We were lucky to catch up with Nicholas Pellam Cheeves recently and have shared our conversation below.
Nicholas , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
It started at a young age, my mom had my brother and I in different sports and activities. Being an athlete fosters competitiveness and I’ve used that energy throughout my academic and career endeavors. I may not be the smartest or most knowledgeable person in the different spaces I’m in, but I stay my authentic self no matter what. No one can take away the experiences I have gone through which helped shape the person I have become.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My path to the career I have today has been long, but each step lead me to where I am. I started in college working in the human services field, primarily working with people who have developmental disabilities. Initially I wanted to be a lawyer, but I had a change of heart my senior year. I still completed my BA in philosophy (Buffalo State) and maintained my work in the human services field while obtaining my community and school health master’s in 2014 (Canisius College) and my master’s in social work in 2019 (Unoverity at Buffalo) All of my professional roles have been in the nonprofit sector until recently I became an adjunct at Buffalo State University. After obtaining my first masters I did care coordination with youth and families which exposed me to working with whole families and finding solution focused interventions. Unfortunately after two years I was laid off and during that time, I was motivated to gain more knowledge on working with people, which lead me to social work. Since completing my MSW I have been a therapist and worked in consulting roles in public health. On a personal level, my families struggle with mental health lead me on this path of wanting to help others work through those barriers.
My current role as a counselor is with an ACT Team (Assertive Community Treatment). I work in the community with people who have serious persistent mental health disorders. I also work in private practice with a group called Healing Hearts, which works in conjunction with a friend and colleague of mine, Andrea Pierce at AP Counseling, and I teach in the social work department at Buffalo State University. All of my experiences lead me to these roles, and networking with others in the community has been instrumental. Through networking, I have assisted Andrea with the initiative of Honoring Clinicians of Color and other Mental Health Professionals. This initiative will soon turn into a nonprofit organization with the goal of lowering the stigma mental have in the black community while providing sevices to clients and other professionals. On May 17th, we are having a gala Honoring nominated mental health and para-professionals who have done and is doing amazing work in the community.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
For me, the three things that helped me on my journey were knowing myself. I knew I wanted to work and help people and knew being a lawyer wouldn’t fulfill my version of how that looked. The next thing is setting goals and working towards them. I have ideas all the time, but I also locked in and created short-term goals for myself. Lastly, im always willing to learn something new.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
I would say my time management skills have improved in the last 12 months. Working for a nonprofit while juggling private practice and having meaningful engagement with my students have required me to procrastinate less and truly divide my time accordingly and following through on using my time wisely. This also includes making time for friends and family and self care time to rest and reset.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.healingheartscounselingwny.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_ntpc_/profilecard/?igsh=aHRlZDdpa2tqMzEx
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-pellam-cheeves-0a580a314
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