Find a therapist in Manchester, CT — covered by insurance

I bring over 20 years of experience as a Licensed Counselor and Art Therapist to my practice. I work with clients to integrate a variety modalities including art therapy, movement, humor, meditation, and breathwork into my practice to help them close the disconnects between mind, body, and spirit, and connect with their true selves as whole and complete human beings.

Hi, I’m Nikki — owner of Dragonfly Haven Wellness LCSW PLLC. I’m looking forward to starting our work together.

I’m a licensed clinical social worker with a Master’s in Social Work from Fordham University, earned in 2003. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of supporting children, teens, adults, and families through life’s challenges in both outpatient and school-based mental health settings.

I believe therapy works best when you feel safe, supported, and genuinely understood. My approach is warm and collaborative, while also helping to point out connections to support your growth. I draw from a blend of psychodynamic therapy, relational approaches, CBT, DBT, motivational interviewing, and Encompass co-occurring treatment to help clients build insight, strengthen coping skills, and create meaningful change.

I’ve recently completed a certified integrative mental health provider course and somatic technique training to focus more on body-based approaches alongside traditional talk therapy to support healing as a whole-person process.

Whether you’re navigating anxiety, depression, stress, relationship challenges, life transitions, or simply feeling stuck, you don’t have to do it alone. My goal is to create a space where you feel comfortable showing up exactly as you are and knowing that I am here to work alongside you as you move towards change.

Twenty-five years in this field — across inpatient units, outpatient programs, and private practice — means I've sat with people in virtually every kind of difficulty. That depth of experience shapes how I show up: grounded, unhurried, and genuinely confident that change is possible, even when it doesn't feel that way yet.

I work with adults navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, substance use, ADD/ADHD, stress, and major life transitions. I bring both clinical rigor and real human warmth to the work — because neither alone is enough.

I trained at Hunter College School of Social Work and have built my practice around one belief: that insight without practical tools doesn't get people very far, and tools without insight don't stick. We'll work on both.

Finding a therapist who genuinely understands your background, not just your diagnosis, can make the difference between therapy that feels like going through the motions and therapy that actually moves you.

I'm a bilingual Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP), and Certified in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (C-DBT), fluent in English and Hebrew. I work with adolescents and adults navigating trauma and PTSD, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship challenges, identity, emotional regulation, and major life transitions.

Before private practice, much of my clinical work took place in crisis response, hospital-based care, community mental health, and other high-stress environments. That experience taught me how to sit with difficult things without becoming intimidated by them, while also recognizing that people are far more than the hardest things that have happened to them.

As a therapist, I'm warm, direct, collaborative, and genuinely curious about the person sitting across from me. I don't believe therapy should feel clinical for the sake of sounding clinical, and I don't believe my role is to simply tell you what you should do. I want to understand how you got here: the experiences that shaped you, the patterns you've developed, what those patterns may have helped you survive or manage, and whether they're still serving you now. From there, we can figure out together what you want to keep, what you want to change, and what moving forward can actually look like for you.

I am a bilingual (Spanish) licensed mental health counselor with more than 25 years of experience helping adults and couples. My career began in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I earned my PhD and worked as a licensed psychologist. After moving to the US, I completed a Master’s in mental health counseling at the University of Miami and became licensed to practice in Connecticut.

We are designed for movement . What IS movement ? I have devoted over 35 years to helping others go to the next step: allowing movement to occur. Movement can be as nuanced and magnificent as a shift ! With my experience and expertise as a Theatre Movement Specialist I support people to employ their intelligence of mind and body, and when ready, to let go of “the stuck” and experience change. I bring a holistic approach to the human existence through examination of meaning, personal responsibility , values, freedom , human potential, spirituality and self actualization.