Michael Nias, JD, MSW, LCSW

Born and raised in Harlem, New York, Michael was the youngest of two male children. In his formative years, Michael worked with Congressman Jessie Gray to support eliminating run-down housing conditions in his native Harlem. This early passion for service and community followed him throughout his adolescence and into adulthood, when he attended Cornell after graduating from Stuyvesant High School. Cornell became instrumental in his life of public service as he enrolled in the College of Human Ecology, where he studied consumer economics and public policy.

Several years later, he attended the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, specializing in sports and entertainment law. He went on to represent professional athletes, bolstered by his experience serving on an undefeated fencing team and eventually as captain of the Cornell fencing team. It was during his years in law school when he made the choice to become sober and he has been sober for more than 30 years.

In the early 90s, Michael made a choice to move into academia, joining the Dean’s staff and becoming the academic advisor for athletes at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. It was at Providence where he made another professional change when he decided to leave Law and go into medicine. He left Providence College and returned to graduate school, then enrolled at the Smith College School for Social Work, which prepared him to become a clinical social worker and psychotherapist.

He moved to Washington, DC for his clinical studies, where he met his wife and they decided to adopt a child. He trained and interned at the George Washington University Department of Psychiatry and the Mount Vernon Community Mental Health Center. It was during this time in studying mental health that Michael found his calling and specialized in substance abuse and mental health

In Washington, DC Michael returned to social service. He had a number of mental health and quasi-legal occupations for the federal and local government, including working for the District of Columbia Superior Court, the United States Customs Service, Court Services and Offenders and Supervision Agency, as well as Child and Family Services Agency. He also worked in community mental health as the executive director of Hillcrest Children’s Center and the world-renowned Shepard Pratt Psychiatric Hospital.

After 20 years in Washington, DC, Michael and his family moved to Florida. He became a faculty member as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He was also Director of Clinical Operations at the Florida Recovery Center, a substance abuse treatment center, primarily for medical professionals. While at the Florida Recovery Center he co-authored with Dr. Scott Teitlebaum, the medical director, a book titled Weed: Family Guide to Marijuana Myths and Facts. He later went on to become the lead psychotherapist at the Adult Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Florida. He is licensed as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the states of Florida, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. He is now in private practice.