(he/him)
Hi! I'm Nick and I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes in helping adults who are ready to move beyond just surviving and into a place of genuine connection and wholeness. I understand the profound weight you’ve been carrying for so long, whether it is the shadow of childhood trauma, navigating addiction or recovery, or the deep fatigue of not being fully seen. If you’ve spent years trying to hold it all together, navigating the world as a man, a trauma survivor, someone who is queer, neurodivergent, or in recovery, you may have learned to mask, people please, or stay small simply to survive. I specialize in supporting those who have felt fundamentally “othered” because of their identity, their sensitivity, or their complex struggles. My approach can be direct, relational, and deeply connected. You will not find judgment in our sessions. What you will find is honesty, profound compassion, and the kind of authentic support that allows you to safely let your guard down. I believe the most transformative healing happens in relationship through empathy, attunement, and having the space to be fully yourself, without the need for code-switching, masking, or minimizing any part of your experience. I bring warmth, humor, and realness into our work, meeting you exactly where you are today. Therapy with me is a genuine partnership, focusing on what you need, rather than a rigid prescription. We will collaborate to heal early wounds, develop profound self-compassion, and cultivate a life where you feel a sense of belonging in your own skin. If any of this resonates and if you are ready for a change and a relational experience with someone who understands your journey, I would be honored to connect with you.
Walking into that first therapy session can bring up a lot of feelings...excitement, nervousness, and maybe even a little skepticism. I want you to know that the main goal of our first meeting is simple, connection and safety. This session is not about deep trauma work or solving all your problems in 53 minutes. It's about getting to know each other and making sure we feel like a genuine fit. What to Expect 1. A Warm Welcome and Setting the Stage: I will start by welcoming you and walking you through the practical aspects of therapy, such as confidentiality, my approach to care, and the structure of our sessions. This ensures we both have a clear understanding of the therapeutic container. You can expect a relaxed, judgment-free environment right from the start. 2. You Lead the Way: Our first session is primarily driven by you. I want to hear about what brought you in, in your own words. You get to decide how much or how little you want to share. We might touch on: Your Hopes and Goals: What does thriving look like to you? What is the feeling or change you are truly seeking? Current Concerns: What feels most pressing in your life right now, the issues that are causing the most stress or pain? Your Journey So Far: A brief overview of your background, relationships, identity, and any previous experiences with therapy (good, bad, or indifferent!). Remember, you never have to share anything you are not ready to share. As a trauma-informed therapist, I respect your pace and boundaries above all else. 3. Understanding Our Partnership: I will spend some time sharing more about my relational approach and how I integrate various modalities to support healing from trauma and identity-based wounds. This will help you understand the why behind what we do. We will talk about therapy as a collaborative partnership where we both show up authentically. I’ll make sure to leave plenty of space for you to ask me any questions you might have about my experience, my philosophy, or the process itself. The Takeaway By the end of our first session, you should leave feeling heard, validated, and having a clearer sense of direction. The goal is that you feel safe enough to trust that we can do this important work together. If we both feel that authentic connection, the necessary ingredient for deep healing, we can then move forward with scheduling and beginning the deeper therapeutic journey. My commitment is to meet you with empathy, warmth, and realness.
