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From MAHEC Patient to Practitioner

Staff Spotlight: School-Based Therapist Will Cockey

When Will Cockey, LCMHC-A, joined MAHEC’s Psychiatry Department—first, as a behavioral health intern and today as a school-based therapist—it wasn’t his first encounter with the organization. That happened eight years earlier when Will and his wife, Nicole, were patients in the Centering Pregnancy program at MAHEC Ob/Gyn.

Will says they loved their midwife and the experience of navigating pregnancy with other families in the program. So, when it came time to do an internship for his graduate program at Western Carolina University, he was happy for the opportunity to return to MAHEC. “That previous relationship with MAHEC is what made me interested in applying for the internship,” Will says.

The couple’s son was born in 2015, just weeks before he graduated from the University of North Carolina Asheville with a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology. After graduation, they moved to New Orleans where Will worked in special education. When he and Nicole had their second child, they decided it was time to move back to North Carolina and closer to family.

Around this time, Will was thinking about going back to school. He read Michael Pollan’s book, How to Change Your Mind, which he says ultimately inspired him to work in mental health. He started applying to graduate programs while continuing to work in residential facilities with folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Will was accepted to Western Carolina University’s Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program and did his internship at MAHEC Family Health Center with the Behavioral Medicine team. He found the Behavioral Medicine team’s approach to therapy refreshing—particularly their sense of humor.

“Oftentimes, we think therapy is about focusing on the dark and difficult things, and there is that element,” Will says. “But there is also an element of levity and lightness and humor that the whole team brings to their work that I really appreciated. They are absolutely amazing. I love all my people there,” Will says.

Will’s sense of humor is one of the things that stood out to his internship supervisor, Behavioral Medicine Director Valerie Krall, MA, LCMHC. “Will has a calming presence and genuine willingness to sit with patients as they navigate through difficult emotions and experiences,” Valerie says. “He has a great sense of humor while also showing up in an authentic way when supporting others.”

It’s that combination of humor and “realness” that Valerie says makes Will a good fit for his present position as a school-based therapist. For Will, the job is the perfect opportunity to combine his experience working in schools with his passion for mental health.

From Centering Pregnancy patient to mental health practitioner, we’re glad Will has decided to continue his journey with MAHEC!