Elizabeth Nicholaides, LCSW
EVERYONE'S STORY DESERVES A SATISFYING NEXT CHAPTER
Therapy With Elizabeth
With over 25 years of clinical experience, Elizabeth helps people understand who they are and grow to live more satisfying lives.
Clients of all ages, races, faiths, genders, sexual orientations, and income levels come to Elizabeth to heal. Most people seek her help for transitions, relationship issues, grief, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, addiction, multicultural issues, and trauma. Elizabeth especially loves working with clients who are ready to go deep and evolve. In therapy together, you will find her passionate about and committed to meaningful, transformative work.
Elizabeth’s career encompasses extensive work in personal transformation, substance abuse, and trauma/PTSD. She is in her third decade providing EMDR (a highly effective rapid trauma resolution therapy). Elizabeth has used EMDR with hundreds of clients, and with only one exception, it has worked every time.
When you work with Elizabeth, she will:
1. Provide a safe, comfortable space for you to heal
2. Tailor therapy to be the best it can be for you
3. Tell the truth with kindness
4. Meet you exactly where you are
5. Respect you as an equal
6. Bring her whole self to her work and do her very best for you
7. Walk alongside you every step of the way
Elizabeth partners with community psychiatrists as well as treatment centers throughout the country, and offers services through professional organizations for attorneys, pilots, and doctors. She serves on the board at Urban Ministries of Wake County and provides therapy to women in its homeless shelter, distributes provisions in its food pantry, and contributes to its free medical clinic. Elizabeth conducts domestic and international Women’s Transformational Retreats, most recently in Santa Fe, NM. She also provides yoga and mental health workshops with Nishit Patel, one of New York City’s renowned yoga teachers trained by Swami Rama in Rishikesh, India and The Himalayan Center in Honesdale, PA.
She will respond to all inquiries within two business days and is able to schedule your first session within a week of your first contact.
Inspirations
Therapies
Individual Counseling
In individual therapy, my focus is on you—your goals and development as a dynamic person. In a supportive, nonjudgmental, and secure space, we will explore what has limited you in the past and move toward a thriving present and future.
Individual therapy offers a dedicated space to better understand the patterns shaping your life. Together, we'll explore what feels stuck, overwhelming, or unclear, while also building on your existing strengths. Whether you are navigating mental illness, grief, relationship challenges, life transitions, trauma, addiction, or a deeper search for meaning, I will support you and help you develop insights that nurture lasting, positive change.
This work is collaborative and thoughtful, focused on your goals and development, and rooted in curiosity, compassion, and honest conversation. Over time, greater self-awareness leads to more choices, more freedom, and a stronger sense of direction. The goal isn’t just symptom relief; it is competence, peace and a thriving life. We really can do this!
Georgia O’Keeffe, Abstraction
Relationship Therapy
Relationship difficulties are a common focus in therapy. They can arise in many areas of life: romantic relationships, families, friendships, and work. People often notice recurring patterns of conflict, emotional distance, difficulty with trust, or challenges expressing needs and setting boundaries. In therapy, we work to identify and understand these relational patterns. We come to see how past experiences and dynamics may be influencing current relationships.
Collaborative focus on these areas can create lasting change in your capacity to engage in relationships with increased awareness, intention, emotional resilience, and satisfaction.
Substance Abuse Therapy
Most people’s lives are touched by addiction—either their own or that of someone they love. Mine certainly has been. I’ve been sober for 24 years and also have relatives and friends with the disease. I know from experience that a much better life is possible and enjoy working to that end with clients—both the person struggling with addiction and the people affected by another’s use.
Being addicted is NOT a personal failure! Paradoxically, it very often opens the door to a deeper and more satisfying life. I can show you this door and support your development of healthy coping strategies, increased emotional awareness, and practical tools to reduce or stop substance use.
Addiction impacts almost every area of life, including emotional well-being, relationships, work, and physical health. It often develops as a way of coping with stress, trauma, pain, or overwhelming emotions, and may come with feelings of shame, isolation, loss of control, or co-occurring mental illness. In therapy we focus on identifying and healing the underlying factors that contribute to addictive behaviors.
I offer a non-judgemental and understanding environment in which you can speak openly about your experiences with addiction. Substance abuse therapy is collaborative and tailored to each individual's needs, goals, and readiness for change. Whether you are seeking harm reduction, sobriety, or a deeper understanding of your relationship with substances, therapy can help foster resilience, self-compassion, and long-term psychological growth.
Trauma/PTSD
Trauma is something that happens to someone, whether suddenly or over time, that overwhelms their ability to cope. It leaves a lasting negative impact on their emotional, psychological, and/or physical well being. Trauma is a rupture in our sense of safety and belonging that fragments our inner world. Trauma can take the form of abuse, neglect, sudden loss, violence, medical crisis, or chronic instability. Most often this shows up as PTSD. I want to help you be free from that state as soon as possible.
Trauma and PTSD can affect how you experience yourself, your relationships, and the world around you. You may notice ongoing feelings of fear and difficulty feeling safe and grounded. These responses are not signs of weakness—they are natural reactions to overwhelming experiences.
Healing from Trauma enables us intergrate what has happened to us without it controling our lives, behaviours, and feelings of safety.
Testimonials
“I have been working with Elizabeth around trauma I have experienced throughout my life, including family dynamics, substance abuse in my family, and even end of life planning. Our work together has been truly transformative.
Elizabeth helped me build real confidence, not just in understanding my past, but in making major changes in my life. She is deeply supportive, thoughtful, and able to hold space for very complex and layered experiences without ever making me feel judged or overwhelmed.
She understood the depth of what I was navigating and helped me move through it with clarity and strength. I genuinely cannot recommend her more highly.”