Meet the Team
Nichole Paciello, LMHC
Current Licenses
​
RI License- MHC0846
MA license-9972
ME license-CC7513
​
​
Nichole Paciello founded MAE Behavioral Health in 2024. Her previous work experience includes providing care for clients in various settings including inpatient, partial/day hospital, and emergency services. Leading up to the establishment of MAE Behavioral Health, Nichole worked in private practice providing individual therapy to adults. Nichole received her Bachelor’s degree from the University at Albany in 2011, and her Master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth in 2014. She is currently licensed in the state of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maine. Sessions are provided in person in Providence, RI or via telehealth.
Nichole is passionate about helping her clients mediate symptoms of depression and anxiety. She helps her clients identify their values, personal boundaries, and explore their communication patterns. Through her work, Nichole has found that value identification often has a direct impact on one’s ability to feel confident and navigate interpersonal conflict more effectively.
Nichole has a particular interest supporting clients through trauma from past (or current) relationships, setting boundaries, and improving overall communication skills. Additional areas of interest include self-esteem, life transitions, ADHD, assertiveness, and navigating conflict.
The values of MAE Behavioral Health are deeply engrained in the day to day work that Nichole does with her clients and in her own personal life. She strives to empower clients to make positive changes and engage in meaningful connection. Nichole believes that living authentically leads to the potential to be the happiest version of ourselves.
Sessions are individualized to each client’s needs. Strategies from a variety of treatment modalities including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, or Motivational Interviewing may be utilized.
​​
​
Cheryl Pereji, LMHC-A
Current License
​
RI License- LMHC-A 00215​
​
Originally from India, Cheryl brings a multicultural lens to her work. Her personal experiences and the stigma surrounding mental health in her culture were powerful motivators in choosing this profession. Cheryl is passionate about helping others and believes that everyone deserves a space to feel heard, understood, and empowered. She offers a warm, compassionate, and collaborative approach to therapy.
Cheryl specializes in supporting clients navigating trauma, women’s mental health, depression, anxiety, relationship challenges, and helping clients to build a life aligned with their values. She believes in the power of practical coping strategies and is dedicated to helping clients develop tools to manage symptoms and improve their quality of life.
With experience working in community mental health and hospital settings, Cheryl brings a broad and grounded perspective to her practice. In addition to the work Cheryl does with MAE Behavioral Health, she continues to work as a clinical therapist in hospital emergency departments. In this role she conducts psychiatric evaluations and provides crisis intervention services. Cheryl also has several years of prior experience providing therapeutic services to adults with developmental disabilities.
Cheryl obtained her Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Rhode Island College. Her work is rooted in evidence-based frameworks, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Motivational Interviewing.
Above all, Cheryl loves working with people. She meets each client with empathy, respect, and the belief that meaningful change is always possible.
​​
​
Athena Witscher, LMHC-A
Current License
​
RI License- LMHC-A 00433
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/athena-witscher-providence-ri/1590389
​
Through deep listening and thoughtful attention, Athena helps clients work through patterns that hold them back from fully engaging in their lives. With an extensive background in human services, higher education, and fine arts, she brings a unique perspective to her therapeutic approach. Drawing on these experiences, along with her formal training in counseling, Athena offers compassionate, nonjudgmental care to clients from all backgrounds.
​
Athena supports individuals who feel stuck in familiar patterns of thinking, feeling, or relating to others. She works collaboratively with clients to explore their personal strengths and areas for growth. Using a combination of evidence-based practices including CBT, DBT, and ACT, along with narrative and traditional talk therapy, Athena helps clients enhance daily functioning while exploring how their past experiences shape their present and future selves.
​
Athena holds an MS from Johnson & Wales University and a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has supported clients through moments of acute distress, offering both individual support and group facilitation to foster connection and stability. With years of experience working in higher education, Athena understands the challenges and high-pressure dynamics that often accompany academic life.
​
Athena’s primary focus in counseling is curiosity, exploration, and authentic connection. She creates a space where clients are truly seen and heard, guiding them toward greater insight, confidence, and readiness for meaningful change.
Kate Bothe, LMHC-A
Current License
​
RI License- MHC-A 00463
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/kate-bothe-providence-ri/1677581
​
Kate offers a grounded, relational approach to therapy, supporting clients in understanding patterns that influence their lives and relationships. She is a clinical mental health counselor associate practicing within a collaborative setting.
​
Meaningful change happens through awareness, connection, and being met with compassion. In her work with clients, Kate offers a steady, collaborative space where you can slow down, tune into your emotions and body, and make sense of patterns that may be shaping your life and relationships. Rather than rushing to fix or label what’s happening, she stays curious alongside you as your experience unfolds—honoring both your history and what’s alive for you right now.
​
Kate works with people who are navigating periods of increased strain in their day-to-day lives, as well as those who are curious about how to live with greater vitality, integrity, and self-trust. Some clients come feeling overwhelmed or stuck in familiar patterns that make daily responsibilities and relationships feel heavy; others arrive wanting to better understand themselves and bring more intention to how they show up with the people and commitments that matter most. Clients often describe Kate as steady, thoughtful, and easy to talk with, and she aims to be both deeply attuned and gently challenging.
​
Her approach is integrative and informed by relational, somatic, and insight-oriented therapies, with attention to attachment patterns, nervous-system regulation, and the meaning people make of their experiences. Kate holds a Master’s degree in Holistic Clinical Mental Health Counseling and brings a background as a long-time educator, which continues to inform her thoughtful, developmentally attuned way of working.
​
Kate currently offers individual therapy for adults of all ages. If you’re considering therapy and wondering whether working together might be a good fit, she welcomes the opportunity to connect.