Jennifer Scott, Former Editorial Director, The Gottman Institute:

"Nicole's writing for The Gottman Institute website showed her broad expertise in mental health issues and her compassion for the people that they impact. From loving someone with chronic pain to reviving intimacy post-baby, Nicole tackled topics that resonated with so many. I also love her spirit. She's kind, thoughtful, and willing to do the hard work if it means someone might rethink the way they interact with their world. I continue to follow her on social media and am delighted to see all the creative ways that she seeks to meet her clients where they are."

Media Inquiries and Requests for Interviews

Are you looking for a mental health expert with public speaking and writing experience?

Talking Points Include:

Mental Health
Embracing Uncertainty and Managing Anxiety
Work Life Balance and Preventing and Recovering from Burn out
The Benefits of Movement and Being in Nature
Transition to Parenthood for Couples and Maternal Mental Health
Conscious Parenting and Raising Resilient Children
Trauma informed and Strengths Based Organizations
Women's Empowerment, Communication and Boundary Setting
Living your purpose

Featured In and Other Free Resources

Education and Specialized Training and Experience:

Masters of Education, Counselling Psychology, University of Western Ontario, 2002
Honours, Bachelors of Arts (Sociology), Kings University College, 2000

Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional, 2022
Woman of Distinction Award, Cambridge YWCA, 2020
Graduate, Leadership Waterloo Region, 2016
Certified Gottman Educator, The Bringing Baby Home Transition to Parenthood for Couples, 2007
20 years in a local mental health organization; Partner Assault Response (PAR) program, Violence Against Women, Creative Coping (Anxiety and Stress) and Student and Clinical Supervision
Former member of DART- Domestic Assault Review Team and SART- Sexual Assault Review Team of Waterloo Region

Short Bio

Nicole Schiener is an award winning Registered Psychotherapist on a mission to foster healthy relationships at home and at work. She brings twenty years experience as a mental health expert and specialized training to ease the transition to and through parenthood. She is dedicated to liberating mothers from perfectionism and the pressure to do it all.

Nicole is a member of the Waterloo Region Climb out of the Darkness Walk raising awareness and funds for Post Partum Mood Disorders.

Media and Guest Inquiries

Nicole's Story

Nicole is on a mission to help women recover from the trauma and stress of this Pandemic and liberate mothers at all stages from perfectionism and the pressure to do it all. She empowers anxious and overwhelmed women to challenge the myths of motherhood to cultivate more peace and joy through evidence based practices.

Throughout her childhood and most of her adult life she struggled with generalized anxiety and perfectionism. Utilizing the mind/body tools learned over her psychotherapy career and holistic healing, she learned to embrace uncertainty and be a brave, not perfect writer, speaker and social justice advocate.

Raised by divorced parents with a legacy of generational trauma, she shares insights from 20 years of group work focused on healthy relationships, specialized training and the lessons learned from an equal and loving marriage on the Gottman Institute Blog.

Nicole loves empowering mothers to free themselves from societal conditioning and wrote about mindfulness and how to embrace the opportunities within parenting challenges in a column "Mindful Mama" for a local magazine, The Holistic Parent from 2014-2018.

She's overcome chronic pain and recovered from vicarious trauma and burn out through walking daily, therapy, coaching, energy and physical healing. She left her non-profit agency job in September 2021 to start a private practice devoted to empowering new and stressed out moms with walking sessions along the Grand River and trauma informed and mental wellness workshops for organizations. Everything she does is motivated by a desire to foster healthy relationships, beginning with the one with ourselves.