Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Thompson.
Nicole, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always loved kids from as far as I can remember, even when I was a kid myself. I’ve worked with kids for a majority of my life, going back to my teenage years, working in a daycare. In my early twenties, I became an early intervention therapist for children with autism and I knew that I had found my calling for sure. I went to graduate school to become a school psychologist. Once I graduated, I started working in the same district I attended as a student. When I started working there, I was reminded of my own childhood and all the traumatic experiences I’d been through. This prompted me to start what I am doing now, which is training urban educators how to better serve students affected by trauma.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s never a smooth road to success. If it was, everyone would be successful. It’s the challenging times that really test you to see how bad you want what you set out to get. Since the world of entrepreneurship is new to me, I’ve struggled with the uncertainty of not getting a steady paycheck, trusting my actions to accomplish my goals, and transitioning to being a life-time worker to a life-time creator.
The Urban School Psychologist – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My business is called The Urban School Psychologist and I’ve developed a training called Reverse the Adverse. The mission of the training is to teach educators and mental health professionals how to better serve urban students impacted by trauma. I am most proud when educators come to me at the end of the training and tell me how helpful and insightful it was. I’m also a co-author in a book called Black Therapists Rock: A Glimpse Through the Eyes of Experts. My chapter shares the intimate details that led me to be a motherless child, and the impact it had on me when I saw her mother’s lifeless body lying next to me. What sets me apart from others is that I’ve been the student going through trauma, and the educator helping students get through trauma. It gives me an inherited level of empathy and compassion.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my career so far is when I presented at Harvard School Mental Health Conference and received the first standing ovation in over ten years!
Pricing:
- Reverse the Adverse (Professional Development Training) – $400
- Reverse the Adverse (8-Week Online Course) – $997
- Black Therapists Rock: A Glimpse Through the Eyes of Experts – $20
Contact Info:
- Website: http://theurbanschoolpsychologist.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theurbanschoolpsychologist/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheUrbanSchoolPsychologist/
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-thompson-b27b50144/
Image Credit:
EyeImagery for the Shocked Picture
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