As a multicultural feminist therapist, Nina believes that the client is the expert in their own life.  Her role as the therapist is to assist the client with gaining insight and an understanding of why they are in distress. Nina believes many difficulties we experience stem from unresolved issues from past experiences and/or relationships.  We often bring these issues into our current relationships whether it be romantic, work, school, or family. Our experiences are also impacted by the connection between our cultural identities  including  our race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability status, religion) and our environment.   Racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism and other forms of oppression impact our ability to function at our best.  Nina believes the goal of therapy is to thoroughly explore current distressing situations, how or whether they connect to past experiences and together with the client determines the best approach to resolving distress.

 

Nina has over 20 years of experience in working with clients in various capacities.  She has worked with children and families during and after earning a masters degree in clinical psychology from Illinois State University in 1988. Nina furthered her education at the University of Florida where she earned her PhD in clinical psychology in 1994, specializing in neuropsychology and rehabilitation psychology.  Nina has worked with clients individually and in couples and her current practice is focused primarily on working with adults.  Nina’s primary orientation is  multicultural feminist  and she work’s from an insight oriented, relational approach.  Areas of expertise include anxiety or fears, lingering sadness or depression, relationship concerns (couples/marital, separation/divorce, family conflict), work & school related concerns, identity exploration & discovery (sexuality, cultural background, gender), and adjustment concerns (disability, ethnicity/racial, gender, sexual orientation).  She has been a fully licensed psychologist in the state of Michigan since 1997.

 

In addition to her practice, Nina work’s as a university administrator in a university committed to educating working adults at a distance.  She mentors students through their dissertation research focusing primarily on multicultural psychology in all its forms.  Nina’s research interests include the psychology of oppression and privilege , multicultural psychology and adjustment to disability and she has numerous publications and presentations in these areas.  This means that she is committed to remaining current on treatments deemed best by her discipline to work with particular forms of distress.