Community Consultant
Helps organizations, academic institutions, faith communities, and leaders use their influence to create healthy environments and nurture communal well-being.
Educator & Author
Equips future leaders and offers transformative insights through his work as a professor, writer, and public scholar.
Mental Health & Faith Thought Leader
Integrates professional counseling with spiritual care to promote holistic well-being for communities, families, and individuals.
Artistic Visionary
Uses music as an inspirational and healing resource to cultivate well-being and social transformation.
Justice-Driven Leader
Builds on the strengths of communities and collaborates to create healing, holistic well-being, and fair opportunities for all people to flourish.
Meet
Dr. Nicholas Grier
Dr. Nicholas Grier is a community advocate, public scholar, professor, musician, and mental health therapist committed to justice, healing, and helping all citizens use their power to live authentic lives and contribute to a loving world. He creates spaces where people—especially those on the margins of society—can heal, grow, and thrive.
Academic Roles
Grier serves as an Associate Professor of Practical Theology, Spiritual Care, and Counseling at Claremont School of Theology in Los Angeles, CA. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Willamette University School of Law. His work equips individuals, academic institutions, faith communities, and organizations with tools for self-awareness, social analysis, resilience, and liberation.
Community Leadership
As Founder and CEO of Coloring Mental Health Collective, LLC, Grier leads initiatives that integrate mental health, faith, and social justice, ensuring accessible care for historically marginalized communities. His book, Care for the Mental and Spiritual Health of Black Men: Hope to Keep Going, challenges systemic barriers and provides a roadmap for healing.
Faith & Ministry
A dedicated faith leader, Grier is an ordained minister in the Progressive National Baptist Convention tradition. He has served as Associate Pastor for Pastoral Care at Second Baptist Church in Evanston, IL, and as Associate Staff Minister at Third Baptist Church of Chicago. His leadership encourages faith leaders to integrate care, justice, and liberation in their communities.
Education
Grier holds a Bachelor of Music (B.M.) from the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University, a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary on the campus of Northwestern University, and a certificate in psychotherapy from The Center for Religion and Psychotherapy of Chicago.
Beyond His Work
When he’s not teaching, writing, organizing communities, or counseling, you can find him playing piano, listening to music, dancing, spending time in nature, and connecting with loved ones.
