Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Motakef.
Nicole, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Anxiety started it all. Thankfully, I had a supportive family who taught me a very important lesson, “If something is holding you back because of anxiety, do the thing anyway.” It was painful and helpful. The concept of anxiety was very interesting to me. I learned more about it in college at UCI, where I majored in Psychology and Social Behavior. Medical school (Western University of Health Sciences) was the next step in understanding more about psychology/psychiatry, and also gave me more to be anxious about. Another challenge, another chance to grow, bring it on. This time, anxiety had a different flavor and a higher intensity; studying from 5 am until 11 pm daily for 2 years straight was a sprint the length of a marathon. I survived, thinking I could handle anything after that. Little did I know that in the latter half of medical school, anxiety still lurks, just in a different way. My interest in mental health continued to grow. I completed psychiatry residency at Kaiser Fontana and child & adolescent psychiatry at UCI. Here at the end of training, I took a deep breath and felt only a small fraction of the anxiety I used to carry on my shoulders. I felt ready. Then pregnancy, new business, new job, new responsibilities. Anxiety was back with a vengeance, and with that the next ride began.
Modern medicine and standard of care did not seem like enough for me or my patients. I decided to complete a fellowship in integrative psychiatry and completed a course for ketamine-assisted psychotherapy with the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. Through this education, I’ve become more well-rounded in my care. I assess lifestyle, nutrition, hormones, and vitamins in addition to the standard of care.
Why talk about my anxiety and share such vulnerable weaknesses? I guess I don’t see it as a weakness at all. It’s given me the drive to grow, a career I feel passionately about, and empathy for those either struggling with anxiety or even another mental health condition. It’s hard to carry a weight no one sees.
Today I am the medical director of a residential treatment center I am proud to be associated with, Compass Behavioral Health. This is a center for adolescents who are struggling with severe mental health issues and need intensive group, individual, and family therapy and frequent physician oversight. I also have a private practice, MBLDN Psychiatry and Wellness. MBLDN are the consonants for “embolden,” a reminder to live an emboldened life to the fullest. In my practice, I offer well-rounded psychiatric treatment, therapy, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Anxiety has been the biggest hurtle. Taking it head-on has been my strategy. Follow the obstacles; they will take you where you need to be.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about MBLDN Psychiatry and Wellness?
MBLDN stands for “embolden” without the vowels. One of my best friends actually came up with it when I described the type of practice I’d like to have. I described to her a practice where I help people become more fully themselves. We all “lose our way” just to find that getting lost was part of the way all along. I want to be part of that lost and found. I want to help others challenge themselves and yet to be kind to themselves about where they are and how far they’ve come. Mental health has a funny way of showing us the actual way, it’s usually painful, but oh is it worth the ride.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
My son, my parents, my grandmothers, my husband, my two shih tzus, and my best friends are my psychological rocks. They helped me all along the way and still do. I’m thankful to have many great mentors along the way, and also a few bad ones who actually created some good anxious fodder for me to learn from.
Pricing:
- Intake: $600
- Therapy: $400
- Follow-up: $200
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mbldnpsych.com/
- Instagram: @mbldnpsych
