About Nicole
Nicole Guessford is a licensed clinical social worker with 23 years of experience. She helps people who are feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, stress, grief, relationship struggles, or parenting challenges. Her tone is direct but respectful, and she encourages small steps that add up to real change.
Nicole focuses on practical work in sessions. She uses structured conversations, goal-focused exercises, and homework between visits to help people practice new skills. She encourages self-care and self-compassion as part of everyday routines.
Background and approach
Her background includes long-term clinical work across Pennsylvania and Virginia. That history has given her experience supporting people coping with trauma and abuse, attachment concerns, mood changes such as depression and bipolar symptoms, and challenges like chronic illness or caregiver stress. Nicole draws on several evidence-informed approaches to guide treatment.
She uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people notice what matters and act on values, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to identify unhelpful thinking patterns, and Attachment-Based ideas to understand relationship patterns. Sessions are tailored to the person’s goals and life circumstances. She provides online care by telehealth only in line with insurance rules.
Sessions can be scheduled weekly or every other week and often include practical homework to build new habits between meetings. Nicole aims to create a steady, supportive space where people can tackle anxiety, grief, and relationship issues one step at a time.
Therapeutic approaches adapted for online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people clarify what matters to them and take small actions toward those values even when difficult thoughts or feelings appear. It can be useful for anxiety, stress, and life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors to reduce symptoms and improve daily functioning. It is frequently used for anxiety, sleep and eating concerns, and mood changes.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Nicole will collaborate with each person to choose and adjust techniques based on their goals, daily life, and what feels most helpful. That collaborative planning happens in session and can shift as progress is made.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, with options for phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging noted in the profile for general session formats. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction and longer therapeutic work. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or for shorter check-ins. Live chat or text messaging can support brief updates and reminders between scheduled appointments. These formats make it easier to fit therapy into busy routines and to keep progress moving forward without travel.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating disorders
- Family problems
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Midlife crisis
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sleeping disorders
- Somatization
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Experience
- 23 years
- Licensed
- Pennsylvania, Virginia
- Languages
- English
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