Mark Nichols (he/him/his) 

Founder of Black Pine Counseling Center, Mark is Licensed through the Virginia Board of Counseling as a Professional Counselor. He is knowledgeable in a wide range of approaches to therapy, and takes a “what works” approach of fitting the theory to the client rather than the other way around. He operates by the philosophy that growing and encouraging health and resiliency is the most important part of truly overcoming adversity. In his own thinking, he primarily focuses on Cognitive Behavioral, and Existential approaches. Spirituality and religion are, for some people, highly important in their lives. Mark has a lifelong interest in world religion and philosophy, and is willing to work your beliefs into therapy if you so desire.

He has a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Denver, and a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from George Mason University. He spent 3 years teaching graduate level psychology at Hebei University in China, designing and implementing his own curriculum across the span of their Master’s program. He then spent several years working in residential treatment for adolescents with a wide range of mental disorders, severe enough to be unsafe in the community. He has since spent several more years working in private practice, seeing individuals of all ages in the community as part of a large practice in Northern Virginia, and now independently in Newport News.

He has also been a movie theater manager, a runway model, a janitor, a voice actor, a consultant for an international company manufacturing oil prospecting equipment, a textbook editor, the sole proprietor of a lemonade stand, and does most of the work on his own cars.

His father was in the air force throughout Mark’s childhood, leading to quite a few moves around the USA. Mark continued his travels after reaching adulthood, exploring the US as well as living in China and Mongolia before finally settling here in Hampton Roads.

*We make efforts for our offices to be as accessible and accommodating as possible, however Mark's office is currently only accessible by stairs. If this presents difficulty, please let us know, so that we can discuss other accommodations.