Elizabeth Nicholaides, LCSW
EVERYONE'S STORY DESERVES A SATISFYING NEXT CHAPTER
Therapy With Elizabeth
Hi, I’m Elizabeth Nicholaides, a licensed clinical therapist serving Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, and the greater Triangle area. For over 25 years, I've helped people overcome obstacles, understand themselves better, and build healthier and happier lives. If you've been searching for a therapist in the Triangle or anywhere in North Carolina, you’ve come to the right place. My specialties are treating substance abuse/addiction and trauma/PTSD. I offer EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), the highly effective evidence-based rapid trauma release therapy. I also work with mental health, self development and relationship issues. My practice focuses on individual and relationship counseling, including families and couples. Everyone is welcome here: all ages, races, faiths, genders, sexual orientations, income levels, and motivations. I am ready and grateful to work with you in person or virtually. You don’t have to navigate your next chapter alone!
My practice centers on five specialties:
1. Trauma and PTSD therapy/EMDR
2. Addiction and substance abuse counseling
3. Mental Health counseling
4. Individual counseling
5. Relationship therapy
Whatever we focus on, you will find our work together to be collaborative and curious, grounded in respect, compassion, and honest conversation. As your insight grows, you’ll have more clarity, freedom, options, and a firmer sense of direction. My goal for you isn't just symptom relief; it is competence, peace, and a thriving life!
Why Triangle Area Clients Choose Me
Finding the right therapist in Raleigh and the Triangle shouldn't take weeks of searching. Here's what sets my practice apart:
• Fast Access: A response to every inquiry within two business days and most appointments scheduled within a week of contact
• Deep Experience: Over 30 years treating trauma, addiction, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and relationship struggles • Respect: Recognition that each client is an equal and the expert on her/himself
• Stellar EMDR track record: 99% success rate with EMDR
• Addiction experience: 24 years of personal sobriety give me an edge above many therapists who can only offer clinical skills. I understand substance abuse from the inside out. • Therapy Cat: Dolly Lama enhances sessions by adding a peaceful presence and occasional entertainment (by client request)
• Additional Expertise: Work with individuals, relationships, grief, and loss
Therapy with Elizabeth
When you work with Elizabeth, she will:
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Respond to you quickly
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Provide a safe, comfortable space for you to heal
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Tailor therapy to be the best it can be for you, not just a one-size fits all approach
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Tell the truth with kindness
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Meet you exactly where you are
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Respect you as an equal
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Bring her whole self to her work and do her very best for you
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Walk alongside you every step of the way
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Have great enthusiasm for working with all clients, especially those that are ready to go deep and evolve. This can be soulful work—the kind of work that can reshape your life.
Beyond the Therapy Room
In addition to my private practice, I partner with community psychiatrists and professional organizations across thestate, as well as treatment centers across the country, including Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel HilI. I also serve onthe board of Urban Ministries of Wake County, and volunteer there distributing food pantry resources, supporting itsfree medical clinic, and providing therapy to women in its homeless shelter. In addition, I absolutely love leadingWomen's Transformational Retreats around the world, most recently in Santa Fe, NM.
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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.
Inspirations
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.”