Nicole Mattocks, PhD, currently teaches Advanced Practice with Individuals and Families as well as Research and Program Evaluation in the MSW program. Her love for teaching began in her first academic position over 10 years ago at the University of North Carolina Wilmington; since then she has continued to teach at various undergraduate and graduate social work programs across the country, always honing her teaching skills and tailoring her approach to the communities which her students will serve. Mattocks maintains an active research agenda, with a focus on evaluating and developing innovative approaches to mental health treatment. Her more recent scholarship examines the intersection between the natural environment and human health, with a focus on nature-assisted therapies and strategies for integrating nature into social work practice and education.
Mattocks has been teaching and practicing in the field of social work for over 15 years. She has taught courses on research and program evaluation, community organizing, direct practice with individuals and groups, social welfare policy, and diversity and social justice, at the undergraduate and graduate levels across numerous social work programs. Her practice experience began as a community organizer in under-resourced neighborhoods of Baltimore City and eastern North Carolina. Now she works part-time in a telehealth-based private practice as a psychotherapist for individuals and couples. She is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and Motivational Interviewing and specializes in trauma treatment, depression, and anxiety.
Mattocks uses a combination of authenticity and experiential education principles to create a supportive, engaging, and constructive learning environment for her students. Additionally, her teaching experience has demonstrated the value of using a variety of teaching methods to meet the learning needs of all learning styles in the classroom. And whenever it’s possible, she likes to take the class outside!
Mattocks’s recent scholarly work has focused on highlighting the ethical imperative to integrate topics of environmental justice and climate change into social work education and practice. She is also collaborating with colleagues at the University of Maryland School of Social Work on a multi-year international study investigating the impact of climate change on the health and well-being of fisherfolk in Zambia, Africa. Additionally, Mattocks continues to collaborate with her Postdoctoral Mentor at the University of Maryland on a series of federally-funded research studies evaluating the effectiveness of a novel telemedicine intervention for improving medication adherence among severe and persistent mentally ill (SPMI) populations.