Nicole Heavilin

If you are caught in a painful tug-of-war with your mother, you may feel like your only options are total compliance or total cutoff. You might find yourself asking, “Am I being too sensitive?” or “If I could just change how I respond, would things finally feel different?”

I work with adult daughters navigating the lasting effects of maternal emotional neglect, enmeshment, criticism, manipulation, and difficult family dynamics. You may have learned early in life to prioritize other people's emotions, keep the peace, or set aside your own needs—and now find yourself struggling with guilt, people-pleasing, boundaries, self-doubt, or relationships that leave you feeling emotionally exhausted.

You don't have to have everything figured out before starting therapy.With over 12 years of experience in the counseling field, I specialize in helping clients slow down, feel heard, and safely make sense of what they've experienced. My goal is to provide a warm, affirming, and pressure-free space where we can slow down and make sense of what you've experienced and how it continues to affect you.

Whether you're trying to improve a relationship with your mother, create healthier boundaries, or determine what level of contact feels right for you, I won't tell you what decision you should make. Instead, we'll work together to develop the self-trust, emotional awareness, and resilience you need to make choices that are healthy and right for you.

My approach is trauma-informed and somatically informed, drawing primarily from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), behavioral interventions, and strength-based and humanistic approaches. I believe that our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, relationships, and physical responses are all connected, and that understanding these patterns can help us create meaningful change.

In my work with clients who have experienced difficult or emotionally complicated relationships, we may explore how past experiences have shaped beliefs about themselves, their needs, and their relationships with others. We may also pay attention to how stress and emotional experiences show up in the body. Depending on your needs, I may incorporate practical tools such as grounding techniques, relaxation exercises, and progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) to help you recognize and manage emotional and physical activation.

I take a collaborative approach to therapy and believe you are the expert on your own life. I won't tell you what your relationships should look like or what decisions you should make. Instead, I'll help you better understand your experiences, recognize patterns that may no longer be serving you, strengthen your boundaries and self-trust, and develop practical tools for navigating difficult emotions and relationships.

My goal is to provide a warm, affirming, and pressure-free space where you can explore what you need without judgment or pressure to reach a particular conclusion. Therapy is an opportunity to understand yourself more deeply, develop greater emotional awareness, and build the confidence to make choices that support your well-being.

Your first session is primarily an opportunity for us to get to know each other, understand what brings you to therapy, and gather some background information about your experiences, relationships, and current concerns. I'll ask questions about your history as part of the intake process so I can better understand the bigger picture and provide thoughtful, individualized care.

We don't have to dive into the most painful parts of your past right away. While your history can be important to understanding what you're experiencing today, you get to decide what you're ready to explore and when. We can take our time building a sense of trust and comfort before moving into deeper work.

We'll also begin talking about what you hope to get from therapy and what you would like to be different in your life.

Depending on what you need, we may identify some initial goals or practical strategies that can help you feel more supported between sessions.

My hope is that you leave your first session feeling heard, respected, and with a clearer sense of how we can work together. Therapy is a process, and you don't need to have your story perfectly organized—or be ready to share everything—to begin.