homeless program staffing from 65% to 95%.
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Co-developed the first VA Sterile Syringe Project, recognized nationally for innovation and serving as a model for 20+ other facilities.
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Introduced initiatives like “Boondoggle Begone” and “Focus Friday” to optimize meeting practices, foster inclusive spaces, reduce administrative burden, and foster a psychologically safe and productive work environment. Facilitated a gap analysis and provided recommendations for leadership development opportunities, improving team-based care to align with practice efficiency, burnout mitigation, and professional fulfillment initiatives.
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Consulted on language, practices, and policies that ensure equity, safety, and dignity in clinical care, improving patient experience and outcomes across diverse populations. Advised on incorporating trauma-inform care principles in policy revisions, change management communication plans, and in crisis management response.
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Coordinated care across multiple agencies, integrated primary and behavioral healthcare programs, and developed systems to prevent homelessness and enhance access to care. Supported establishing and maintaining federal and community partnerships benefiting initiatives in ending Veteran homelessness, suicide prevention, opioid overdose prevention, LGBT healthcare and community homeless response systems.
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Provided supervision, consulting, and strategic guidance to frontline supervisors and executive leaders, modeling moral courage, empathetic leadership, and participatory management practices. Developed content for supervisor orientation and development curriculum focused on servant leadership and organizational well-being strategies.
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Proposed initiatives to align long-term strategic goals with organizational health and workforce well-being, ensuring sustainable growth and continuous improvement. Conceptualized and informed the development of governance, workflows, policy, and clinical and administrative dashboards, requiring data and systems integration to enhance data utilization, transparency, and strategic decision making.
“I had the pleasure of working closely with Andi for two years, during which she consistently combined strategic insight with genuine care for people. She creates environments where innovation thrives, teams feel valued, and leaders are empowered to act with clarity and purpose. Her expertise in leadership development, culture, and strategy makes her an invaluable partner for any organization seeking thoughtful, impactful, and culturally attuned consulting.”
— public affairs officer at a federal agency
Individual Counseling & Support
In a more personal, individualized context, Andi works with a small number of individuals and couples who identify as high-performing and values-driven. These individuals often feel overextended, exhausted, or stuck under the weight of perfectionism and high expectations. In a private, empowering space, they can pause, reflect, and reconnect with their priorities, values, and sense of purpose. Together, they explore strategies for building a sustainable, meaningful, and fulfilling life—aligning actions, choices, and relationships with the future they want to create. Andi’s counseling approach mirrors her consulting work: cultivating clarity, resilience, and intentional alignment between values and action.