Welcome to Tea Light Counseling!

Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Nicole (call me Nicki if you like) and I find joy and fulfillment in working with individuals in the Greater Cincinnati area to achieve their personal mental health goals. I have worked in a variety of settings -- from residential to intensive outpatient, home-based, and group practices -- dating back to my practicum in 2013 and culminating in the decision to open my own private practice in January of 2022. I find that this newest setting allows me the autonomy and flexibility to focus my attention where it belongs: on providing the highest possible quality care for my clients.

What's in a Name?

Believe me when I say that choosing a name to represent my practice was no easy feat. People sometimes ask why I went with Tea Light Counseling, and there are a few reasons:

1. Candles introduce light, and my personal conceptualization of therapy involves a lot of illumination -- illuminating patterns, illuminating strengths, illuminating options/alternatives, etc.

2. Tea light candles seemed to me an accurate representation of my personality and therapeutic approach (modest and mild in some ways, spirited and powerful in others, quirky, and well-acquainted with darkness).

3. I simply like the way it sounds and the aesthetic it inspires.

And for the record: No, I did not choose a name with the initials TLC on purpose.

On the Opening and Closing of Doors

Another, broader question I am asked with fair regularity is why and how I chose to pursue a career in clinical mental health counseling.

Truthfully, I never intended to become a therapist. When I applied to colleges during my final stretch of high school, and for the first year of my undergraduate experience, I planned to pursue journalism. I liked writing (probably unsurprising given my choice to start a blog) and figured there was not much else I felt particularly impassioned by, so why not? Meanwhile, somehow unrecognized by me at the time, I was eating up books and movies with themes of mental illness and recovery.

Somewhere in the gap between my freshman and sophomore years of college, amidst late summer nights spent playing The Sims 2 and watching reruns of Trauma: Life in the ER, I had an epiphany: I wanted to do something with my life that involved directly helping others. Writing was fun, and it wasn't enough for me. After some self-reflection, I uncovered that I was interested in both mental and physical health, so I set about researching career options. Ultimately, I decided to change my major to psychology with the intention of attending graduate school for occupational therapy (defined as "a form of therapy for those recuperating from physical or mental illness that encourages rehabilitation through the performance of activities required in daily life").

My plan and pathway remained unchanged until, due to a series of unforeseen events leading up to my senior year of college, I learned that I would be moving to Cincinnati after graduating. As I began researching occupational therapy programs in the Cincinnati area, I quickly discovered that prerequisites differed across state lines and that I would likely need to adjust my established plan as a result; this prompted a massive reconsideration of my pathway forward, which ultimately lead to my stumbling upon clinical mental health counseling as an alternative career option. My immediate reaction -- why didn't I think of this sooner? -- told me everything I needed to know, and the rest was history.

As things stand, if there is such a thing as a calling, I truly believe that I have found mine in the type of work I do.

tl;dr I never planned to be a therapist, and now I'm a therapist and I love it.

Ready, Aim, Fire

Here's the bottom line: With Tea Light Counseling on the ground and the dust (mostly) settled, the plan is to begin utilizing this blog space as a means of reaching clients, their loved ones, and perhaps the occasional "rando" via posts pertaining to mental health, wellness, and the therapeutic process. May you find hope, insight, inspiration, and encouragement herein!