FEEL GOOD RVA

Dr. Leslie Stelljes Nanson, PsyD: Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Co-Founder and CEO of Aspen Grove Wellness & Gillian Dressel, Office Manager

BRITT: THANK YOU LADIES SO MUCH FOR SITTING DOWN WITH ME! TO BEGIN, CAN YOU TELL READERS WHERE THE NAME ASPEN GROVE CAME FROM?

LESLIE: I love this question because the story of our name is really the story of what we believe.

When we were starting Aspen Grove Wellness, Stephanie and I spent weeks trying to find the right name for our practice. We knew we wanted to build something meaningful, and we wanted a name that reflected not just what we would do, but why we were doing it.

One thing I learned in those early days, is that naming a business is really hard to do, and we really struggled. We had a seemingly endless collection of bad ideas. One weekend, we had a work party, and I jokingly told Stephanie that if we didn’t come up with a name by 2PM that Sunday, I was going to submit our incorporation paperwork under Bing Bong Psychotherapy & Associates.

If you haven’t seen the movie, Bing Bong is the imaginary childhood friend of the main character, Riley. Bing Bong loves Riley fiercely, and he stayed by her side through all of her ups and downs of her childhood. He brought safety, laughter, comfort, play, and freedom to her world. 

So, while Bing Bong Psychotherapy & Associates might not have been our strongest business idea, we have adopted him as our mascot because he reminds us of the magic of the early days and all of the friendship that went into building our practice.

Thankfully, one of my childhood friends, Sylvia Arpke, came to our rescue. I reached out to her at the last minute, and she gave us just the right inspiration we needed. She taught us about aspen trees, and what them so remarkable is beneath the surface, the trees share an extensive root system. So, what appears above ground to be a collection of individual trees can actually be one interconnected living organism. The individual trees grow, change, and eventually die, but the root system can endure for thousands of years, continually giving rise to new life.

When Stephanie and I learned about this, we both got goosebumps. We have always believed that therapy can change generations to come, and the name Aspen Grove Wellness captured exactly what we wanted to build.

We believe that people are not meant to navigate life alone, and that our individual well-being is deeply connected to the well-being of the people around us. We know that when we create the right conditions for people to grow, extraordinary things are possible.

Aspen Grove is more than a name. It’s a reminder that while we may appear to stand alone, beneath the surface, we are all deeply connected.

And that’s the kind of organization we wanted to create.

You and Stephanie have known each other for a long time. How did your friendship become Aspen Grove Wellness?

LESLIE: Stephanie and I met while we were working on our doctoral degrees in clinical psychology at George Washington University.

From the beginning, we kept finding ourselves in the same rooms, drawn to the same conversations, advocating for the same things, and imagining how we might make a meaningful contribution to the world.

Over the years, we collaborated on projects, supported each other through professional and personal milestones, and developed a friendship that is deeply rooted in shared values.

After graduate school, our careers took different paths. Stephanie went on to teach, train, and help develop a psychology program at West Virginia University, while I built my career in private practice.

Then the pandemic happened.

It was such difficult time for so many people, including the mental health professionals who were helping others navigate unprecedented uncertainty, isolation, grief, and fear.

As we began emerging from that period, Stephanie approached me with the idea of starting a group practice together, and at first I told her no. I was very clear that I did not want to do that because I had never seen a group practice done well.

Then Stephanie said something that changed everything, “Well, that’s why we need to do it.”

That conversation became the foundation of Aspen Grove Wellness.

We began asking ourselves what it would look like to build an organization where the values we talk about in therapy are also the values we practice as colleagues, leaders, and members of a community.

What would it mean to create a workplace where people are genuinely cared for? Where kindness and accountability coexist? Where clinicians have the support they need to do exceptional work? Where patients are treated as whole human beings rather than a collection of symptoms?

We knew we wouldn’t get everything right, but we believed that if we approached the work with intention, humility, and a willingness to keep learning, we could build something could have the power to make the world a little better than we found it.

What is Aspen Grove’s mission, and what do you hope to contribute to the community?

LESLIE: At the heart of Aspen Grove is a very simple idea: We build lives worth living.

That belief guides our clinical work, but it also extends far beyond it.

We want people to have access to extraordinary mental health care. We want our clinicians to experience meaningful, sustainable careers. And we want to become a trusted, contributing presence in the communities we serve.

