By Jessica Coates
jessica.coates@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Dr. Nicole Sherrill-Corry said God has led her on a journey.

“Being a high school drop-out, a teenage mom and I am a survivor of domestic violence of 23 years, most people wouldn’t think that I would be here…having my own business, being successful,” Sherrill-Corry said.

Sherrill-Corry’s mental health agency, NSC Behavioral Concepts, will have been open for three years this July.

But she said the path to opening it wasn’t easy.

“I am born and raised in Rowan County. I went to Salisbury High School,” Sherrill-Corry said. “I dropped out because things happen.”

Sherrill-Corry said she was 16 when she had her first child.

“I attempted to go back to school, but then I became pregnant with my second child,” Sherrill-Corry said. “And it was just overbearing. It was more than I could handle at the time, trying to be a mom while I was going to school.”

Sherrill-Corry said she was able to go back that same year and get her high school diploma rather than a GED.

“And then from there I knew that I wanted to do bigger and better and I didn’t want to depend upon the system, which I didn’t have to,” Sherrill-Corry said.

Sherrill-Corry went on to graduate with distinction from Livingstone College with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

She then earned a master’s degree and a doctorate from Capella University.

After working for 15 years in mental-health-related professions, Sherrill-Corry said she began experiencing depression and anxiety.

“It was as a result of working with another mental health agency that didn’t value me as an individual, as an employee,” Sherrill-Corry said.

It was then that Sherrill-Corry said she started thinking of opening NSC Behavioral Concepts.

“I opened not only because of my health, but I had some close friends and some family that I saw that struggled with mental health and substance abuse issues,” Sherrill-Corry said. “And it was like, ‘How can I make this not happen again to the people that I love?’ And not only the people that I love but the community in which I live.”

Sherrill-Corry opened NSC in July 2015 with her daughter, Brooke Corry, and two employees.

Three years later, the agency has more than 100 clients and employs 58 people.

“And I don’t consider it work because I like what I do,” Sherrill-Corry said.

The agency offers a number of services, including peer-support, mental health outpatient, substance abuse intensive outpatient, psychological evaluations, primary care, classes and therapy.

“We can basically take care of any mental health, substance abuse and some physical health issues,” Sherrill-Corry said. “And if it’s a service we cannot provide, then we always refer out to providers that do.”

Sherrill-Corry said their agency is also forming partnerships with other agencies in Salisbury.

“I think (they) are beneficial because when we are able to go out into the community and shake hands and actually partner with the agency, then that means not only are the individuals in this office being taken care of but those in the other agencies are as well,” Sherrill-Corry said.

Sherrill-Corry said she thinks its collaboration model says “a lot” about her agency.

“We’re not in a box. We’re creative,” Sherrill-Corry said. “We step out of the box and we look for other options that are available not only to the agency but to the community in reference to physical and mental wellbeing. So we’re looking at the entire person.”

NSC Behavioral Concepts has two main offices — one in Salisbury and one in Lincolnton — and as well as a satellite office in Salisbury.

The satellite office is where the agency’s main office used to be — 1915 West Innes Street.

The new main Salisbury office is at 507 West Innes Street in the SunTrust Bank building.

For more information about NSC Behavioral Concepts, visit www.nscbehavioralconcepts.org or call 704-603-6156.

Contact reporter Jessica Coates at 704-797-4222.