I’m Andrew Benedict-Nelson, a leading consultant helping healers who are ready to lead. I got here through an entire life lived in proximity to helping professionals, all of whom taught me how to think with them, but who also showed me the need to transcend their limitations.

That started with my parents. My mother was one of the first pediatric nurse practitioners. My father was a pioneering transplant surgeon and surgical educator. They were both gifted healers in very different ways. They also both died prematurely, unable to seek help due to limitations deeply intertwined with their professional identities. It hurt them to be healers, and I never forget that.

I built my skills in strategy in innovation through Insight Labs, a group that convened interdisciplinary strategy sessions on behalf of groups facing tough questions. Labs were held for more than 60 groups, including NASA, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Starbucks, and TED. As a researcher and workshop instructor, I helped highly educated professionals set aside assumptions and unleash the creativity they needed to realize new ideas together.

Today I bring the same dynamism to problems facing healers and the systems in which they work. Over my career I’ve worked with many of the leading organizations in health care and social work, plus a smattering of projects with teachers, physicians, patient advocates, and other helping professions. Past clients and partners in this area include Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AARP, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, Harvard Medical School, Ashoka, and the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education.