What truly sets my therapeutic approach apart is the commitment to realness and the belief that the quality of our relationship is the engine of healing. You deserve a therapist who shows up as a genuine human being, and that’s what I offer. Clients often come to me after feeling disconnected or misunderstood in previous therapy experiences. They stay because they find a space where the guard can drop, and the deep, often complex work of integration and repair can finally begin. Here are the key strengths and defining characteristics of my approach: 1. Authenticity and Relational Depth Therapy as Partnership, Not Prescription: I view our work as an active, collaborative partnership. I don’t believe in being a blank slate or offering standardized advice. Instead, I bring my genuine self, including my warmth, occasional humor, and professional honesty, into the room. This models what a secure, authentic relationship feels like, a vital experience, especially for those who have experienced relational trauma or abandonment. No Code-Switching Required: My primary strength is creating a space where you can show up fully, without the need to mask or minimize any part of yourself, whether that's your trauma history, your queer identity, your neurodivergent experience, or your deepest emotional truths. This radical permission to be you is where true self-acceptance takes root. 2. Specialized Expertise in Complex Wounds Trauma-Informed and Identity-Affirming: My practice is deeply rooted in trauma-informed care. I understand that past experiences don't just reside in your memory; they are stored in your nervous system. I specialize in working with complex, early-life, and identity-based trauma, particularly with: Survivors of Childhood Trauma: Helping you move from hypervigilance and disconnection to a place of inner safety and grounded regulation. The Queer/Gay Community: Offering culturally competent, affirming support for navigating identity, relationships, chosen family, and minority stress. Highly Sensitive & Neurodivergent Individuals: Recognizing and affirming the unique ways you process the world, offering strategies to manage sensory overwhelm, communication differences, and the exhaustion of masking. My ability to hold space for these intersecting complexities allows for a comprehensive, holistic approach to your healing journey. 3. Focus on Integration and Wholeness Integration as the Goal: The work we do is aimed at integration.
My ideal clients are adults who are exhausted from just surviving and who are finally ready to experience something that actually feels like living. Maybe you've been carrying the weight of childhood wounds for as long as you can remember. Maybe you've wrestled with addiction, people-pleasing, or a persistent sense of being fundamentally different from everyone around you. Maybe you've tried therapy before and left feeling like you had to edit yourself to be understood. If any of that sounds familiar, I want you to know, you don't have to do that here. I have a deep love for working with the LGBTQIA+ community, and especially gay and queer men who are navigating the unique layers of identity, belonging, minority stress, and relational healing. This community is close to my heart, and I bring not just clinical training but genuine understanding and affection into that work. I'm also deeply drawn to men, queer or straight, who are ready to let their guard down. Men who are thoughtful and self-aware, who sense that something needs to shift, and who are willing to be vulnerable even when it's scary. That kind of courage moves me every time. My ideal client doesn't need to arrive polished or have the perfect words for what they're feeling. They just need to show up as they are. Whether you're in recovery, healing from trauma, untangling painful relationship patterns, or simply longing to feel more at home in yourself. I want to hear your story.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
I use this therapy method in conjunction with other behavioral methods to support clients in recovering from substance use, childhood trauma, sexual abuse, and divorce.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
In my approach, I see every client's psyche as an ecosystem of "Parts"like an internal family, where each Part, even the tough ones, has intent. My main goal is to help you connect with your core "Self": that calm, confidence within you. Once we get the Self to step forward, we can build a relationship with your "Manager" Parts (the ones that try to control things to prevent pain) and "Firefighter" Parts (the ones that react impulsively when pain breaks through). We work to "unburden" the "Exiled" Parts, the young, wounded feelings and memories that have been locked away so they can finally release their pain and trauma, bringing genuine healing and integration to your entire system. This process is all about non judgmental curiosity and deep, empathetic connection to every part of the journey.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
I teach clients distress tolerance skills often when necessary as well as the idea of having connection to the world and a spiritual (not religious) experience if it is helpful ( this is part of the DBT method).
Person-centered (Rogerian)
I offer all of my clients unconditional positive regard (truckloads of love). While it sounds funny, many people have not been given this in their lives and I start with this as I know first hand how powerful it is to have someone on your side no matter what you are going through.
Solution Focused Brief Treatment
I begin all of my therapy treatment with SBT treatment goals and the miracle question as a starting point of therapy. It does not mean our meetings will be short term but it is very useful in having a roadmap for our sessions and something to look back on when we meet.
2 ratings with written reviews
April 15, 2026
Kind and honest
December 2, 2025
Very approachable. I was nervous for our first session, but he helped by listening to my background, making sure we got to the important things, and pointing out that my reason for coming in was valid.