Nicole Medina-Salvatore, Psy.D.

Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Trauma, Stress, Resilience (TSR) Program Director

Nicole Medina-Salvatore, PsyD is the Program Director for the Trauma and Resilience Program (TSR) at UCEBT. She specializes in trauma, attachment issues, neurodiverse individuals, and family therapy for clients ages 0 to 99. As a proud second-generation Filipina, much of her research and passion concentrates on Asian-American psychology, as well as understanding and advocating for more anti-racist psychological practices. Further, she is a member of the LGBTQ+ Affirming Psychotherapist Guild of Utah and strives to provide radical acceptance to everyone and anyone she meets.

Dr. Medina-Salvatore is a Certified Trauma Therapy Specialist. She believes in working collaboratively with her clients, attending to their individual needs, goals, desires, and unique cultural background. For individual therapy with adults and adolescents, she utilizes Time-Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy (TLDP), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Relational-Cultural Therapy. When working with children, Dr. Medina-Salvatore is certified in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT), is trained in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), and Sand Play Therapy. With very young children (ages 0-5), she also uses Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) and Dr. Gary Landreth’s Child Centered Play Therapy.

Whenever she works with children and teens, Dr. Medina-Salvatore engages families in bi-weekly family therapy sessions. These sessions are not parent-child meetings, but rather utilize Functional Family Therapy (FFT), an Evidence-Based form of family therapy that improves familial relationships and functioning. She is also a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), which means that she is an approved therapist for divorced or separated individuals looking for a court-approved therapist.

In addition to specializing in trauma, Dr. Medina-Salvatore also specializes in parenting issues and working with children and teens on the Autism Spectrum. She worked as an in-home behavior therapist for three years prior to graduate school and has extensive experience in teaching parenting classes, social skills groups, and in supporting families in navigating the multiple systems, such as schools, Occupational Therapists, Speech Therapists, and others that come with having or being a neurodiverse individual. She is trained in the Incredible Years and Parenting with Love and Logic and has created three parenting courses that integrate the work of Dr. Daniel Siegel, mindfulness practices, and somatic work.

In her free time, Dr. Medina-Salvatore enjoys playing with her children, creating art instillations, hiking, trying new recipes, and working with her Psychiatric Service dog in training, Zia. She is also the proud cat-mom to multiple cats and dog mom to her husband’s fully trained (and HUGE!) psychiatric service dog, Waffles.