Trailhead · In person in Nevada City · Online for Truckee, Lake Tahoe & all of California
Every healing path begins right where you are.
A gentle place for kids, teens, and adults to explore trauma, grief, love, and growth. Wander through ideas that help, books worth carrying, and small glimmers of hope. When you're ready for company on the trail, I'm here.
Hi, I'm Nikki.
Ever since I was a little girl, I've been curious about the big questions: what it means to be alive, why we're here, and how to live well. I haven't found final answers, and I've stopped expecting to. What I've found instead is that wondering about them, gently and in good company, can become a kind of home.
I've walked through my own hard seasons too, and each one brought me closer to myself. So if things feel heavy right now, I won't rush you. I trust that something real can grow there, at whatever pace feels right for you.
That search led me to Buddhist mindfulness meditation practices, to Irvin Yalom's existential psychotherapy, to the contemplative writing of Richard Rohr, and to wisdom from many cultures and traditions. It led me to the yoga mat and the meditation cushion, and eventually to this work. I'm a Marriage and Family Therapist Trainee at Palo Alto University, working toward licensure as both an LMFT and LPCC in California. I live in the mountains near Lake Tahoe, and when I'm not with clients you'll probably find me on a trail, thinking.
People of every faith, and of no faith at all, are welcome here. Your beliefs are yours, and they'll always be respected in our work together.
My path here has been anything but straight. Before graduate school I worked in construction, built stratospheric internet balloons, performed as an aerialist, dangled from wind turbines as a rope access technician, and taught yoga for a very long time. I also facilitated behavioral health groups, supervised residential detox programs, and mentored at-risk youth. Those years taught me that people are rarely broken. More often they're carrying more than anyone should carry alone.
If you sense there's more going on beneath the surface of your life, you'll feel at home here. You don't need the right words to begin. We'll find them together.
The people closest to me say that in a room with me, they can finally take a deep breath. That's what I hope our time together feels like.
- TrainingBrainspotting Phase 1 · EMDRIA-approved EMDR Basic Training (consultation in progress)
- Modalities I useBrainspotting · EMDR · mindfulness and breathwork
- Past livesConstruction · stratospheric internet balloons · aerialist · wind turbine rope access tech · yoga teacher
- Shaped byIrvin Yalom · Buddhist mindfulness meditation practices · Richard Rohr · contemplative traditions
- EducationMA Counseling, Palo Alto University (CACREP), in progress
- SupervisionUnder the clinical supervision of Daniela Di Piero, LMFT #88547 (California), at Lichen Health in Nevada City
- Who am I underneath all the roles?
- How do I carry what I've seen?
- What makes my life feel meaningful?
- Where can I find some peace?
Brainspotting
Uses where you look to reach stress and trauma held below words, so it can move and settle. A core part of how I work.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, a structured, research-supported therapy that helps painful memories lose their charge so they feel like the past instead of the present. It's one of the modalities I use.
Mindfulness & breath
Grounding, breath, and present-moment awareness, woven in when they help.
First responders
Fire, EMS, law enforcement, dispatch, and families. I understand shift work and the weight of "I'm fine."
Grief & loss
Death, endings, and identity shifts. Every shape of grief is welcome here.
Couples
For partners who want to understand their patterns, repair, and feel like a team again.
Kids & teens
Young people feel things deeply. I meet them with play, honesty, and respect, and help families understand what's going on underneath.
Meaning & purpose
For anyone curious about who they really are and what matters most. Space for the questions everyday life has no room for.
Things worth knowing along the way
Short, plain-language guides to what's happening inside you. Open any one that calls to you.
The window of tolerance
Why some days you can handle anything, and some days nothing.
Psychiatrist Dan Siegel described a zone where we can feel things without being swept away. Stress and trauma can narrow it, so small things tip us into overwhelm or shutdown. Therapy helps widen the window, a little at a time.
Your nervous system is protecting you
Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn aren't flaws.
When your body senses danger, it acts before you think. Racing heart, going quiet, people-pleasing, wanting to run: these are survival strategies that once made sense. Healing isn't about shaming them. It's about teaching your body it's safe enough to rest now.
What happens in Brainspotting?
A first-timer's guide to a quiet, focused session.
We'll talk about what's on your mind and notice where you feel it in your body. Then we find an eye position, a "brainspot," that connects to that feeling. You rest your gaze there while your system processes, often with very little talking. Many people describe it as surprisingly gentle.
What happens in EMDR?
How Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing works.
