Exploring Life & Business with Dr. Shayda Nematollahi of Heal ATL Counseling & Wellness

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Shayda Nematollahi.

Hi Dr. Shayda, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Heal ATL Counseling & Wellness was founded in 2018 by my business partner, Brittany Hewitt, and I (Dr. Shayda Nematollahi). Brittany and I actually met as coworkers early in our careers as therapists, and it quickly became clear that we shared a similar vision for what mental health care could be. As young clinicians, we saw gaps in the way care was being delivered—not only for clients seeking deeper, more holistic support, but also for therapists who were often navigating burnout, limited autonomy, and work environments that didn’t always align with their values.

Together, we envisioned a different kind of practice. We wanted to create a space that viewed healing through a whole-person lens—one that was compassionate, integrative, trauma-informed, and rooted in the belief that mental health does not exist in isolation from the body, relationships, culture, or lived experiences. At the same time, we wanted to build a workplace where clinicians felt genuinely valued, supported, and empowered to do meaningful work in a sustainable way.

From the beginning, we believed that healing is about more than symptom reduction. It’s about helping people reconnect with themselves, break unhealthy cycles, heal intergenerational wounds, and create lasting change in their lives. That belief continues to guide everything we do today.

What started as a small private practice has grown into HealATL, a holistic psychotherapy and wellness space dedicated to supporting the mind, body, and spirit. We specialize in trauma-informed care and offer a range of services including traditional psychotherapy, couples therapy, EMDR, Brainspotting, Breathwork, ADHD and Autism evaluations, and other integrative healing modalities. Our goal is to blend evidence-based clinical care with somatic and holistic practices to create a personalized path to healing for each person we serve.

As therapists, we see our work as part of a larger collective healing movement—one that helps break cycles, heal intergenerational wounds, and invite wholeness back into our lives and communities. Through therapy, breathwork, somatic healing, and meaningful connection, we strive to create spaces where people can soften, unravel, grieve, grow, and reconnect with themselves.

Today, our team is made up of 17+ dedicated clinicians and wellness professionals who share that same mission. While each individual brings unique strengths and specialties, we are united by a commitment to providing empathetic, culturally responsive, and deeply personalized care. We are incredibly proud to have built a community where individuals, couples, and families can find support, healing, and hope—while also creating a workplace culture where therapists & wellness facilitators feel inspired, connected, and genuinely valued.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a completely smooth road, but honestly, many of our biggest challenges ended up shaping the business into what it is today.

Shortly after Brittany and I opened our first Heal ATL office on Clairmont Road, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Like many business owners, we were faced with an enormous amount of uncertainty almost overnight. At the time, telehealth existed, but it was nowhere near as widely accepted or utilized as it is today. We had envisioned an in-person, relationship-centered practice, and suddenly the world shut down.

Within a week, we made the difficult decision to close our physical office and transition our entire practice to a fully virtual model. It was a massive pivot, requiring us to rethink everything from operations and client care to team collaboration and growth. While it was challenging, it also reinforced our commitment to adaptability and meeting people where they are. We remained a Georgia-based mental healthcare practice operating exclusively through telehealth, and during those years we continued to grow our team, serve our community, and expand our reach across the state.

What could have been a setback ultimately became an opportunity. The virtual model allowed us to support more clients, grow our incredible team of clinicians, and build a strong foundation for future growth.

Then, in 2024, we finally had the opportunity to revisit the vision we originally had when we started HealATL. We began building out a larger office space in the iconic Eleven17 building in Sandy Springs, creating a home that could support both psychotherapy and integrative wellness services under one roof. We opened our doors again to offer in-person in February of 2025.

Today, our team offers both in-person and virtual therapy, and we have expanded into the wellness programming we always dreamed of providing before the pandemic interrupted those plans. That vision became “The Space by HealATL”—a dedicated wellness studio where we host breathwork, yoga, sound baths, workshops, and other mind-body experiences that complement the therapeutic work happening in our practice.

Looking back, the road has certainly had unexpected twists and turns, but each challenge pushed us to become more innovative, resilient, and aligned with our mission. In many ways, the obstacles we faced helped us build something even stronger than what we originally imagined.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
As the Co-Founder, Creative Director, and Clinical Director of Heal ATL, my work is rooted in a simple belief: healing happens when people feel truly seen, supported, and connected to themselves. While I oversee the creative vision, branding, marketing, client experience, community partnerships, and wellness programming at HealATL, I am first and foremost a therapist who is deeply passionate about helping people navigate life’s challenges with greater compassion and self-understanding.

