INDIVIDUALS | COUPLES | FAMILIES
Building Safe Places Together
Nicole Martin has been providing therapeutic services since 2007. She is passionate and cares deeply about helping individuals, families, and couples find hope, healing, and belonging in their lives.
It is her mission to come alongside one’s journey towards finding a sense of peace, joy, and identity. Integrating spirituality and psychology is a key component to operating from a biblical worldview while upholding clinical excellence. She and her husband live in the Memphis area with their two daughters.
Education:
Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy, and Counseling: Reformed Theological Seminary
Bachelor of Business Administration: The University of Mississippi
Professional Experience:
Nicole has experience helping a wide range of demographics in a variety of settings including: Group Therapy in intensive outpatient programs, Leading group therapy for expectant mothers also in crisis situations, Practice with individuals, adolescents, and families in and out of church settings.
Advanced marital training by Drs. John and Julie Gottman
“What is a safe place?”
Brennan Manning in his book Abba’s Child, asks this question, “What is a safe place?” He answers in his own journal:
“To feel safe is to stop living in my head and sink down into my heart and feel liked and accepted...not having to hide anymore and distract myself with books, television, movies, ice cream, shallow conversation...staying in the present moment and not escaping into the past or projecting into the future, alert and attentive to the now...feeling relaxed and not nervous or jittery...no need to impress or dazzle others or draw attention to myself...Unself-conscious, a new way of being with myself, a new way of being in the world...calm, unafraid, no anxiety about what’s going to happen next...loved and valued...just being together as an end in itself.”
Most of us read this quote and it resonates with us. We’re hungry to feel accepted, known, and enjoyed in a world that is lonely, restless, and distracted.
Nicole is eager to assist your growth in navigating communication, boundaries, personal awareness, and skills for living a healthier life.
“Woundedness is compounded self-doubt and guilt, resentment, and disillusionment. We come to one another in marriage with these things in our backgrounds. And when the inevitable conflicts occur, our memories can sabotage us. They can prevent us from doing the normal, day-to-day work of repentance and forgiveness and extending the grace that is so crucial to making progress in our marriages.” - Tim Keller
Nicole Martin is especially zealous about instilling hope in marriage. Marriage counseling can help heal wounds from the past and teach conflict resolution skills so that one can be an equipped healthier spouse.
Revelation 21:5 says, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
You are not committed to the mistakes of the past. Reconciliation, restoration, and a fresh start is possible. Whether you simply want to hone your communication skills or perhaps for the first time find what God truly intended for marriage; this journey is a beautiful way towards becoming who He created you to be.
What is a safe home?
“A safe place, a place where one is free from attack, a place where one experiences secure relationships and affirmation. It’s a place where people share and understand each other. Its relationships are nurturing. The people in it do not need to be perfect; instead, they need to be honest, loving, supportive, recognizing a common humanity that makes all of us vulnerable.” -Gladys Hunt
This description of the home strikes a chord in our hearts. God designed families for us to have a place to be known and belong. However, many of us did not grow up in homes that fit this description above. Family counseling can help repair the family system.
“The more we feel safe, the more able we are to be safe for our children.” (The Back Door to Your Teen’s Heart)
Your past family system does not have to define your future trajectory. Family counseling can create new family patterns, help connect with your teen, learn gospel centered parenting skills, and foster growth in the nurture and instruction of the Lord as a family unit.
