Meet Our Therapists
Looking for a therapist in North Carolina? Our counselors provide a range of therapy approaches as well as life coaching in Charlotte, NC.
Nicole Saunders, MSW, LCSW (Owner)
Nicole Saunders, LCSW is a North Carolina native who grew up in the mountains of western NC and later earned her psychology degree at UNC-Chapel Hill. She moved to Charlotte to complete her Master’s in Social Work and has called the city home ever since. After years working in the nonprofit sector, she founded Therapy Charlotte in 2011 to offer a more modern, results-driven approach to therapy.
With over 15 years of experience as a licensed clinical social worker, Nicole works best with high-functioning adults who are ready for meaningful change. Her clients tend to be successful, insightful, and driven, but often feel stuck or disconnected from themselves. Nicole takes a holistic, straightforward approach to therapy that goes beyond talking about problems. Sessions focus on clarifying patterns, increasing self-awareness, and building emotional depth, using evidence-based tools from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, mindfulness, and Solution-Focused practices.
Her style is warm but direct, conversational, and collaborative, with plenty of humor and real-time feedback. Clients describe her as the kind of therapist who actually says what she's thinking and helps them make tangible progress.
For those who are interested, Nicole also incorporates the use of AI tools in therapy to enhance self-reflection, support journaling, organize goals, or spark deeper insights between sessions.
Angie Vandenberg, LCSW
Angie Vandenberg, LCSW is a clinician with over a decade of experience in the field of social work. In 2009, she graduated from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, and practiced therapy at a local non-profit in Charlotte and it's surrounding areas. She relocated to our beautiful coast in 2012. She currently lives in Wilmington where she holds a leadership position at UNCW School of Social Work. She teaches graduate students best practice in clinical social work, and also serves as the field education coordinator.
The client relationship is very important to Angie, and therefore she is grounded in a person centered and strength-based approach. This means she believes each of us has our own set of strengths that we bring to the table and she looks to honor the resilience within her clients. It is important to her that clients feel safe and supported in sessions so they may explore thoughts, feelings, speak their truth, and practice congruence so they may navigate the ups and downs and plot twists that are a natural part of life. She has received formal training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy through the Beck Institute, and she often utilizes this modality as well as Solution Focused Therapy and Motivational Interviewing during sessions.
She is excited to be part of Therapy Charlotte because the Queen City will always hold a special place in her heart, as well as the many clients and clinicians she worked with while living there! Since she lives in Wilmington, sessions with will Angie be done via telehealth. To learn more about telehealth and see if it is right for you, please check out this article on The Benefits of an Online Therapist!
Anna use techniques from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, and Insight-Oriented Therapy. She also can provide Christian faith-based counseling.
Elizabeth Pinard, MSW, LCSW
Elizabeth Pinard, MSW, LCSW is a virtual therapist in North Carolina with over 10 years of clinical experience. After working in the banking industry for over a decade, she left her job in capital markets structuring and selling foreign exchange derivatives to pursue a career which aligned with her passion to help others. Elizabeth returned to graduate school, completed a Master of Social Work Degree, and obtained her Licensed Clinical Social Worker Certification. She worked for a local non-profit for over eight years in various roles including therapist and clinical supervisor.
Elizabeth uses a person-centered approach to assist clients in identifying and achieving their goals for therapy. She guides them to greater self understanding and self compassion in a safe, non-judgmental environment. She believes strongly in the mind-body connection and empowers clients to work toward their own integrated mind-body awareness for improved health and healing. Elizabeth works with individuals to address challenges associated with depression, anxiety, perfectionism, self worth, relationship concerns, and life transitions.
She has received formal training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and often uses this modality in addition to Solution-Focused Therapy and principles from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Somatic Experiencing.
Since Elizabeth specializes in virtual therapy and counseling, she can work with adults all across North Carolina. To learn more about telehealth and see if it is right for you, please check out this article on Why You Should Try Online Counseling & Coaching!
Gwyn Mohler, MSW, LCSW
Gwyn Mohler, MSW, LCSW, is a therapist in North Carolina offering in-person appointments. Gwyn started her career in the field of education, serving both as a K-12 educator and nonprofit manager. Over time, she found that her favorite part of work was when she was providing one-on-one support to students, peers, and teachers, helping them build confidence and meet individual goals. To follow this passion, Gwyn went to graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill to become a licensed therapist.
