Dr. Nicole Washington is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana where she attended Southern University and A&M College. After receiving her BS degree, she moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to matriculate at the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed residency in Psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma in Tulsa and a masters degree in Public Health through the University of Illinois at Chicago. Since completion of her residency training, Dr. Washington has spent most of her career caring for and being an advocate for those who are not typically consumers of mental health services, namely underserved communities, those with severe mental illness and high performing professionals. With a passion for educating others about mental illness, she speaks on a variety of topics to colleagues and the general public. Through her private practice, podcast, speaking and writing, she seeks to provide education in efforts to decrease the stigma associated with psychiatric illness.
Overcoming adversity, families, raising mentally healthy children, helping people to achieve realistic expectations for themselves and helping them use that information to thrive, having healthy relationships, and travel are my biggest passions professionally and personally
More than 100 miles
I generally get paid for speaking but make exceptions
With over 20 years of experience as a physician, I have a lot of stories about the things I have learned helping people go from some of the darkest times in their lives to thriving. I have personal stories about things I have learned about myself, parenting, and about relationships through working with other people. I love to tell stories about helping people find their power after a setback. Of course, I find creative ways to get my point across because I would never violate ethical standards of care by telling people's personal stories. I do often use parallels and fun stories from the people in my personal life to get those points across.
I started this journey because I was tired of seeing misinformation and stigma about mental health negatively affecting people's overall quality of life including educational, occupational and social impairment. I love education and at one point was academic faculty at a local medical school. I left that environment but didn't want to abandon my passion for educating others about mental illness. My speaking and podcasts give me the outlet to provide education to a wider audience all in efforts to decrease the stigma associated to mental illness.