Therapists in Nashville, TN

For over twenty-five years, I have done therapy with individuals experiencing life stress and/or chemical imbalances. I have successfully treated clients who are experiencing depression, anxiety and panic attacks. For the past five years, I have concentrated primarily on clients who have experienced emotional abuse from having been involved with a person who has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Such relationships leave others feeling as thought the life has been sucked out of them. I have helped many clients go from feeling weak and depleted to strong and self confident; they regain self esteem and peace of mind.

My mission is to create a safe space for individuals to find healing, freedom, and self-acceptance. I am passionate about helping my clients regain confidence while beginning to love and trust themselves. I help my clients unlearn negative beliefs and begin to change relationship patterns that no longer serve them. I work well with people pleasers, people who struggle to set boundaries, or people who chronically sacrifice themselves for others. When we are able to know what we need and set limits in our relationships, we enhance our emotional well-being and our relationships become healthier.

CLARITY, PEACE of MIND, CONFIDENCE, JOY and a SKILL SET by which to create and sustain a happier, healthier life, sound good? Let's face it, despite our best efforts life gets crazy at times. We can ride the slow gradual wave of disconnectedness until one day we wake up wondering "How the heck did I get here?!" Without warning we find ourselves in what I call an "uncomfortable comfortable." This turbulence is a result of life unfolding in ways we never imagined. Situations we've tried our best to "deal with" because "that's just life."

It is my honor to work with clients on paths of exploration, personal growth, and healing. Because of the pain that often brings us to therapy, I believe that safety, unconditional positive regard, and authenticity are of the utmost importance in the therapeutic relationship. My theoretical orientation in counseling is primarily psychodynamic and interpersonal within a humanistic framework. I believe that past experiences inform current understanding, and exploring such issues can be healing. Change can also be related to a new understanding of relational patterns and a new experience of relationship with the therapist and others.

By curiously hearing and understanding your life story through our professional relationship, I hope to unburden you of your pain and help you remove road blocks which might be keeping you from experiencing greater pleasure. I work with adults ranging in age from 18 through post retirement years and specialize in treating life transitions, relationship concerns, depression, anxiety, trauma, infertility, adoption, postpartum depression, grief, loss, and divorce. I'm sensitive to issues of diversity and inclusion, am interested in working with people from various cultural backgrounds, and am a LGBTQ ally.

“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about the solutions." -- Albert Einstein. I also believe that the quality of the solution you generate is in direct proportion to your ability to identify the problem you hope to solve. My goal in therapy is to provide you with a safe space to tell your story, to sort through it, examine it and make peace with it. In this process, my hope is that you will be able to clarify your strengths, values and goals and identify practical solutions to overcoming barriers to living a full and meaning-centered life.

***NOW ACCEPTING NEW CLIENTS*** At Ascend Counseling, PLLC we believe that all people deserve a place to come as they are. As seasoned therapists, we provide a safe, collaborative experience for our clients combining empathy with professional excellence to guide the therapeutic process. Many therapeutic practices simply help you manage your symptoms and/or survive the next crisis. But at Ascend Counseling, PLLC, we believe that therapists should offer more. We will work with you to identify and address the root issues that perpetuate interpersonal problems. With us, you'll get to the bottom of things so that you can move forward!

Together we will find the right path, and right set of practical tools, to help you overcome obstacles and become your best self. After over a decade-and-a-half working in mental health, I am skilled in the latest, evidence-based therapies available (e.g., Relational Mindfulness and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy). But no single approach works for all people at all times and, remaining flexible, we will create a safe therapeutic environment with the best combination of techniques that works for you. So many different psychotherapies exist today because there is no one approach that works at all times.

Psychotherapy is a healing process which I am honored to be a part of. I greatly respect your decision to seek change, and I will work diligently to help you. Suffering is universal but you are unique; we will collaborate to understand what ails you and create an individualized therapy experience. I listen closely, empathize deeply, and maintain a curious, open-minded stance to build an authentic bond, which is paramount in healing. Within the safety of our therapeutic relationship I will help you explore, understand, and bring about the changes you want.

