
Nicole Cerussi is a doctorally-prepared a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner specializing in psychotherapy and medication management. Nikki is dedicated to providing collaborative, individualized, holistic care from a shared decision-making perspective to meet the client “where they are.”. She is certified across the lifespan but has had specialized training in both child and adolescent psychiatry and addiction medicine. She has an eclectic approach to psychotherapy, largely informed by humanistic, psychodynamic, and family systems lenses. She has worked extensively with individuals suffering from intergenerational trauma, affective, anxiety, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Nikki has basic certification in Eye Movement and Desensitization Training, Child-Centered Therapy, and is authorized to prescribe buprenorphine for those suffering from opioid use disorder.
She attained her Master of Science and Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees from New York University, where she received numerous awards and distinctions, including being named a Jonas Scholar for Psychiatric Mental Health and valedictorian for both her MS and DNP. She has extensive teaching experience as an adjunct at NYU and is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor in the doctoral PMHNP program at Rutgers University where she loves training students to become psychiatric nurse practitioners.
She has experience in multiple psychiatric nursing settings over the last 15 years. She has worked inpatient and outpatient psychiatry for children and adults, residential treatment and foster care, visiting nursing services for children and adults with HIV in the community, the shelter system in NYC, and in intensive outpatient rehabilitation for adolescents and adults with co-morbid substance use disorders.
Internships, Fellowships, and Presentations:
- The Center for Discovery, focused on children with severe autism spectrum disorder
- NYU Counseling and Wellness
- NYU Child Study Center
- Bellevue Hospital: Children’s CPEP and Dual Diagnosis Inpatient
- Addiction Institute, Roosevelt Hospital
- NYU Substance Abuse Research Education and Training (SARET) fellow
- An Interactive E-Learning Module to Improve Nursing Student’s Attitudes About People with Opioid Use Disorders, Published Abstract, ENRS 2020
- Brain Stimulation- Best clinical practices, research, and integration into a PMHNP program, Co-presenter at the American Psychiatric Nurses Association Annual Pre-Conference 2016
Education:
- Doctor of Nursing Practice, NYU
- Masters of Science in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, NYU
- Bachelor of Arts, SUNY Purchase
More About Nicole:
- Nikki trained as an actress at The Neighborhood Playhouse in NYC prior to her nursing career- she is a quintessential musical theater “enthusiast” with a Hope You Like Musicals doormat.
- She loves yoga, hiking, pop culture, the ocean, and snuggling with her three kids (when they let her).
- During the pandemic, she embraced Scrabble Go and is working towards becoming a Grand Master.