Jera Nelson Cunningham, Ph.D.

Dr. Jera Nelson Cunningham has had over 20 years of clinical experience in a variety of mental health settings. Her training and practice has focused on children, families, and couples. Her areas of specialty are attachment and trauma. In her clinical practice, she uses an attachment-based parenting model to help parents, many of whom are adoptive or foster parents, to understand and meets their children’s underlying needs, especially when trauma has impacted the way children view the world and caregivers.

She is starting an enneagram coaching business as a way to incorporate a faith-based perspective with her love of families and supporting parents through the challenges of raising children in today’s culture. The first step is for parents to become more self-aware by using prayer, scripture, and the enneagram. The next step is to explore attachment and how parents’ enneagram types impact the way they interact with their children (and other significant relationships). Whether you are interested in learning more about yourself and developing a closer relationship with God and with others or want to take that self-awareness a step further to improve your relationship with your children using an attachment-based approach, I would love to work with you!

I have been married to my husband for more than 20 years and we have two teenage boys. When I am not watching lacrosse games or attending my children’s other events, I enjoy photography, reading books on my porch swing, taking walks, wine tasting with my husband, and planning our next vacation.

Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology – Virginia Commonwealth University
M.A. in Clinical and Counseling Psychology – Southern Methodist University
B.A. Honors in Psychology – Wake Forest University