Nicole knew she wanted to be a caregiver since she was a teen, but her love for the mental health field developed while she was in the Army during Desert Storm. Those who know her describe her as empathetic, compassionate, and non-judgmental – three attributes necessary for working in this field. Nicole sees what depression and anxiety can do to her patients – hindering them from fully living life; she strives to treat each patient individually by giving them tools to combat these disorders. “Part of helping my patients is educating them about the different disorders. This arms them with knowledge and skills to optimize their own mental health care.” Nicole believes in a holistic approach to mental health treatment that begins with the effort to achieve a healthy lifestyle. “ I encourage patients to improve their health as much as they possibly can, and to try and avoid the things that prevent this from happening.” Seeing the progression in her patients who “come into the clinic – sometimes with many aspects of their life in disarray – find the help they need to get their life back to their highest level of functioning is very rewarding and feels as if I’ve made an impact.”

Nicole spends time with her spouse of twenty-four years, two grown children, and two fur babies.