Nicole Navega

Embedded Trauma Therapist | Phd | EMDR Therapist

Dr. Navega has three decades of clinical experience with individuals who have experienced acute stress, secondary trauma and post-traumatic stress injuries. She is an EMDR trained therapist. She completed her Master of Social Work from Boston University and her PhD from Barry University’s School of Social Work. Her dissertation is titled The Impact of Organizational Stressors: A Grounded Theory Approach to Exploring Stress Injuries in Police Workers’ Compensation Evaluations. While teaching research at a college in Boston, she and her colleague conducted a study in 2016 on stress and coping in helping professionals. They published a peer-reviewed journal article in Best Practices in Mental Health titled, Pivotal Events: I’m Not a Normal Person Anymore. Understanding the Impact of Stress among Helping Professionals.

Dr. Navega is currently employed full-time by Lee County Public Safety as an embedded trauma therapist for EMS, Emergency Communications and Emergency Management. She helped initiate and serves as the Clinical Lead for Lee County Public Safety’s Peer Support Team. Dr. Navega is also embedded inside Fort Myers Police and Fire Departments part-time. She has consulted with Islamorada Fire Rescue. She volunteers to serve as one of five Mental Health Professionals on the Southwest Florida Critical Incident Stress Management Team. Dr. Navega is also the daughter of a former police officer.

In her free time, she enjoys scuba diving, the beach and anything related to Jocko Willink, Kings of Leon and Gary Vaynerchuk. She also enjoys editing, researching and managing social media for a prolific NYT Best-selling author who was a former NBC Counterterrorism, Military and Intelligence Analyst.