Practitioner record · Checked 9 Oct 2026

Dr. Nancy Kenyon Richardson has been in practice 10 years and is licensed in Vermont. Dr. lists addictions, relationship issues and trauma and abuse among 65 subjects on the BetterHelp roster.

Everything below is either quoted from Dr.'s own BetterHelp listing, taken from public licensing records, or written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such. Nothing here is an availability promise, a review, or a rating.

10years in practice
65subjects listed
11approaches listed

01 · Who Dr. works with

Dr. works with addictions, relationship issues and trauma and abuse

Dr. lists 17 specialisms and 48 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Dr. chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

Specialisms
  • Addictions
  • Relationship issues
  • Trauma and abuse
  • Parenting issues
  • ADHD
  • Stress, Anxiety
  • LGBT
  • Family conflicts
  • Grief
  • Intimacy-related issues
  • Eating disorders
  • Anger management
  • Self esteem
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Depression
  • Coping with life changes
  • Compassion fatigue
Also experienced with
  • Abandonment
  • Adoption and foster care
  • Antisocial personality
  • Attachment issues
  • Autism and Asperger Syndrome
  • Avoidant personality
  • Blended family issues
  • Body image
  • Caregiver issues and stress
  • Chronic pain, illness, and disability
  • Co-morbidity
  • Codependency
  • Communication problems
  • Control issues
  • Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
  • Dependent personality
  • Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
  • Dissociation
  • Divorce and separation
  • Domestic violence
  • Drug and alcohol addiction
  • Family of origin issues
  • Family problems
  • Forgiveness
  • Gender dysphoria
  • Guilt and shame
  • Hospice and end-of-life counseling
  • Impulsivity
  • Infidelity
  • Mood disorders
  • Multicultural concerns
  • Narcissism
  • Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
  • Panic disorder and panic attacks
  • Paranoia
  • Personality disorders
  • Phobias
  • Postpartum depression
  • Post-traumatic stress
  • Pregnancy and childbirth
  • Prejudice and discrimination
  • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
  • Self-harm
  • Self-love
  • Sexual assault and abuse
  • Sexuality
  • Women's issues
  • Young adult issues

02 · In Dr.'s own words

What Dr. says about the work

Reproduced in full and unedited - not summarised, not tightened, not rewritten in a house voice.

Hello and congratulations on taking this brave step of looking for help. My name is Dr. Nancy Kenyon Richardson, but I usually just go by Dr. Nancy.

I strongly believe in the potential of all people to heal and move forward from trauma history, substance use disorders, and other mental health struggles. My passion is assisting people on their journey of healing. The course of my journey as a mental health professional has been two-fold. My master's degree is in psychology with a concentration in counseling. My Ph.D. is in psychology with a concentration in addiction and is research based. My research in successful recovery post-medication-assisted treatment (MAT) lead to an emerging theory on MAT as an aid to long-term opioid recovery without medication. I am a licensed clinical mental health counselor (LCMHC) and a licensed alcohol and drug counselor (LADC). I also hold several certifications including EMDR therapy and Dr. Gottman's Loving Couple's, Loving Children.

My grandparents were all Portuguese immigrants who did not have the opportunity for much education. My lifelong dream was to complete my Ph.D. Of course reaching this goal was a wonderful feeling, but I am more proud of the 2012 Victim Activist of the Year Award I received for my work in the field of intimate partner violence.

I am fascinated by brain science and often include psycho-education around trauma and the brain when helping people understand why they continue to engage in behaviors they wish to stop or why they continue to be impacted by past traumatic events. I have several years of experience helping people to move forward by identifying the "hooks" from their past that are holding them back from fully healing. I often state, only half kidding, that if I am still your therapist in 5 years and we're working on the same issues, fire me!

Although I grew up in a predominantly Portuguese community in Rhode Island, I have resided in Vermont for nearly 30 years. My family and I enjoy travel and I have visited 49 of the 50 states. Our youngest two children are now teenagers so my spouse and I are beginning to explore what the empty nest chapter of our lives will look like.

I truly feel honored and that it is a privilege to be trusted with the role of helping people heal from mental health problems. I look forward to being a part of your journey.

Dr. Nancy Kenyon Richardson, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026

03 · How Dr. works

The 10 approaches Dr. lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Dr. lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Dr.'s - a general explanation of what each method is, so the list means something before you have spoken to anybody. They are not a claim about how Dr. runs a session.