At the intersection of mind, body, and soul, you’ll find my clinical work. As a holistic psychotherapist, breathwork facilitator, and researcher in mind-body medicine, I provide support that is both clinically grounded and soulfully compassionate. I specialize in trauma, anxiety, high-achievers, grief, burnout, major life transitions, women’s mental health, motherhood, self-worth, and intergenerational and family-of-origin healing. My work honors the many seasons of womanhood and the complexity of being human.

As a wife, mother, sister, and first-generation daughter of immigrants, I understand that life is often messy and layered. Even when we’re doing all the “right” things, we can still feel overwhelmed, disconnected, anxious, or stuck. My approach bridges the science of trauma therapy with the soul of holistic care, integrating mind-body medicine, somatic therapies, breathwork, mindfulness, psychedelic assisted therapy, and evidence-based psychotherapy. I draw from both Eastern and Western philosophies to create a highly personalized experience for each client.

What I am most known for is the way I show up in the therapy room. My work is deeply relational. I don’t believe healing happens through clinical expertise alone—it happens through connection. Clients often describe me as warm, authentic, deeply present, and genuinely invested in their growth. They know they matter to me. They know they will be met with compassion, honesty, and support while also being gently challenged toward meaningful change.
That same philosophy extends into everything we’ve built at HealATL.

What sets HealATL apart is our commitment to whole-person care. We intentionally created a practice that goes beyond traditional therapy by offering a comprehensive range of services that support mental, emotional, and physical well-being. We believe there is no one-size-fits-all approach to healing, which is why we are passionate about offering multiple pathways for growth and transformation.

At HealATL, we specialize in trauma-informed, whole-person care through a wide range of services including individual therapy, couples therapy, family therapy, therapy for teens 14+, EMDR, Brainspotting, hypnotherapy, breathwork, mindfulness-based therapies, somatic and nervous system-focused healing, ADHD and Autism evaluations for adults, perinatal and maternal mental health, anxiety, depression, grief, burnout, relationship challenges, life transitions, self-esteem and identity work, and intergenerational trauma healing. We also offer group process and therapy groups as well as integrative wellness experiences including restorative yoga, sound baths, meditation, workshops, and corporate mental health presentations designed to support emotional well-being both inside and outside the therapy room.

Another aspect that makes HealATL unique is the environment we’ve created. Every detail of our Sandy Springs office was intentionally designed to feel beautiful, calming, and inspiring. We take the client experience seriously—from the moment someone enters the building to the moment they leave. We wanted to create a space that feels less like a medical office and more like a sanctuary for healing, reflection, and connection.

Through presentations, workshops, and corporate wellness programming, we partner with businesses, healthcare organizations, schools, and community groups to provide education on topics such as burnout, stress management, nervous system regulation, resilience, mindfulness, leadership wellness, and mental health in the workplace.

What I am most proud of is that Brittany and I have created a place where clients feel genuinely cared for, where clinicians feel valued and supported, and where people can access the tools they need to create meaningful and lasting change in their lives.

What were you like growing up?
I was a very creative and talkative child—and by talkative, I mean I was constantly getting in trouble for talking in class. My report cards consistently reflected that I had a lot to say. Looking back, I think I was always fascinated by people. I wanted to know what they were thinking, how they felt, why they did what they did, and how we could better understand one another.

I genuinely loved helping others from a young age. A few weekends each month in my late adolecent years, I’d volunteered in hospice homes and retirement communities. I also spent time working with programs that supported children with special needs. There was always something meaningful to me about sitting with people of all ages, hearing their stories, and simply being present with them.

I also had a natural tendency toward creativity, leadership and bringing people together. I was always making or creating something with my hands. I loved entering art contests, or painting, and photography classes. I was constantly redecorating my bedroom. I served on student council every year starting in middle school until senior year. I was even the Vice President of Communications for DECA, a marketing and business organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. In hindsight, putting the girl who couldn’t stop talking in charge of communications was probably the most appropriate leadership role possible. While DECA was only a chapter of my life for a couple of years, it gave me tools that have stayed with me ever since. It was my first exposure to leadership, marketing, entrepreneurship, and building something from the ground up. Nearly 20 years later, I still find myself using lessons I learned there while running HealATL and growing our practice.

