Core Focus Areas:

Anxiety & Panic

Trauma & Trauma Recovery

Depression & Mood Concerns

Substance Use & Addiction

Emotional Regulation

Generational Patterns

Religious Trauma

Self-Worth

Client Focus:

Adults, young adults, Neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, Caregivers & Professionals

Languages:

English, Translation services available upon request

Leah Cook

MSN, PMHNP-BC

PSYCHIATRIC MENTAL HEALTH NURSE PRACTITIONER

Accepting New Clients

Virtual Only

Evenings & weekends

Leah Cook provides trauma-informed psychiatric care for people who feel like their thoughts, emotions, or symptoms have started making everyday life harder than it needs to be. You may be dealing with constant anxiety, panic that feels impossible to control, depression that makes it difficult to function, the lasting effects of trauma, or a complicated relationship with substances or addiction. You may know that something needs to change without being completely sure where to begin.

Leah’s goal is to help you understand what is happening beneath the symptoms and build a treatment plan that makes daily life feel more manageable. Her work blends psychiatric care with supportive therapy, psychoeducation, emotional regulation, coping-skills development, motivational interviewing, and evidence-based interventions. Treatment is collaborative and tailored to what you are actually experiencing rather than forcing you into a one-size-fits-all approach.

Her style is warm and compassionate, but also direct, logical, and grounded. Leah wants you to feel genuinely heard while also leaving sessions with practical ways to move forward. Whether you are working through anxiety, trauma, addiction, self-worth, or long-standing patterns that keep repeating, the goal is to help you move from feeling mentally chaotic or emotionally reactive toward greater stability, confidence, and trust in your ability to handle everyday life.

Leah specializes in supporting clients with:

Anxiety that is affecting everyday life

Panic and feeling out of control

Trauma and patterns that keep repeating

Religious trauma

Depression and emotional heaviness

Substance use, addiction, and recovery

Difficulty regulating emotions

Self-worth and confidence

What it’s like to work with Leah

Working with Leah is warm, nonjudgmental, collaborative, and practical. You do not have to walk into your first appointment already knowing exactly what is wrong or what kind of treatment you need. Part of the work is slowing things down enough to understand what you have been experiencing and determine what may actually help.

Leah balances compassion with directness. She wants you to feel heard and understood, but she also believes care should give you something useful to take with you outside of the appointment. Sessions may include exploring patterns, making sense of symptoms, learning coping strategies, strengthening emotional regulation, or looking at how your mental health is affecting the way you function in everyday life.

Treatment moves at your pace and is built around your individual symptoms and goals. Leah’s ultimate goal is to help you move from a mind that feels chaotic, overwhelmed, or difficult to manage toward a life that feels more emotionally steady, understandable, and within your control.

Types of therapy offered by Leah

Leah's Experience

Leah’s path into psychiatric care has been built through hands-on experience at multiple levels of healthcare. She began her career as a Certified Nursing Assistant and continued working her way through the field before becoming a board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.

Her professional background includes experience working with adolescents as well as within psychiatric rehabilitation treatment settings, giving her firsthand experience supporting people with complex mental health needs across different levels of care.

That background influences the way Leah practices today. She brings together psychiatric knowledge with a grounded understanding of what it is like to support someone through the realities of mental health treatment. Her approach is compassionate and evidence-based while remaining focused on the person in front of her—not simply a diagnosis or list of symptoms.

Frequently Asked Questions

NC: Healthy Blue NC, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Aetna, Meritain Health, Cigna, Carelon Behavioral Health, North Carolina Health Choice, North Carolina Medicaid, Oscar Health Plan, Optum, Medicare, Railroad Medicare, Carolina Complete Health, Wellcare, Ambetter of North Carolina, Partners Behavioral Health, Vaya Health, Coventry Health, Trillium Health, Curative, Providence Health Plan, Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey, Independence Blue Cross Pennsylvania, and participating employer-sponsored/small group plans.

VA: Medicaid, Medicare, Aetna, Cigna, Cigna Medicare, Curative, Providence Health Plan, Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey, Carelon Behavioral Health, Independence Blue Cross Pennsylvania, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.

Superbills: Superbills can be provided for reimbursement.

If you do not see your insurance on the list, still reach out to discuss options that may be available.

Medication is not automatically the right starting point for every person. Leah takes a collaborative approach to care, which means looking at your symptoms, history, current needs, and goals before determining what treatment options may make sense. Therapy, coping strategies, lifestyle changes, medication, or a combination of approaches may all be part of that conversation.
You do not need to figure that out before reaching out. Many symptoms overlap, and part of psychiatric care is looking at the full picture of what you have been experiencing so you can better understand what may be contributing to the way you feel.
Your first appointment is an opportunity for Leah to learn more about what has been happening, what is affecting your daily life, your history, and what you would like to change. From there, you can work together to determine the next steps and create a treatment plan based on your individual needs and goals.
There is no single timeline that applies to everyone. Your progress will depend on what you are experiencing, how long it has been affecting you, and the type of support you need. Leah focuses on helping you make meaningful progress at a pace that is realistic and sustainable for you.
Yes. Leah’s approach is patient-centered and collaborative. Treatment is based on your specific symptoms, experiences, needs, and goals rather than using the same plan for every client.
Yes. Anxiety and panic are among Leah’s primary areas of focus. Treatment can include understanding what is contributing to the anxiety, developing emotional-regulation and coping strategies, and exploring psychiatric treatment options when appropriate.

Yes. Leah specifically works with substance use and addiction concerns alongside mental health conditions. Her approach recognizes that anxiety, depression, trauma, emotional regulation, and substance use can be deeply connected and may need to be addressed together.

You can talk openly with Leah about what you are noticing. Medication management involves looking at how a medication is affecting you, whether it is helping, and whether adjustments or other treatment options may need to be considered. Decisions about your care are made collaboratively rather than expecting you to simply tolerate a treatment that does not feel right.