Nikkia Matthews
Compassionate, practical care for life’s hard moments
LMSW Michigan
- Experience
- 11 years in practice
- Focus areas
- Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Family
- Approaches
- Gottman Method, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Languages
- English
About Nikkia
Nikkia Matthews is a Licensed Master Social Worker with 11 years of clinical experience based in Michigan. She brings a practical, steady presence to sessions and focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and life changes.
Background and approach
Her work also covers relationship and family concerns, grief, trauma and abuse, and issues around self-esteem and addiction. Matthews uses a blend of evidence-informed approaches to guide clients.
She draws on Gottman Method ideas for relationship patterns, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to build values-driven action, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to address unhelpful thinking. She also uses client-centered and emotionally focused ideas to help people feel heard and understood.
Sessions tend to be collaborative and goal oriented. She helps clients name what matters, try small changes, and track what feels useful.
Conversations are direct but warm, and practical skills are offered between meetings when helpful. People come for many reasons - parenting strain, work stress, intimacy concerns, ADHD, or struggles with attachment and abandonment.
Matthews also addresses blended family issues, communication problems, codependency, and forgiveness work. Her approach adapts to the issue and the person in front of her.
The first meetings usually focus on understanding current concerns and setting clear goals. From there she offers short- and longer-term plans depending on what a client wants to address.
Therapy is framed as a step-by-step process, with attention to everyday changes that add up over time.
Therapeutic approaches that translate well online
Gottman Method ideas focus on identifying common patterns in relationships and improving how people communicate and connect. Online sessions can use these ideas to practice new conversation habits and manage conflict with clear coaching and feedback.Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people clarify their values and take small actions that match those values. It can be useful for anxiety, depression, and life transitions by teaching simple exercises to notice thoughts and commit to meaningful steps.
Client-Centered Therapy centers the client's experience and emphasizes empathy and listening. This approach supports people who need space to be heard and to explore feelings without judgment.
Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with the client about goals, try methods that fit, and adjust the plan over time based on what works. Clients are invited to share preferences and test different techniques until a good fit emerges.
Online therapy offers flexibility in how sessions happen. Video calls let people work face-to-face when a visual connection matters. Phone sessions can be a better fit when bandwidth is limited or camera use feels uncomfortable. Live chat and text-based messaging provide shorter check-ins, ongoing skill practice, or support between longer sessions. These options help therapy fit into busy schedules and changing life demands.
Frequently asked questions
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Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
11+ years
Licensed in
Michigan
Languages
English