Dr. Nicole Donato

Dr. Nicole Donato is a Licensed Professional Counselor with more than a decade of clinical experience. She combines a straightforward, person-centered style with practical tools to help people facing stress, anxiety, addictions, eating and food-related issues, depression, and other life challenges. Nicole prefers plain talk and a collaborative stance in sessions, so people know what to expect from the start.

Nicole earned two master’s degrees and a PhD in Psychology and has been licensed in New Jersey since 2006 as an LPC. Her career includes work in an inpatient psychiatric hospital, outpatient therapy settings, and a foster family agency. She also teaches at the college level and finds teaching and clinical work complementary.

In therapy she focuses on building a strong working relationship first. From a client-centered perspective she aims to be genuine and empathetic and to understand each person’s life story. She uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice activating events and the self-talk that follows, then replace unhelpful patterns with more useful thinking and behaviors.

Nicole also integrates techniques from motivational interviewing to support readiness for change and draws on psychodynamic ideas to look at longer-standing patterns. Sessions tend to blend listening, practical skill-building, and gentle exploration of past experiences that affect present concerns.

People who choose her often want a mix of down-to-earth support and evidence-informed strategies. She welcomes questions about how therapy would address a specific concern and works collaboratively to set goals and track progress.

How Nicole’s approaches translate to online therapy

Nicole uses client-centered therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy in most online sessions. Client-centered therapy means she prioritizes a warm, genuine relationship and listens closely to a person’s experience to guide the work. This approach can help people feel heard and understood before moving into practical change work.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is used to identify activating events, spot negative self-talk, and practice clearer thinking and behavior changes. CBT works well for anxiety, depression, stress, and many eating or food-related concerns because it gives concrete skills to use between sessions.

Finding the right approach is a shared process. Nicole will collaborate with each person to choose techniques that match their goals, needs, and preferences. Together they set priorities and adjust methods as progress is reviewed.

Confirm the therapist’s available session formats before booking so you know how she offers online care. When options are arranged, online work can make it easier to fit therapy into busy days, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and remove the need to travel to appointments.