Meet the Team

The humans
behind the healing.

We are clinicians, yes — but we're also whole people who understand complexity, carry lived experience, and believe that the best therapy happens when your therapist isn't afraid to show up real. This is who we are.

Whole-Person Care

We treat the full spectrum of who you are — your culture, your history, your nervous system, your identity, your community. Not symptoms in isolation, but a human being in context.

Culturally Grounded

Lived experience isn't a footnote here — it's a clinical tool. We show up with cultural humility and accountability, and we never ask you to translate yourself for us.

Evidence-Based Soul

We draw from the best of what science offers — EMDR, IFS, somatic approaches, DBT — and deliver it with the warmth, directness, and humanity those frameworks sometimes leave out.

Vickey Simmons-Hart, LPC, NCC
✦ Featured Provider
Therapy for Black Girls
Licensed Professional Counselor · AZ & MN
Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC)
MS Counseling · MA Education · BS Management
EMDR · Brainspotting · IFS · Somatic Trained
Open Path Collective Provider
Loveland Foundation Vouchers Accepted
Founder & Licensed Professional Counselor

Vickey Simmons-Hart

LPC, NCC — Arizona & Minnesota

I'm a proud Arizona native — born and raised in the Valley, youngest of five, and shaped by a family that taught me what both survival and love look like in the same breath. I came to therapy not just through graduate training, but through the lived experience of navigating a world that doesn't always make space for complexity.

Before becoming a counselor, I spent years as an educator and adult learning specialist. Those roles gave me something graduate school reinforced: people learn, grow, and heal best when they feel genuinely seen. That truth is the foundation of everything I do in session.

I hold a Master of Science in Counseling, a Master of Arts in Education, a Bachelor of Science in Management, and an Associate of Applied Science in Computer Technology. I'm trained in EMDR, Brainspotting, Internal Family Systems, somatic approaches, CBT, DBT, EFT, and SFBT — but I use those frameworks as a toolkit, not a script. What matters most is meeting you where you are.

Inclusive Mental Wellness exists because I needed it to exist. A practice where Black folks, LGBTQIA+ individuals, neurodivergent people, survivors, and anyone who has ever been told they were "too much" or "not enough" can show up whole — and be received that way. My own life — as a queer Black woman, mother to six adopted children, wife to a disabled veteran, someone living with ADHD — means I don't just understand intersectionality academically. I live it daily.

I believe healing is possible for everyone. Not because it's easy — but because you deserve it, and because you don't have to do it alone.

Specialties
Racial Trauma Complex PTSD LGBTQIA+ Affirming Queer & Trans Care Neurodivergence ADHD / Autism Identity & Sexuality ENM / CNM Relationships High-Functioning Burnout Sexual Assault Survivors Sex Worker Affirming Grief & Loss
Clinical Philosophy

"I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all model of healing. I believe in building a therapeutic relationship grounded in trust, cultural humility, and the radical idea that you are the expert on your own life. My job is to walk alongside you — not ahead of you."

Book With Vickey Therapy for Black Girls Profile
Mercedes Johnson, LAC — Associate Clinician, Inclusive Mental Wellness LLC
Now Accepting Clients
Licensed Associate Counselor (LAC) · Arizona
Specialties — To Be Announced
Trauma-Informed Care
Affirming Practice
Associate Licensed Counselor · AZ
Associate Licensed Counselor · Inclusive Mental Wellness LLC

Mercedes Johnson

LAC — Arizona

Mercedes Johnson is a Licensed Associate Counselor (LAC) in Arizona, working under the clinical supervision of Vickey Simmons-Hart, LPC, NCC. She holds degrees from North Central University, Southwestern Assemblies of God University, and Grand Canyon University, and has supported individuals and families across Minneapolis, Dallas, St. Louis, and Phoenix.

Mercedes has deep roots in community-centered work, including inner-city mission work in St. Louis, Missouri, where she supported youth and families navigating some of life's most complex challenges. That experience grounded her understanding of collective trauma, systemic barriers to healing, and the power of culturally responsive care.

Her clinical work is rooted in the belief that every person deserves a space where their story is honored, their pain is understood, and their healing is not questioned.

As a trauma therapist, Mercedes integrates EMDR, Internal Family Systems (IFS), DBT, CBT, and Attachment Theory to help clients process trauma, reconnect with their inner world, and build relationships grounded in safety and authenticity. She specializes in supporting clients carrying the weight of racial trauma, systemic oppression, historical and intergenerational wounds, and the full complexity of present-day struggles.

Mercedes shows up with warmth, honesty, and a deep respect for the courage it takes to heal. She believes healing is not linear, not perfect, and not meant to be done alone. Outside of her work, she finds grounding in family, writing, music, and community.

