“For me, doing therapy is a calling, not a job. It’s the only thing I ever wanted to do for a living, and I’ve been doing it for nearly fifty years.”
Dr. Margie
“This book is a seminal contribution toward an inclusive and ever-changing understanding of queer psychologies. It should be read and studied by clinicians of all personal and theoretical persuasions.”
About Dr. Margie Nichols
Dr. Margaret Nichols – Dr. Margie – is a psychologist and sex therapist, a trainer and consultant, and author of many professional papers and the book:
“The Modern Clinicians Guide to LGBTQ+ Clients: the Inclusive Therapist” published by Routledge in 2020.
She is a pioneer in the field of queer affirmative psychotherapy and sex therapy. She ‘came out’ while in graduate school in 1975 and before she even got her Ph.D. she made the decision to devote her professional life to working with sex and gender minority people, and those with non-traditional sexual and relationship styles.
Even though homosexuality was officially no longer a diagnosable disease, Margie, like other young, ‘out’ mental health professionals at the time, realized that most therapists still lacked understanding of this under-served population, and some still treated being gay as a mental disorder.
She started the Institute for Personal Growth in New Jersey, an outpatient practice emphasizing care for LGBTQ+ clients, in 1983. She helped found New Jersey’s HIV/AIDS social service organization, the Hyacinth Foundation, and was its first director.
She also wrote dozens of professional papers and conducted trainings for therapists on LGBTQ+ topics worldwide. Most recently, since leaving IPG in 2018, she published her book and has been instrumental in co-creating, with Arlene Lev, a transgender mental health certification program through Modern Sex Therapy Institutes.
Since leaving IPG in 2018, I’ve cut back my practice drastically, and for several years accepted no new clients whatsoever. However, I’m now available to see some new people, specifically those who live in New Jersey and who fall into one of my specialty areas: LGBTQ+ clients; trans youth and their family members; sex therapy. I’m not able to take on anyone who needs long-term therapy (more than one year) or those in crisis.
Contact me for more info if you think you might want to work with me. I am still for accessible for one-off consultations (not therapy sessions) with individuals, professionals, or families, and for this there is no requirement that you live in New Jersey.
In addition, I have recently been trained to facilitate ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP), and I am offering this to those who have been my clients in the past. KAP is an exciting modality and can be relatively short-term therapy. It is useful in helping people achieve breakthroughs and insight into troublesome and difficult to change patterns. As of now, I am only available to do KAP with people who have been past clients.
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