Gwyn considers it an honor to join with her clients on their therapeutic journeys. She is aware of the tremendous amount of courage and vulnerability required to begin work with a new therapist, and she brings this awareness into sessions by prioritizing an environment that feels safe, empowering, and connected. Using a Person-Centered and Trauma-informed approach as a foundation, Gwyn works with her clients to create individualized experiences that allow clients to explore and reach their unique goals. Gwyn practices with the Whole person in mind and has experience integrating a variety of evidence-based techniques and theories into treatment, including Polyvagal Theory, Attachment Theory, Mindfulness-Based approaches, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Gwyn is especially passionate about helping clients uncover and address the root cause of current issues, and she enjoys supporting clients address concerns related to anxiety, depression, complex trauma, attachment wounds, self-esteem/self-worth, perfectionism, and major life transitions.
Originally from Pennsylvania, Gwyn lived in New Mexico and South Carolina before settling in North Carolina in 2011. Gwyn currently lives in Charlotte with her husband and small children.
Gwyn offers in-person appointments in her Elizabeth Neighborhood office!
Ready to Make a Change With The Best Charlotte Therapist Near You?
Jen August, LCMHC
Jen August, LCMHC is a clinician with over 20 years of counseling experience. She is currently living in Wilmington, North Carolina, where she oversees an advocacy center for survivors of interpersonal violence at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
For Jen, being a counselor is more than a job; it is a privilege to accompany clients on their path of healing or growth. It can take a huge amount of courage and strength for someone to open up their inner-most thoughts, feelings, and vulnerabilities to someone new and Jen is honored each time someone invites her to participate in their therapeutic journey. Jen also recognizes that people are the experts of their own lives and circumstances so she works in collaboration with her clients to help them access their inner strength and power to navigate life's circumstances in the best way for them.
Jen recognizes the client-counselor relationship as the most important element to enabling progress in counseling and while Jen's work is informed by a variety of modalities (including Polyvagal Theory, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Solution-Focused therapy), she primarily comes from Person-Centered and Strengths-Based perspectives in her counseling.
Noell Rowan, Ph.D., LCSW, LCAS, CCS, ACSW
Noell Rowan, Ph.D., LCSW, LCAS, CCS, ACSW is a clinician with more than three decades of experience in the field of social work. She has practiced in hospital, community, and private practice settings in Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, and provides clinical supervision for MSW students in North Carolina. After practicing for more than a decade, she returned to further her education and earned a Ph.D. in social work and has since authored more than 40 publications and participated on many teams of grants to expand her ability to focus on wellness in the areas of mental health, addictions, and spirituality. She has served in several university leadership roles building social work degree programs, was recruited to UNCW School of Social Work to join their leadership team and has resided on the beautiful coast of North Carolina since 2013. She teaches graduate students about practice skills, oversees the graduate addictions certification program, and enjoys making meaningful connections with people and fostering growth toward the highest potential.
Noell considers it a high honor to work with people on their life journey, and seeks to collaborate and honor each person's path and way of viewing the world to navigate their concerns, process thoughts and feelings and recognize their strengths and solutions along the way.
Noell offers clinical therapy services solely via virtual telehealth. She is enthused to join Therapy Charlotte to offer her presence from a supportive clinical social work stance. She has had formal training from the Beck Institute on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and often focuses her work from trainings on Motivational Interviewing/Motivational Enhancement Therapy, Brief Solution Focused Therapy, Person-Centered, Strengths Based, and Insight-Oriented Therapy
Amy Van de Motter, LCSW
Amy Van de Motter, LCSW moved from Ohio to North Carolina in 2000. She earned her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education, teaching public school for three years. During this experience, she realized her passion for making personal connections with her students and their families, which led her to pursue her masters degree in Social Work.
As a licensed clinical social worker, Amy has spent more than a decade working therapeutically with individuals and families from a wide array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. She lived and practiced therapy in Tennessee and Massachusetts, before returning to North Carolina in 2014, which she is happy to call home. She now works as a full-time faculty member in the School of Social Work at UNCW, primarily teaching graduate students, and also works part-time with an adoption agency.
Amy's practice philosophy is grounded in one of the core social work values: the importance of human relationships. She recognizes and honors the trust and courage it takes for clients to enter into a therapist-client relationship, and works in partnership with her clients to establish that foundation of safety and support. Clients' individual needs, preferences, and beliefs are honored and respected throughout their work toward change and personal growth. She enjoys working with individuals struggling with relationship issues, life transitions, stress management, anxiety and depression, and other experiences that challenge our ability to cope and adapt in the way we normally do. Amy's practice incorporates concepts and techniques from Person-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Oriented Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, as well as ideas from mindfulness-based approaches.