Nicole has been a Registered Nurse in San Diego County for the past 20 years. Although she is a San Diego native, she received her AS/RN from El Camino College in Torrance, Ca. in 2001. Upon graduation she moved back to San Diego and began her career at Palomar Medical Center, first in the Medical/Surgical arena and then into Critical Care. She obtained the coveted CCRN which is the “critical care registered nurse” national certification in 2007. In 2008 she completed her BSN in nursing at California State University Dominguez Hills, with honors.

After 10 years in the hospital setting Nicole decided to pursue Hospice nursing and again reached for excellence obtaining the CHPN which is the “certified hospice and palliative care nurse” national certification. Nicole found the hospice arena provided much opportunity to assist patients with their emotional needs which sparked an ongoing desire to do so.

Although her background has been primarily in the medical side of nursing, Nicole has always had a compassionate heart for those afflicted with addiction and quickly realized that many of the patients she found in the hospital wards and hospice beds were somehow touched by substance abuse. Her open mind and caring heart made it easy for her to practice active listening and provide emotional support to those in need. Now, finally, she is able to step into the arena of addiction recovery and hopes to be another “ray of sunshine” in the lives of the courageous people stepping into their recovery.