Meet our Founder, CEO & Director:
Wyneshia R. Hicks, a licensed clinical social worker with over 15 years of experience is the owner and director of Wise Roads to Healing, LLC (WRH). She earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Dance at the SUNY College at Brockport and continued on to earn a Masters of Fine Arts in Choreography and Performance. It is Wyneshia's strong belief in the therapeutic benefit inherent in dance that led her to seek ways to join both her clinical experience and artistic expression. With this goal in mind, she has worked at Dance Place in Washington DC and other social service and mental health settings while teaching dance.
For over 10 years, Wyneshia's work has centered around youth and families, especially underserved and diverse populations. In an effort to reach underserved youth, Wyneshia co-founded a non-profit organization (Fihankra Akoma Noaso) to serve DC youth in foster care in 2005. As the co-founder, Wyneshia provided support in the areas of program development, staff training and served on the Board of Directors for several years. She continues to support the organization's growth.
After earning her second Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from the University of Maryland at Baltimore (UMB). She has held positions as a Family Preservation Specialist at the Columbia Heights/Shaw Family Support Collaborative, a residential Therapist at Adventist Behavioral Health, a Clinical Case Manager at Hearts & Homes for Youth (Mother/Baby Program) and Therapist at The Ridge School of Montgomery County (RSMC). Most recently she was part of the DBT team at The Bethesda Group Psychological Services (TBG), an adjunct Professor in the University of Maryland-Baltimore’s (UMB) School of Social Work & sits on the Board of a local dance company (Kista Tucker Insights).
Before launching Wise Roads to Healing, LLC Wyneshia helped start the adolescent DBT program at The Bethesda Group where she provided Parent Coaching and Clinical Supervision. As the long time lead of adolescent programming at TBG, Wyneshia co-led multiple Adolescent-only DBT Skills Groups, DBT Parent skills groups, Multifamily DBT Skills Groups as well as having developed and co-lead the DBT Summer Boot Camp. It was through this work that she began to offer Parent Coaching to caregivers who yearn to better understand their children while supporting their own well-being.
Wyneshia’s approach to treatment, while based in the use of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Solution-Focused Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) interventions, is centered on mutual respect, compassion, transparency and a good touch of humor. Wyneshia has been serving adults, young children, adolescents and their families with dedication and compassion for several years. Specializing in working with adults & adolescents with problems of emotional regulation and oppositional behaviors, Wyneshia plans to do so long into the future
When Wyneshia is not working, she is spending time planning trips to the beach, laughing with family, hanging out with her dog Bo-Arlo and catching up on crime or sci-fi shows.
My Story - the short version
I am originally from Brooklyn, NY and was raised by a single mother. I grew up with two sisters and while we did not have everything that others had, we had a mother who was determined to provide all that we needed to grow, thrive and find our purpose in life. As a kid, I enjoyed making friends and learning about different cultures while playing in the dirt. In school, I was the kid getting in trouble or being moved around for talking too much to my neighbor. I guess you can say, I was "chatty." That served me well as I have made many friends in strangers all around the world! I am a "family-first" kind of person and yet my family was complicated and I developed a determination to figure out how thoughts and feelings impact behaviors. Dance is my first passion and my second has always been something I learned from my mother, helping people in any way I can. As a young girl, my older cousin Darlene referred to me as a kid who could "make the sad people happy." I never fully understood that as a kid but now, I think back on it with a smile. Today, I prefer to think about it as helping people find their own happiness, their way, on their terms!