We have offices in Richmond, Virginia, and Hagerstown, Maryland, but our vision has never been simply about growing a practice. It’s about building meaningful relationships, both within our organization and in the communities we serve.

That commitment is deeply personal for me. I grew up in a military family, and later, my husband’s international career took us around the world. I spent much of my life moving from one place to another, and while those experiences were really valuable to me, I never had the opportunity to put down roots.

When my family chose to make Richmond our home, I have had a wholehearted desire to belong to a place, to invest in its people, and to contribute to its future.

That sense of community has become an important part of how I think about Aspen Grove. I want us to be an organization that gives more than it takes. One that builds genuine relationships, celebrates the work of others, and contributes meaningfully to the well-being of the communities around us.

I don’t want us to simply exist in a community. I want us to be part of it.

I have this belief that organizations can be friends, too.

I know that sounds a little unusual, but I really mean it.

I think about what happens when organizations genuinely know one another, care about each other’s missions, share resources, celebrate each other’s successes, and show up when someone needs help.

Imagine what becomes possible when mental health providers, schools, nonprofits, health care organizations, and community leaders stop operating in isolation and start seeing themselves as part of something shared.

We can accomplish so much more together than we ever could alone, and in many ways, that brings us right back to the aspen trees.

We want to build relationships that are bigger than any one person or organization. Relationships that strengthen the communities around us and continue creating opportunities for growth long into the future.

We want Aspen Grove to be known not simply for the therapy we provide, but for the way we show up in the world.

Because we believe that kindness matters, connection matters, and the things we build together can outlast us.

WE WANTED TO HEAR A LITTLE BIT FROM SOME OF YOUR TEAM! WHAT HAS INSPIRED YOU TO GET INTO THE MENTAL HEALTH FIELD?

Gillian Dressel

Office Manager

My own experiences with mental health have shaped how I see and care for other people.

I originally came to Richmond from Northern Virginia to pursue my master’s degree in social work, and along the way, I found Aspen Grove Wellness.

I knew I wanted to work in a field where I could make a difference, even if that didn’t necessarily mean becoming a therapist myself.

What matters most to me is that every person who walks through our doors, calls our office, or reaches out for help feels that they matter.

Because they do.

People deserve to feel cared for. They deserve kindness, dignity, and a place where they can be themselves.

Sometimes the smallest interactions can make someone feel a little less alone. I think that’s incredibly meaningful, and I’m grateful that I get to be part of creating that experience for people.”

Dr. Leslie Stelljes Nanson, PsyD

“I think I’ve always been drawn to people.

Even as a child, I was fascinated by the complexity of human beings, by our relationships, our stories, and the ways we find meaning in our lives.

Growing up in Kansas, I had the opportunity to know a psychologist who was doing wonderful work supporting girls in STEM. She helped me see what this profession could really look like, and once I understood what it meant to be a psychologist, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

I studied at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and began working in the substance use treatment field. That experience was really formative for me.

I had the privilege of developing relationships with people who were navigating some extraordinarily difficult moments in their lives, and I began to understand how powerful it can be to simply walk alongside another human being with compassion, curiosity, and hope.

Over the years, my personal and professional experiences have continued to deepen that sense of purpose.

I think one of the most meaningful things about this profession is that it continually calls us back to our humanity. We get to witness courage, grief, resilience, love, uncertainty, and transformation. We get to sit with people as they make sense of their lives and discover possibilities they may not have believed were available to them.

That is an incredible privilege, and it’s why I believe, with my whole heart, that therapy is sacred work.

—  Dr. Leslie Stelljes Nanson, PsyD: Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Co-Founder and CEO of Aspen Grove Wellness

Special mention to Dr. Stephanie McGraw, PsyD: Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Co-Founder and COO of Aspen Grove Wellness, who was unable to join us, but is core to every part of the organization.

SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR NEW FRIENDS AT ASPEN GROVE FOR SITTING DOWN WITH US FOR THIS INTERVIEW AND FOR SUPPORTING FEEL GOOD RVA WITH AN UNEXPECTED CONTRIBUTION! SUPPORT FROM PRACTICES LIKE YOURS ALLOW US TO KEEP GOING AND CONNECTING COMMUNITY MEMBERS WITH AWESOME RESOURCES LIKE THIS ONE! 

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