FAQ

Good question; glad to answer.

Unless charged for additional time, sessions run 50 minutes.

I need ten minutes between sessions to write notes, place necessary calls, stretch… I need the last ten minutes of the hour to prepare for the next client (just as I needed the ten minutes before to prepare for you!)

That’s important!

Currently, my regular fee is $150, although I do offer sliding-scale rates to a certain number of clients who need it.

Looks like you’re ready to get serious!

Send an email through this site, and I’ll reply as quickly as I can. Alternatively, you call me at (615) 289-6546.

When you book an appointment with me, you’re effectively reserving that time for yourself. If you don’t use that time, it is lost.

When I have a 24-hour notice, I can offer the space to other people who have a chance to arrange their schedules to come.

If cancellations come with more than 24 hours, there’s no charge for the cancelled appointment.

With less than 24 hours, there’s not much I can do to find someone who would like that hour, so I will charge half the fee for our time. If you don’t call and don’t show up, I will charge you for the full hour.

I have worked with children, adolescents, college students, adults, and seniors.

Typically, I work with clients from their twenties to eighties, with individuals, couples, men, and women.

My specialty is working with survivors of sexual, spiritual, emotional, and physical abuse, as well as with couples in distress.

A typical session can include relaxation training, breathwork, and Enneagram analysis; but primarily our work will be existential and psychodynamic in nature.

That means: talking about what is really going on in your waking and dreaming life, what is haunting and compelling you, how the struggles or traumas of your early (or recent!) life are keeping you from living fully and freely.

I listen for the energetic pulse in your story, often feeling what is difficult for you to say and probing gently there.

Most people don’t; that usually becomes clearer during the work of therapy.

The amazing thing to me is that we bring our issues with us wherever we go; so whether we talk about a funny dream you had last night, a nagging stress with a neighbor, or loneliness/fear/anger in a relationship, we will be walking through the landscape of your psyche, the geography of the unconscious.

My job is to explore this land with you, helping you understand your own topography so that you can decide what needs work, where bridges are needed, what mountains need climbing, and where the pits and valleys are.

Some things in real life will continue to be hard, but at least they won’t keep surprising you – and you won’t continue re-creating those painful situations.

I rarely give ‘assignments’ to clients between sessions, though I would encourage you to journal, record your dreams, and speak kindly to yourself.

Rather, I want you to notice how you talk to yourself, whether in shaming or cold words, and to slowly turn toward compassion for yourself. Would you speak to a child that way?

I often ask clients to use one of more Enneagram assessment tools. You may find that you are interested in learning more about particular aspects of our work, and I will be delighted to share resources with you! 

My formal training was in psychology classes at UCLA and my graduate work at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology where I earned an M.A. (and the Deans’ Award for Integrating Psychology and Spirituality).

My doctoral work focused on monastic spirituality as a pathway into couples’ intimacy. I completed a two-year program in Advanced Psychodynamic Psychotherapy prior to my licensure in Tennessee.

I won’t hit you over the head with anything!

It might help you to read my page on ‘why a pastoral psychotherapist’ to know better how I understand the integration of psychotherapy and spirituality.

Maybe this will help as well: I’ve often heard it said that religion is for those afraid of going to hell; spirituality is for those who have been there.

Yes. I will hold it under confidentiality.

Patient-therapist confidentiality is like client-lawyer confidentiality.

I am obligated to keep what you tell me strictly to myself, unless you are at risk of harm to yourself or another person.

There is also this exception to confidentiality in my case: I may discuss part of our work without identifying you for supervisory oversight. That means that you will sometimes be getting the benefit of more than one caring therapist.

My supervision has been excellent: I am truly fortunate.

I suppose the main thing that’s left to say is that I deeply care about your struggles, because I have deeply struggled myself.

I’m not a psychotherapist because it’s interesting: I’m a psychotherapist because it has saved my life.