I believe that you have the ability to achieve fulfilling life goals and to make healthy life choices for yourself. As a mental health therapist, my job is to be the tool to assist you in the decision-making process and to achieve those goals. I have worked across all levels of care - from outpatient therapy services all the way up to psychiatric hospitals - while treating a variety of issues for teens and adults.

My clients are often those struggling with anxiety, self-worth, and life transitions/adjustments. I also have particular specialities and experience with grief, substance addictions or those who are the loved one of a person with addictions, and trauma. When you read the word "trauma" it doesn't have to mean only abuse, car accidents, etc. There are various stressful life experiences that register as trauma, such as divorce, neglect/abandonment, health related issues and diagnoses, miscarriages, and many more. All that is needed from you is a desire to be present in the counseling space. The rest we walk through together.

We're all works in progress. I believe in your ability to progress toward a freer self. The clients who begin work with me aren't free--they are constrained in a number of ways: depression, anxiety, disordered eating, low self-esteem, fear of intimacy, or impulsive behaviors. I see my work with you as helping you find the way back to your true self, where feelings, thoughts, desires, and hopes are revealed and honored, instead of tyrannized and discounted, sometimes by your own self.

Each of us shapes and is shaped by the relationships we have with others, with our bodies, with our stories, with our cultures, and with our worlds. We find ourselves here and now because of where we’ve been and what has happened, because of how we carry our experiences forward and how they have made us. I am awed by the creative resilience with which we integrate or shoulder the burdens we’ve felt. I find astonishing and courageous the ways in which we not only survive, but find ways to thrive, to express ourselves, and live into the fullness of human experience despite those things that have hurt us and that hurt us now.

Asking for help when dealing with mental health issues takes great courage. As your therapist, I will offer you presence, focused attention and a collaborative effort to understand your inner life. Together, we will work to bring about the changes necessary to empower you to live authentically, with purpose, and to achieve your full potential. I tend to work well with individuals who see their mental health as a journey or who are motivated to understand and work through the underlying causes of their difficulties in longer-term therapeutic relationships.

**EVENING APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE** I enjoy working with individuals, marriages, and couples who have the courage to enter the heartache of their past or current struggles, and creatively collaborate to find new ways to thrive and live and love more fully. I have experience with anxiety, depression, anger, grief, marital dissastifaction, OCD, and divorce. As a professional counselor, my goal is to provide a safe and nurturing environment where a person can acknowledge their current limitations and begin to move forward in positive strides.

I help gifted, hurting individuals and couples, often ages 30-60, experience relief from the loneliness and destructive behaviors that arise from trauma and addiction. I work with individual survivors of physical, sexual, and spiritual abuse, as well as couples in distress, moving with them through the cold shadow of death when there seems no way out, to find a way through. My clients find increasing freedom from anxiety, fear, anger, and self-hatred, and release into powerful ways of living. I help people stop running from their pain and shame and start walking in peace to make conscious positive choices.

Accepting online clients in South Carolina and Tennessee: I work with adults (Individuals, couples, and families) across a number of life experiences and mental health issues. I also work with the LGBT+ community as an "out" counselor. I approach counseling from a multicultural and social justice viewpoint and have lived and worked in many countries and US states. I draw from these experiences to understand your unique situation.

My goal as your therapist is to create a relationship that you can use for your own growth. While I only practice evidence-based treatments informed by the latest research, I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. Therapy is an art as much as a science, one that is meant to honor your unique story and specific goals. Together we will explore your inner world and identify the beliefs and patterns that are keeping you from experiencing your life in the healthiest, most fulfilling, and most meaningful ways.

Something's been brewing for a while now, but there's always been more pressing *stuff* that needs your attention and plenty of distractions to keep you occupied. But lately those obligations and distractions aren't enough and you're stuck with those thoughts that won't go away, and that nagging feeling in your stomach that can no longer be ignored. You like to feel in control and capable--able to handle things on your own, but these are uncharted waters and there's no map in sight. What's more is that things that may never have been issues before are all of a sudden becoming problems you didn't know you had.