Nina Tilka (she/her/hers)

I have been working with individuals with disabilities for the past six years. I specialized in rehabilitation psychology during my postdoctoral fellowship. In other words, I had solid training and have had some great teachers who have helped me understand how to provide therapy that is specifically disability-affirmative. My approach is flexible and client-centered, which means this might be the only place in your life where you don't have to be the one to adapt.

Acceptance and commitment therapy is one approach I use with people. I like it because at the forefront of the theory behind it is the fact that we are all human and we will all face hardships. Some of us get more stuck or struggle more than others. We have values, thoughts, and feelings, which are the things that tend to drive our behaviors even without us knowing it sometimes. It includes mindfulness strategies, commitment and behavior-change strategies, which I use with most of my clients.

Attachment theory tends to inform the directions I take with people, particularly if their emotional and psychological struggles are related to relationships in their life. Attachment theory in the most basic sense is about how our early relationships (i.e., experience of parental figures) impacted our development and helped to form relational filters that we still use in our relationships today.

When we experience change, particularly unwanted change, we experience grief. Everyone has some experience with loss, but it can be a really difficult and complicated thing to integrate grief and meaning in order to find fullness again. I help people navigate through the complexities of grief so that they can work through pain and flourish in their life once again.

Stress and anxiety is an area of specialty of mine in part because I enjoy watching people learn how to be with themselves in new ways. I also like teaching people coping and relaxation strategies to better manage the discomfort of stress and anxiety.

I have experience in treating people who have experienced trauma. I am EMDR trained. However, I see grief related to spiritual abuse and religious trauma as well. I do follow Jesus, but I also understand how hurtful, complicated, and messy being involved in church communities can be. I am someone who can sit in the weeds with you.

I am EMDR-trained, which means that I have participated in training for EMDR, but I am still in consultation and have not reached the required hours for certification. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), as with most therapy approaches, focuses on the individual’s present concerns (e.g. grief, anxiety, etc.). The EMDR approach seeks to address past emotionally-charged experiences that are overly influencing your present emotions, sensations, and thoughts about yourself.