Specialties
Complex PTSD Sexual Trauma Childhood & Developmental Trauma Racial Trauma Systemic Oppression Historical & Intergenerational Trauma Depression Anxiety Bipolar Disorder ADHD Emotional Disturbance Grief & Loss Life Transitions Spirituality & Faith Exploration Identity Development & Attachment Wounds
Mercedes' Clinical Philosophy

"Healing is not linear, not perfect, and not meant to be done alone. I show up with warmth, honesty, and a deep respect for the courage it takes to begin."

Connect With Mercedes Contact the Practice
The Real MVPs

Our furry associates.

Every good practice needs grounding. Ours comes in four paws, wet noses, and an unconditional positive regard that even the best clinician is still working toward. Meet the ones who truly hold the space.

Fat Daddy
Head of Vibes

Fat Daddy

English Bulldog

Senior member of the team. Specializes in heavy sighing, strategic napping, and reminding everyone that rest is not laziness — it is a clinical necessity. Unbothered by most things. Unbothered by all things, actually.

Emotional Regulation Somatic Rest
Jax LaDarius
Certified Service Dog

Jax LaDarius

Golden Doodle · Service Dog

The most credentialed member of the team and deeply aware of it. Certified service dog with an advanced specialization in reading the room, providing co-regulation on demand, and never, ever judging. Jax sets the clinical bar high.

Co-Regulation Nervous System Support
Julius Devonte Swing
Senior Consultant

Julius Devonte Swing

Chihuahua Mix

Small in stature, enormous in confidence. Julius is a firm believer in boundaries — setting them, keeping them, and defending them loudly if necessary. A natural therapist, frankly. His specialty is reminding us that size has nothing to do with presence.

Boundary Setting Self-Advocacy
Asha Mae
Director of Charm

Asha Mae

French Bulldog

Asha arrived with an agenda and has yet to reveal what it is. What we do know: she is magnetic, opinionated, and completely unbothered by anyone else's expectations of her. A natural fit for a practice built on showing up as your full self.

Authentic Presence Unconditional Charm

"They don't have licenses — but they have never once made anyone feel judged. We think that counts for something."

What Sets Us Apart

Therapy that was built for you — not retrofitted.

01

Intersectionality Is the Lens, Not a Layer

We don't add cultural competence on top of standard care. We build care from the ground up with race, gender, sexuality, and neurodivergence as the starting point — not an afterthought.

02

Lived Experience in the Room

Our clinicians don't just read about the communities they serve. They are part of them. That changes the texture of the therapeutic relationship in ways that are hard to overstate.

03

Advanced Trauma Training

We bring specialized expertise in EMDR, Brainspotting, IFS, and somatic approaches — modalities that work below the level of language, where a lot of the real healing needs to happen.

04

Access Is a Clinical Value

Sliding scale fees, Open Path membership, insurance partnerships, and voucher programs aren't afterthoughts — they're part of how we practice our belief that care should be reachable.

05

No Part of You Is Too Much

Queer, neurodivergent, a sex worker, in an ENM relationship, carrying racial trauma and burnout and grief all at once — we don't ask you to choose which part to bring. All of it is welcome.

06

Warmth With a Spine

We're affirming — but we're not passive. We'll challenge you when challenge serves your growth. Compassion and directness aren't opposites here. We hold both.

Our Shared Values

The commitments we bring to every session.

These aren't marketing language. They're the actual standards we hold ourselves to — and the ones you can hold us to as well.

✦

Cultural Humility

We approach every identity, background, and lived experience with openness, accountability, and a genuine willingness to learn — including when we get it wrong.

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Trauma-Informed Always

We understand that trauma lives in the body, shapes behavior, and doesn't announce itself neatly. Every interaction — not just formal sessions — is held through that lens.

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Radical Affirmation

We don't offer conditional acceptance. Queer, trans, neurodivergent, non-monogamous, sex-worker identified — you are affirmed here without caveat or asterisk.

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Anti-Oppressive Practice

We name systems, not just symptoms. Racism, ableism, homophobia, and economic inequality are clinical factors — and we treat them that way.

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Access & Equity

We actively work to remove financial and systemic barriers to care — because the people who most need quality therapy are often the ones most priced out of it.

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Authentic Connection

Therapeutic distance has its place — but so does genuine human presence. We don't hide behind neutrality. We show up as real people, because that's what healing asks for.

Ready to find your person?

A free 15-minute consultation is always the first step. No commitment, no pressure — just a real conversation about what you're looking for and whether we're the right fit.

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