Specialties

Depression

Depression can range from times of sadness to lingering and chronic depths of despair. Left untreated, depression can interfere significantly with day-to-day living. If some of the symptoms listed below are affecting you for more than a few weeks, you may benefit from speaking to a therapist:

fatigue
low energy
overwhelming grief and/or sadness
poor concentration
difficulty making decisions
low self-esteem
feeling worthless, hopeless, or helpless
disturbed sleeping patterns
disturbed eating patterns
anxiety
avoidance
loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed

Meka Nicole provides a safe place to talk, explore and understand contributing factors to depression while helping to develop coping strategies.

Grief

Grief is a difficult, complicated, and emotional response to loss. Grief is a personal experience that may also be expressed outwardly. For some, it may take a long time to come to terms with a loss. Physical and emotional pain can be profound and might occur immediately, or happen much later, possibly even as a response to an unrelated situation.

Meka Nicole provides grief counseling to enable clients to understand their grief and help them cope with feelings of loss. If needed group therapy surrounding grief is encouraged as an additional level of support.

Trauma surrounding childhood sexual abuse

If you experienced childhood sexual abuse, it can be helpful to have a safe space where you can sort through your feelings and better understand your emotions and how that trauma is or have impacted your adulthood. Sexual abuse can change the way people think about themselves and the world around them, which can result in feelings of self-blame and shame. Meka Nicole provides support, empathy, compassion, and understanding in an effort to help her clients overcome, gain perspective, and live an emotionally happy life.

Maternal Mental Health

Popular opinion tells us that pregnancy is a happy time for women however, the reality is that it is also a time full of changes, questions, and challenges. A large percentage of women experience the so-called “baby blues” during or after pregnancy. Prenatal depression is difficult to diagnose due to its symptoms the similarity of its symptoms with general symptoms of pregnancy including low energy, changes in sleep and eating patterns, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, etc. Early detection and treatment of prenatal depression is critical to a woman and her baby’s health and ensures the best beginning for both. It also helps prevent or decrease postpartum depression.

For many women, childbirth can be a traumatic and overwhelming experience, with blame belonging to hormonal changes. Following childbirth, most women experience hormonal changes and may feel weepy, moody, and exhausted. If these symptoms do not decrease on their own, this can be an indicator of postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is often experienced as profound sadness, feelings of failure and confusion, crying spells, agitation, rapid mood swings, suicidal thoughts, and/or the desire to hurt the baby.

Sexuality

Sexuality refers to how we experience ourselves as sexual beings, the importance of sex in our life, how we express our sexuality, and who we choose as a sexual partner. Our intimate relationships may be on-going sources of happiness, pleasure, support, and excitement, or carry trepidation, anxiety, and stress.

Many factors affect our intimate lives, some of which are rooted in childhood, while others stem from experiences of adolescence or adulthood. Low self-esteem, poor body image, abuse, and similar issues can negatively affect sexual intimacy. Our sexuality may be full of questions around sexual orientation or gender identity, or of concerns regarding sexual behaviors, fantasies, and preferences. Lack of desire, inability to achieve orgasm, or sexual dysfunction may make it difficult to enjoy any kind of physical intimacy.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a normal response to stress which may arise due to pressures at home, work, school, or in any number of relationships. While it is common to feel anxious at times, when anxiety becomes excessive and interferes with work, family life, and one’s own happiness, it is time to get help.

Anxiety can be accompanied by physical symptoms such as heart palpitations or chest pains, fatigue, nausea, shortness of breath, stomach or headaches, and poor sleep. Emotional symptoms may include feelings of apprehension or dread, difficulty concentrating, feelings of irritability, restlessness, and constantly watching for signs of danger.

Panic attacks are episodes of extreme anxiety lasting from 1 or 2 minutes, up to 20 minutes. Common symptoms of a panic attack include rapid heartbeat, perspiration, dizziness, trembling, uncontrollable fear, and hyperventilation.

Relationship Issues

Emotionally fulfilling relationships are central to mental and physical health however, creating and maintaining a healthy relationship can be a challenge with all of today’s life stressors. Communication styles that individuals learned while growing up may influence a couple’s relationship.

Meka Nicole will work with the couple together and separately to help them resolve conflict, unhappiness, or dissatisfaction in your relationship to help you overcome.

THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES:

Some of my therapeutic approaches include:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which addresses dysfunctional emotions, maladaptive behaviors and cognitive processes, and contents through several goal-oriented, explicit systematic procedures.
Narrative Therapy, which examines the stories that you tell yourself about your own life experiences – your beliefs, your values, your assumptions, your dreams, and your intentions – and the impact those stories have on your life.
Solutions-focused and strength-based therapies, which help you recognize and identify skills, abilities, beliefs, and social networks that support you in being more of who you want to be.

We look forward to supporting you through your healing journey!