When I got to the University of Georgia, that creative energy and spirit to serve only grew. After taking a psychology course on motivation, I became so inspired that I started my own organization called The Motivational Club at UGA. Yes, I literally started a club dedicated to spreading positivity around campus. We’d put positive affirmation flyers all over campus. We focused on encouragement, personal growth, and helping students feel more connected and supported. In many ways, it was an early version of what I do now.

I was also the kid who somehow balanced a love for fantasy novels with an obsession for self-help books. I absolutely loved Harry Potter and fiction books, but if I’m being honest, personal growth books had me in a chokehold. While my friends were reading teen magazines, I was reading Chicken Soup for the Soul, Louise Hay, Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, and anything else I could get my hands on about human potential, healing, spirtuality, and personal transformation.

Another major influence in my life was Oprah. I loved watching her show, and I was especially fascinated whenever therapists or mental health experts appeared as guests. Seeing conversations about healing, relationships, trauma, and personal growth happening on such a large platform was incredibly interesting and inspiring to me. Looking back, watching the show probably was not age appropriate, but nevertheless those moments planted seeds that would later shape my career.

Perhaps the funniest sign that I was destined to become a therapist happened when I was a preteen. I placed a box outside my bedroom door where family members could submit “comments, ideas of family game night, or topics to discuss” for the weekly family meetings that I hosted. Thankfully, my parents humored me and actually participated. Looking back, I was unknowingly practicing therapy skills years before I knew what therapy even was.

Originally, I thought I wanted to become a psychiatrist. But as I continued my education and learned more about the mental health field, I discovered psychotherapy and fell in love with the power of the therapeutic relationship. I was drawn to the idea of sitting alongside people during difficult seasons, helping them understand themselves more deeply, and witnessing their growth over time.

After earning my Master’s degrees in Marriage, Couples, and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling from Barry University in Miami, I knew my educational journey wasn’t finished. While I deeply valued my clinical training, I found myself increasingly curious about the connection between mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. I wanted to better understand how trauma, stress, relationships, lifestyle, and the body all interact to shape our overall health and healing.

That curiosity led me to pursue a Ph.D. in Mind-Body Medicine through Saybrook University, an experience that profoundly shaped both my personal and professional philosophy. The program expanded my understanding of healing far beyond traditional psychotherapy and exposed me to an incredibly rich and interdisciplinary study of human wellness. My coursework and research explored psychoneuroimmunology, stress physiology, mindfulness, meditation, somatic psychology, lifestyle medicine, consciousness studies, health psychology, hypnotherapy, breathwork and integrative approaches to health and healing. I also had the opportunity to study principles from Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine, gaining a deeper appreciation for how ancient healing systems have long understood the interconnectedness of mind, body, environment, and spirit.

One of the things I loved most about the program was its willingness to bridge science, psychology, and wisdom traditions. Rather than focusing solely on pathology and symptom reduction, we explored what creates resilience, vitality, meaning, and human flourishing. I was exposed to incredible educators, researchers, physicians, and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines, each offering a unique lens through which to understand healing and well-being.

During my doctoral studies, I became especially drawn to somatic practices and the role of the body in emotional healing. I was fascinated by the growing research demonstrating that trauma is not simply a cognitive experience but one that is also stored and expressed through the nervous system and body. This ultimately led me to focus my doctoral research on breathwork and its application within psychotherapy.

My dissertation explored how conscious breathing practices can be integrated into therapeutic settings to support emotional processing, nervous system regulation, stress reduction, self-awareness, and trauma recovery. What began as an academic interest quickly became a personal passion. The more I studied the science of breath and experienced its effects firsthand, the more convinced I became of its potential as a powerful complement to traditional psychotherapy.

Those years of study helped shape the holistic approach I bring to my work today. They reinforced my belief that healing is most effective when we honor the whole person—not just the mind, but also the body, relationships, environment, culture, and spirit. That philosophy continues to guide both my clinical work and the vision we have built at HealATL.

When I look back now, so much of who I was as a child still shows up in who I am today. I’m still curious about people. I love art and creating. I still love meaningful conversations. I still believe in the power of healing and human connection. And thankfully, I’ve found a career where talking is no longer something I get in trouble for—it’s actually part of the job description.

Contact Info:

• Website: healatl.com and loveshayda.com
• Instagram: @healatl and @loveshayda