About Nysa Therapy

our history

The Nysa Therapy Story

Nysa Therapy was formed out of necessity from the personal experiences of Dr. Stephen M. Diggs. It came at a time when he was struggling with his own personality disorder and found that even with a PhD in psychology he was unable to manage his thoughts and inclinations towards self-destructive behavior. After seeking help from a number of qualified professionals and making little to no progress he set out to find a way to treat these disorders and concurrently himself.

Dr. Stephen M. Diggs turned to the great theoreticians in psychology including Freud, Jung, Rogers, Erickson, SatirDeShazerMillon, and Masterson to find new ways to imagine these disorders and discover unique interventions to bring about real, significant, and permanent change. The model of Nysa Therapy integrates specific techniques from many therapy models including solution-focused, psychodrama, psychoanalytic, client-centered, and feminist therapies in order to enact specific wellness exceptions within the therapeutic relationship that simultaneously deconstruct defensive structures and manifest self-sustaining individuation experiences. This unique and integrated approach to treatment is at the foundation of Nysa Therapy and informs our practice at the Nysa Therapy clinic every day.

Dr. Stephen M. Diggs started Nysa Therapy with the assistance of Education Director, Mary Wittenberg, in 2015 to continue the mission of treating and curing personality disorders. As a growing, living and dynamic entity, we are constantly expanding the development of Nysa Therapy, becoming more skilled, and getting ever-closer to healing the difficult lives of those struggling with personality disorders. As we continue to develop, we hope to effectively demonstrate the positive outcomes of our method through expanded use of valid and reliable measures, bring on more clinicians to work directly with us, and expand our training to a fully functional online learning management system.

welcome to Nysa Therapy

About the Method

Nysa Therapy integrates techniques from a variety of therapy models with the specific purpose of effectively treating personality disorders. This includes solution-focused, psychodrama, relational, strategic, psychoanalytic, DBT, family systems, interpersonal, Jungian, transactional analysis, client-centered, and feminist therapies. We have combined these approaches in order to enact specific wellness exceptions within the therapeutic relationship that simultaneously deconstruct defensive structures and manifest self-sustaining individuation experiences. To learn more about us, please read our Mission Statement.

our team

Meet The Staff

Stephen Diggs, PhD

Stephen Diggs is the Founder and Director of Nysa Therapy, where he has dedicated 20 years...

Ta’Shanne Horn, LCSW

Ta’Shanne Horn is the Clinical Director and Nysa Therapist, and has...

Kate Lively, LMFT

Kate has spent over two decades as a practicing clinician, and has worked as a Nysa Therapist.
Gabby is wearing a maroon shirt with a long sleeve black cardigan.

Gabrielle Banathy, ACSW

Gabby Banathy graduated from the Master’s of Social Work program at Chico State in 2020...
Abigail is picured with a maroon sweater on and medium blond hair.

Abigail Rutledge, APCC

Abby has been an Associate Therapist with Nysa Therapy since August 2020. To Abby, traditional talk therapy...

Allen Lunde, AMFT

Allen believes the ability to connect to another with unconditional acceptance and caring is truly healing.

Jill Ruppel, AMFT

Jill truly appreciates how Nysa therapists are able to form deep and authentic connections with their patients..