Team Profiles

Nicole is psychotherapist with a history in business leadership roles. She develops genuine connection and alliance with her clients creating a safe, warm, empathetic, and honest environment. She feels it is a privilege to be present and partner individuals and couples to better understand themselves, overcome challenges, and achieve their goals.  She is passionate about enabling individuals to overcome the effects of trauma and mental health challenges.  Nicole began her career as a therapist with an interest in how trauma, particularly interpersonal trauma, shapes or shifts so much of our lives:  our manner of thinking, our emotional responses, our perspective on the world, and perhaps most importantly the way we connect with other people.  This lead to an adjacent interest in couples therapy.  Nicole is an eclectic, scientifically-based practitioner who draws from Mindfulness, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing, AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy), IFS (Internal Family Systems), Attachment Theory and Object Relations.

Nicole is a certified Trauma Counselor and was the Director of Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention Initiative for Safe Horizons where she: lead and coordinated activities of an Interdisciplinary Domestic Violence (DV) High Risk Team charged with ensuring effective protective actions and strategies for clients, provided short term counseling, crisis intervention and advocacy for DV survivors identified as high risk, developed risk management plans with clients, reflecting each client’s unique situation and facilitated team meetings with and training/presentations for law enforcement and social service organizations, In addition, Nicole's interned at the Crime Victims Treatment Center at Mt. Sinai West & St. Luke’s Hospitals where she provided individual therapy to survivors of violent crime to prevent, reduce or eliminate symptoms of PTSD and other mental health disorders using various evidence-based techniques. Before entering private practice work full-time, Nicole worked in the Psychiatric Emergency Room and Outpatient Clinic at Kings County Hospital.

Education

New York University

Master of Social Work

Clinical Focus in Trauma

CUNY Queens College

B.A. Major: Psychology

Areas of Focus

Anxiety

Assertiveness

Career or educational challenges

Couples Therapy

Dating, Friendship and Relationship Challenges

Depression

Dissociation

Emotional Dysregulation

Issues of Identity

Life Transitions

Somatization

Stress Management

Trauma

Courtney is a mental health counselor who works collaboratively with her clients to foster growth, self-acceptance, and fulfilling interpersonal relationships. Courtney believes in every client’s natural propensity towards self-actualization and believes it is her job as therapist to help her clients identify obstacles to growth. She is honored to enter each client’s world and treats every client with respect and empathy. Courtney promotes a safe and validating environment in which clients can explore their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors through a combination of psychoeducation, skill building, and talk therapy. . Courtney aims to serve a diverse client base of all genders, sexual orientations, religious and spiritual beliefs, relationship structures, races, ethnicities, and abilities. She centers her practice on evidence-based approaches including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), and motivational interviewing using an anti-oppressive and trauma-informed lens. 

Courtney has a background working on a shelter-based Assertive Community Treatment team with adults with serious mental illness, criminal justice involvement, and complex trauma where she provided crisis-intervention, case management, and advocacy. She also interned at a partial-hospitalization and intensive outpatient program for adults with eating disorders and trauma where she provided individual and group therapy. Courtney is a Nationally Certified Counselor and has post-graduate training in Complicated Grief Therapy. 

EDUCATION

University of Memphis

Master of Science: Mental Health Counseling

Hendrix College

B.A. Major: Psychology and English: Creative Writing

AREAS OF FOCUS

Anxiety 

Depression

Grief

Healthy Eating

Interpersonal Relationships

Skills Training

Trauma 

 Vanessa is a mental health counselor who nurtures a genuine connection with her clients with her warm, accepting presence, contagious smile and wonderful sense of humor.  Maya Angelou said, “There is no greater agony than bearing the untold story inside you.” Each person’s story shapes who they are, and there are stories that are a burden to carry alone that is relieved when met with empathy. Vanessa considers it to be an honor to be with clients as they share their untold story, gain greater self-knowledge, and manifest the story that is yet to come. Vanessa incorporates a wide range of modalities, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Psychodynamic Therapy and Narrative Therapy. Vanessa welcomes the opportunity to work with clients of all races, genders, sexualities, religions, nationalities/ethnicities, and all relationship types.

Prior to joining Roots and Branches, Vanessa worked in another private practice with individual adults and couples. While in practice there she supported couples experiencing challenges with sex, pre-marital concerns, separation/divorce, and general communication and conflict. Vanessa also worked at CityLink Psychological services where she gained experience with adolescents and knowledge of this crucial period of development. Currently, Vanessa is an active member of the American Counseling Association and the American Mental Health Counseling Association (AMHCA). 

EDUCATION

New York University

Master of Arts: Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness

CUNY City College of New York

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

AREAS OF FOCUS

Adolescence

Anxiety

Couples’ Therapy 

Depression

Family Dynamics

Issues of Identity

Relationship Building

Coping skills