EMDR is a structured therapy that helps your brain finish processing memories that got stuck. We start by building resources so you feel steady. Then, while you briefly hold a memory in mind, you follow side-to-side eye movements, tapping, or sounds. Over time the memory often feels further away, less charged, and more like the past.
Finding meaning
For anyone curious about purpose and what matters most.
Psychiatrist Irvin Yalom wrote about the big questions all of us meet eventually, like how to live a meaningful life and how to love fully when nothing stays the same forever. You don't need answers, or even to want to explore these. If they do call to you, therapy can be a gentle place to wonder about them together.
Grief doesn't move in a straight line
Why you can feel fine, then not, then fine again.
Grief tends to swing between facing the loss and stepping away from it to live your life. Both are healthy. Waves can come years later on a birthday or a song. That isn't going backward. It's love that still has somewhere to go.
Cumulative stress in first responders
It's rarely one call. It's the stack.
Each difficult call adds weight, even ones that seemed routine. Over time that can show up as irritability, poor sleep, numbness at home, or drinking more. Noticing it early is strength, not weakness, and it's very treatable.
Glimmers: the opposite of triggers
Small moments that tell your body it's safe.
Therapist Deb Dana calls them glimmers: the warm light through a window, a dog's head on your knee, the smell of pine. Noticing them on purpose gently trains your nervous system toward ease. Visit the Glimmers stop below to practice.
A guided reflection
Take a few minutes just for you. Choose what feels closest to how you are right now, and I'll walk you through three gentle steps: arrive, reflect, and take something with you.
Pick a feeling to begin. There are no wrong answers.
This is a space for self-reflection. It isn't therapy or crisis care, and nothing you write here is saved or sent anywhere. If you're thinking about harming yourself or you're in danger, call or text 988, or call 911.
Bilateral sound, no ads
Many Brainspotting and EMDR sessions use bilateral sound, sound that drifts gently between your left and right ears. It can help your system settle and process. Choose a sound from nature, put on headphones, and let it carry you.
Use headphones so the sound can travel between your ears. These sounds are created right here in your browser: no ads, no account, nothing to download.
Also lovely, ad-free
A little light for the path
Pause here. Draw a glimmer, try it for a minute, and see what shifts.
Find one thing nearby that is a color you love. Let your eyes rest there for three slow breaths.
A practice for settling
"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."
Julian of Norwich, written during plague years in the 1300s
- You are not behind.
Healing has its own seasons. Winter is part of the cycle, not a failure of spring.
- Rest is part of the climb.
Every mountaineer stops at camps along the way. Stopping is how you reach the top.
- The lake is still there under the storm.
Even on hard days, some part of you remains calm and whole. We can find our way back to it.
Breathe with me
Choose a practice, then follow the lotus. Let it bloom as you breathe in and soften as you breathe out.
Books worth carrying
Reads I return to and recommend. Take what helps, leave the rest.
Podcasts for the road
Voices I love for long drives, slow walks, and quiet evenings.
Pull an archetype card
Archetypes are old, shared patterns of being human, like the Explorer, the Healer, and the Sage. Take a breath, hold a question loosely, and pull a card.
Every card holds a gift and an invitation. Whatever you draw is simply something to wonder about.
For reflection and play, not prediction.
Help is closer than it feels
Free and low-cost support, whether or not we ever work together.
No matches. Try another word or choose "All".
When you'd like company on the path
Sessions are provided through Lichen Health, in person in Nevada City or online anywhere in California. As a Marriage and Family Therapist Trainee, I'm supervised by Daniela Di Piero, LMFT #88547.
- Call or text
- 530-214-0740
Texting is welcome if that's easier for you. - Reply time
- Usually within two business days
- First step
- A free consultation call to see if we're a good fit
Reach out
Share a little about what's bringing you in and whether you'd like in person or virtual.
Free consult
A short call to see if we're a good fit and answer questions about insurance or fees.
First session
We talk about your story and your hopes. No pressure to share everything at once.
Walk together
Most people meet weekly at first. We check in often and adjust as we go.
Insurance I accept
Anthem Medi-CalCarelon Health IPA of CaliforniaHave a different Medi-Cal plan? You may be able to switch to Anthem if it's offered in your county. Call Health Care Options at 1-800-430-4263 or visit healthcareoptions.dhcs.ca.gov.
Sliding scale
Not on one of these plans? I offer sliding scale cash-pay sessions based on what you can afford.
- In person: Nevada City
- Virtual: anywhere in California