Meet Our Therapists

Nicole Walker is a graduate of Brenau University where she received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in occupational therapy. During her years of practice, she has worked as an occupational therapist in the school system, provided home health care for all populations and practiced in the field of upper extremity rehabilitation. For four years, she worked with Outdoor Sensory Adventures, Clay White LLC working with children with Autism and other varying diagnoses in a sensory integration based hiking program . Her intensive continuing education background includes Sensory Integration theory and practice, including studying at The Temple Grandin School in Arizona, Neuro-Developmental Treatment, Equine Assisted Therapy and oral motor/feeding and eating therapy, including the Beckman Oral Motor Protocol. Nicole enjoys spending time with her husband and four children in Gainesville, Georgia and is the owner of Walker Therapy Services, LLC.

Nolina Varley received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in occupational therapy at Brenau University. She also is a graduate of Florida State University with a Bachelor of Education in rehabilitation counseling. Nolina worked, for three years, establishing behavior programs at Community Intervention and Research Center, Inc. in Tallahassee, FL. After moving to Atlanta, GA, she worked at Shepherd Center in the capacities of Life Skills Trainer, Behavioral Specialist, and lastly as an Occupational Therapist. Nolina has also been a private occupational therapy contractor working with the Lumpkin County School System and in home health. Ever since then Nolina has enthusiastically been providing occupational therapy through equine assisted therapy at Walker Therapy Services, LLC. Prior continuing education experiences for Nolina include certification at The Tangram Behavioral Center in Texas, completion of Sensory Integration theory and practice courses, completion of visual and visual motor courses, and completion of “Horse Talk”, the equine assisted therapy course. Currently, Nolina is living in Cumming, GA with her husband and three children.

Kristen Pruitt received her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Master of Science in physical therapy at North Georgia College. During her first 5 years of practice, she worked as a physical therapist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta-Scottish Rite. She also worked part-time in acute care at Dunwoody Medical Center caring for adults. As a independent contractor, Kristen has served the pediatric population through home health in Hall, Lumpkin, Dawson and Forsyth counties for the past 9 years. Her intensive continuing education background includes completion of courses in Neuro-Developmental Treatment, Sensory Integration theory, Equine Assisted Therapy, Aquatic therapy, and pediatric gait training. Pruitt is now excited to be working for Walker Therapy providing physical therapy through equine assisted therapy, land-based therapy and aquatic therapy. She currently lives with her husband and five children in Gainesville, Georgia.

Tara Garrison, PT, DPT received her Master of Science in Physical Therapy from North Georgia College & State University in 2004 and her Doctor of Physical Therapy from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in 2009. She is an American Physical Therapy Association Credentialed Clinical Instructor and has completed advanced training in manual therapy for the spine and extremities. Tara is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. She resides with her husband and son in Gainesville, Georgia.

Lucy Nutt, Ed.S.; CCC-SLP has been a speech/language pathologist since 1978. She recently retired from the Forsyth County School System and is now an independent contractor providing therapy to children in the clinical setting. In 1993 she began her focus on augmentative communication and continues with this area of specialty to this day. She loves working with children and believes in making each therapy session fun and engaging for her students! She also utilizes assistive technology such as IntelliKeys and various computer software programs in order to capture students’ interest during their sessions.

Monica Rank, PT graduated University of Kentucky in May 1992 with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy (4.0 GPA). She worked briefly in an inpatient rehab facility before moving to Columbus, GA in Oct 1992. While in Columbus, Monica split her time between Columbus Developmental Center and The Medical Center treating children and adults with a variety of neurological and orthopedic diagnoses. Monica moved to metro Atlanta in Jan 1994 and worked for Egleston Children’s Hospital in an outpatient rehab facility for the next 5 years. She than began contracting physical therapy services privately, gaining most of her referrals from Babies Can’t Wait in Gwinnett County, then Forsyth County. She joined Walker Therapy as a contract therapist in June 2006. Monica lives in Cumming with her husband and 2 sons, ages 9 and 11. She enjoys exercise, tennis, hiking and time with her family and her girlfriends!

Gretta Robertson MS-CCC-SLP received her Master’s degree in speech language pathology in 1990 from James Madison University. She completed her clinical fellowship year at The Kennedy-Krieger Institute, a world renown children’s center in Baltimore. Over the last eighteen years Gretta has worked with various populations from pediatric to geriatric. At The James Lawrence Kernan Rehabilitation Hospital in Baltimore she served primarily on the brain injury unit, providing speech-language and swallowing therapy for teens through adults. This experience included serving on a coma recovery team as well as completing videofluoroscopy swallowing studies. At the Good Samaritan Hospital Nursing Center and the Chestnut Ridge Nursing Center, Gretta provided speech-language and swallowing therapy for a geriatric population with varied neurological deficits. Gretta joined the Walker Therapy team excited to have the opportunity to serve both children and adults. Her continuing education experiences have included conferences exploring various speech-language treatments, brain injury, feeding and swallowing disorders, neurological disorders, augmentative communication and pragmatic skills practices in addition to implications for speech therapy for children with Asperger’s Syndrome. She currently lives in Cumming with her husband and three children.

Mary Hutchinson recieved her bachelor’s degree in Communications Sciences & Disorders at the University of Georgia in 1993 and her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Tennessee in 1995. She has been a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist since 1996 and has worked in both educational and private settings with a special love for the pediatric population. Mary lives in Oakwood, Georgia with her husband and young son.