Client-Centred TherapyPerson-centred · Rogerian
The therapist does not steer toward a technique or a diagnosis. They offer sustained, non-judgemental attention and reflect back what they hear, on the premise that people find their own direction when they are genuinely listened to. Often what people mean by “someone who just gets it”.
Cognitive Behavioural TherapyCBT
Structured, present-focused work on the loop between what you think, how you feel and what you then do. Usually means noticing a thought pattern in the room, testing it against evidence, and practising something different between sessions. Among the most heavily researched talking therapies for depression and anxiety.
Dialectical Behaviour TherapyDBT
A structured skills-led adaptation of CBT built around holding two things at once: accepting yourself as you are and working to change. Teaches concrete skills for distress tolerance, emotion regulation and relationships. Developed for people whose feelings arrive at overwhelming intensity, and strongest-evidenced there.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and ReprocessingEMDR
A structured trauma protocol in which you hold a distressing memory in mind while following a repeated side-to-side cue. The mechanism is still debated; the outcome data in post-traumatic stress is strong enough that it appears in national treatment guidelines.
The Gottman Method
A couples approach built on decades of observational research into what distinguishes relationships that last. Structured and assessment-led: it maps friendship, conflict and shared meaning, then works on the specific mechanics of how the two of you argue.
Mindfulness-Based TherapyMBCT
Trains attention on what is happening right now - body, breath, the thought as it arrives - so distress can be observed rather than automatically acted on. Strongest evidence is in preventing depression from recurring, and it is usually taught as a practice you keep doing outside the session.
Motivational InterviewingMI
A way of talking about change with somebody who is genuinely in two minds about it. The therapist does not argue for the change; they help you say your own reasons out loud, which is the part that predicts whether it happens. Common around substance use and health behaviour.
Narrative Therapy
Treats the story you tell about your life as something that can be examined and retold rather than as the plain facts. Separates the person from the problem - “the anxiety” rather than “your anxiety” - to make room for the parts the current story leaves out.
Solution-Focused Brief TherapySFBT
Starts from where you want to end up rather than from how you got here. Sessions look for the times the problem is already smaller and work out what is different about those, so the number of sessions tends to be short and the work concrete.
Trauma-Focused TherapyTF-CBT · trauma-informed
CBT adapted for people whose difficulty is rooted in a frightening or overwhelming event. Pacing is the point: safety and stabilisation come first, the memory itself is approached gradually and only when you are ready, and the aim is that recalling it stops hijacking the present.

Also listed

  • Existential Therapy

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Dr. practises through BetterHelp, so the route in is BetterHelp's. This is that sequence, written by Maker Therapy from the platform's published process - not a description of Dr.'s own practice, and not a promise about how quickly anything happens.

  1. A questionnaire, not a booking form

    BetterHelp opens with a set of questions about what you are dealing with, what you want from therapy, and any preferences on the therapist. You are not booking Dr. at this point.

  2. Naming Dr. specifically

    BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Dr. is a step you have to take. There is a field for requesting a specific therapist during sign-up, and you can switch afterwards from your account. Starting from a link on this page does not by itself assign you to Dr..

  3. If the caseload is full

    You will be offered somebody else rather than put on a waitlist. Worth knowing, because it is easy to assume a match is the person you asked for.

  4. The first conversation

    A first session is typically history and orientation: what brought you, what has been tried, what you want to be different. It is also where the questions in the next section belong.

  5. If the fit is wrong

    Changing therapist on BetterHelp does not need a reason. A first session that does not click is common and is not a verdict on therapy. That option existing is the main practical difference between a platform and a private practice.

05 · Before you commit

3 questions worth asking Dr.

Built from what Dr. actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Dr.'s - Dr. has not seen them and is under no obligation to answer any of them.

  • “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Client-Centred Therapy. Which do you lean on with someone like me?”

    Those two point in different directions - one structured and led by the therapist, the other led by you. The answer tells you what the sessions will actually feel like.

  • “How do you decide when someone is ready to work on a traumatic memory itself?”

    Pacing is the biggest safety question in trauma work. A clear, unhurried answer here matters more than any credential.

  • “How do you handle the gap between sessions if something comes up?”

    On BetterHelp this varies a great deal by therapist. Better to know the rhythm now than to discover it on a bad week.

06 · Practical details

Credentials and licensing

Credential
LCMHC
Licensed in
Vermont
Licence
VT LCMHC 068.0134318
Licence number
068.0134318
Licence expires
31 Jan 2027
NPI
1811362619
Years in practice
10
Gender
Female
Languages
English
International clients
Not accepted
Listed since
15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Dr.'s name, credential, state, subjects, approaches and biography are read from BetterHelp's therapist roster, which Maker Therapy re-reads once a day; this page reflects the reading taken on 9 Oct 2026. The licence number and NPI are cross-checked against public registers.

The plain-English method descriptions, the first-session walkthrough and the questions are written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such wherever they appear.

Maker Therapy is not BetterHelp, does not take bookings, and has not met Dr.. There are no reviews or ratings on this page because we have no way to verify one. If you start therapy through a link here, we may be paid a commission - it does not change your price and it does not affect who appears here or in what order.

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