About Dr. Nicholson

A Harvard-educated licensed clinical psychologist, my passion has been to explore mind-body medicine throughout my career. For nearly thirty years, I have been a member of a seminar focused on meditative psychotherapeutic approaches held at the Washington Center for Consciousness Studies and additionally, have trained in clinical hypnosis with the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, SomatoEmotional Release with Dr. John Upledger, coreSomatics with the Somatic Institute of Pittsburgh, guided imagery with Belleruth Naparstek, Mind-Body Skills Groups training with Nancy Harazduk, MEd, MSW, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR– proven highly useful for the resolution of psychological trauma).

My undergraduate degree was in Special Education, and my pre-doctoral internship while I was in graduate school at Harvard was completed at Children’s Hospital in Boston. Initially, my work was primarily with children and adolescents until I had the opportunity to be the Medical Psychologist at Calvert Memorial Hospital in Prince Frederick, Maryland, in 1996. While there, I developed an additional specialty in assisting individuals with chronic pain and/or illness, and taught medical staff and community members about complementary medicine approaches to wellness. I created the Department of Integrative Medicine at Calvert Memorial in 1998, serving as the director until 2001.

Upon moving to Northern Virginia, I decided to return full-time to my love of working in the field of mind-body medicine as a psychotherapist and facilitator of healing. I worked part-time in the nationally recognized clinical practice at the Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Maryland in Baltimore and more extensively, at the The Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine (a center of excellence for family medicine and pain management) in Northern Virginia before establishing my private practice.

Inspired by a trip to Tibet and Dharamsala, India, in 1996, I have worked as a volunteer to interview survivors of the Pol Pot genocide in Cambodia, and to evaluate educational and psychological needs of boy prostitutes in Sri Lanka. I was a facilitator for a Psychologists for Social Responsibility conference entitled “An International Conference on Personal and Community Reconstruction, Resilience, and Empowerment in Times of Ethnopolitical Conflict”, and completed Disaster Mental Health training for American Red Cross Disaster Services. An essential focus of my life, particularly in this crucial time of change, is to be of service to others both at home and more globally.

Education

  • Graduate:  Harvard’s Counseling and Consulting Psychology, 1983, Cambridge, MA
  • Pre-doctoral internship in Clinical Psychology: Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA
  • Two-year program in Gestalt Psychology: Washington Center for Consciousness Studies, Washington, D.C.
  • Specialized certificate program in International Trauma Studies: NYU, New York, New York
  • Certified Mental Health Integrative Medicine Provider (CMHIMP)

Professional Affiliations

  • Listed, National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology
  • Member, Psychologists for Social Responsibility