How a Living Room Became a Lifeline: The Story Behind ACC
- May 2
- 3 min read
Updated: May 14
From Burnout to Building Something Better
Before Advanced Client Care was a growing, multi-state teletherapy agency—it was a vision formed by frustration, compassion, and a whole lot of heart. Our founders, Nicole Albanese-Bell and Cedric Bell, weren’t out to start a company. They were out to fix a system.
Nicole entered the mental health field driven by her own experience with trauma and a powerful sense of purpose. “I was passionate about sex therapy at first,” she says, “but it became much more than that. I saw how many people felt unseen by the systems that were supposed to help them.”
Cedric, inspired by his father’s work as a social worker, had been working in mental health for over two decades. He recalls, “We used to host sessions right in our living room. People trusted us not because we had a building—but because we showed up. We listened.”
Why We Said ‘No’ to Business as Usual
Nicole and Cedric had seen enough of the mental health world to know what wasn’t working: long waitlists, overworked clinicians, unethical billing, and clients falling through the cracks. “I got tired of therapists being treated like cogs in a machine,” Cedric says. “And I got even more tired of clients being rushed, misdiagnosed, or ignored.”
So they built Advanced Client Care to be what traditional systems weren’t: responsive, ethical, and personal.
At ACC, we don’t chase volume. We chase value. We don’t use bots to match clients. We use human insight, experience, and care.
Today, we serve clients across Florida, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, with hopes to expand throughout the East Coast. But the heart of our mission hasn’t changed.
“We’re still in the business of showing up for people,” Nicole says. “That part will never scale out.”
We Believe Care Should Feel Like Care
Our values aren’t just bullet points on a brochure. They’re the standards we live by:
Empathy Over Efficiency
Access Over Exclusivity
Cultural Competence Over Conformity
Collaboration Over Isolation
Integrity Over Profits
We built ACC with one goal: make mental health care actually feel human. Whether you’re a client or a clinician, you deserve to feel safe, supported, and seen. We honor lived experience, we practice inclusive care, and we meet people where they are—literally, with teletherapy from the comfort of your own couch.
We’re also a little funny sometimes. Not everything has to be heavy. We believe in healing with laughter, movement, messy progress, and moments of joy.
“Healing isn’t linear,” Cedric says. “It’s more like a squiggle on a sticky note—but that squiggle still counts.”
Where We’re Headed
We’re building something we hope will last—not just as a business, but as a model of what care can be when it’s done with intention.
That means:
Bringing therapy to more people, especially underserved communities.
Supporting therapists with a workplace that values rest and reflection.
Creating spaces—virtual and real—where healing feels possible, not clinical.
If you’ve ever felt overlooked, overwhelmed, or unsure of how to start healing, we want you to know: you matter here.
Whether you’re looking for support, community, or a therapist who gets it—your journey is welcome with us.
Curious about how our therapy process works? Explore our Getting Started page
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