Rev. Dr. Andrea Travers

The story begins on a cold wintry January night when a baby girl was born at Lennox Hill hospital in Manhattan, New York to parents who were not planning on having a baby interrupt their lives. The father was an engineer and CEO of a successful venture firm with a new patent in hand, and the mother was his administrative assistant. His marriage to someone else complicated their relationship and the baby created an awkward situation in their social and professional lives. She was secretively whisked away to a foster home on Long Island. Her grandmother, who herself had been an orphan at the turn of the century, discovered the girl when she was two and stepped into the scene to raise her.

These early beginnings set the stage for my life. I became a survivor at a young age who has always sought a deeper meaning of life’s experiences. And as a loner, I turned to spirituality and a relationship with a higher power at a young age. In first grade I found a family to attend church with – they were a large Irish Catholic family and one more was always welcome. After moving to the Virgin Islands at nine, I once again found my way to church – soaking in the rituals, the music and the emotional safety it provided. While in a Catholic boarding school I spent three years with a contemplative order of nuns from Spain and experienced immersion into the Mystery in silent retreats, meditation, daily Mass, benediction and the daily reading of the Imitation of Christ.

As my life became more chaotic, after being reunited with my mother when she married an alcoholic and moved to the Virgin Islands, spirituality was the glue that held me together and provided value and meaning in my life. I left home at 18 to find my own way.

As I matured and married I was gifted with three amazing children who have provided unlimited meaning, purpose, love, connection and joy. As they grew up and transitioned into their own lives I drifted back to what initially nurtured and supported me- spirituality. I went back to school (a common theme) for alcohol and drug counseling and then on to the Seminary to study the world’s religions. Life has a way of providing us what we need when we are ready – the opportunity to blend addiction, counseling, spirituality, the 12 Steps and the wisdom traditions. Twelve years of working hands on in this field combined with the freedom to explore and create which Wisdom University provided, has resulted in this web site.

We weave our own tapestries thread by thread – always learning, evolving, becoming and emerging into the next stage of our existence. May you be enriched by what you find here.