Nirmala Gratton
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT
A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Nirmala Gratton is a mental health professional whose background includes extensive work in the areas of psychiatric nursing, substance abuse, forensics mental health, social justice and counseling. She specializes in the treatment of individuals, couples and families through cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy.
Nirmala’s Claremont-based private practice is affiliated with Alma, a community of independent mental health care providers.
Described by her peers as caring and authentic, Nirmala approaches relationships with an unparalleled compassion and empathy that is complemented by encouragement and motivation. She creates an environment that is professional, inviting and structured and excels in assessing her patients’ conditions and needs. She supports positive change and challenges her patients to overcome obstacles inhibiting their healing journeys through reflective listening, thoughtful feedback and purposeful organization.
Nirmala—who began her career as a clinical nurse specialist in substance abuse at Guernsey House, a community based, primary care addiction treatment facility affiliated with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England—previously practiced with Mental Wellness Partners, a mental health clinic in Upland that focuses on providing the community with high-quality, patient-centered care and health education. Before that, as a staff therapist for Monsour Counseling and Psychological Services at The Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five undergraduate liberal arts colleges and two graduate institutions, she provided mental health and psychological wellness services for a community of 8,500 enrolled students. She also was a therapist and supervisor at Prototypes Women’s Center, a Pomona-based agency that provided mental health services, residential treatment for substance abuse, shelter, substance abuse services, technical assistance and welfare-to-work support services for women in Los Angeles County.
Nirmala earned her diploma in nursing studies, with a focus on psychiatric and mental health, from Teesside University in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, where she studied mental health, forensic mental health and substance abuse nursing. Her coursework focused on the values, knowledge and skills needed to support not only individuals experiencing mental health problems but also their families and caregivers. She holds a bachelor’s degree in health care practice from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, where she further developed her capacity to deliver person-centered care and to collaborate with other professional groups in health and social care.
Continuing her studies in the United States, Nirmala earned an M.S. in marriage and family therapy/counseling from the University of La Verne, where she was inducted as a member of the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society. She sustains her relationship with the University of La Verne as an adjunct instructor, teaching upper-level psychology courses including behavioral therapy and psychopharmacology.
As an associate marriage and family therapist for the Claremont Unified School District, Nirmala facilitated individual and group child therapy, projective art therapy, psychoeducation, bibliotherapy, social skill development and grief and loss interventions, working with children of incarcerated parents, low-income families and families for whom English is a second language.
Nirmala is a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.
Culturally competent, charismatic and friendly, Nirmala enjoys engaging with diverse multicultural populations. She welcomes patients who are open-minded, willing to change and ready to be inspired in a way that will foster growth. Her areas of interest range from women and women’s issues to individuals experiencing anxiety, depression and grief. Her practical approach is ideal for individuals in transition, such as new partners, new parents and new professionals.