Our Therapy Process
Getting Started
Do intake paperwork
We’ll email you a link from our client portal to fill out your paperwork securely online
We’re happy to help you fill in the paperwork however is easiest for you! We can help you over the phone, or give you a printed hard copy to complete if you prefer.
Getting to your session
Online appointments
You’ll receive an email with your secure telehealth link and instructions from our client portal.
If you’re on a laptop or desktop computer, you just click the link in your email. If you’re on a tablet or phone, you’ll download an app to open your appointment link.
In-person appointments
We’re easy to get to at the corner of Maryland Way and Winners Circle in the Maryland Farms area of Brentwood, just barely across the Nashville/Davidson County line.
The main entrance is at the drive-through portico near the flag pole.
When you enter, the elevator is directly in front of you. Take the elevator to the 2nd floor.
When the elevator doors open, our glass doors are directly across from the elevator - you might notice our plants, hanging lanterns, tea/snack bar, and friendly reception window.
Come on in! There’s an electronic keypad lock on the door that may make you think it’s locked, but it’s unlocked during appointment hours.
Check in - use our digital check-in tablet at our tea/snack bar to let us know you’ve arrived and request assistance if you need it.
Help yourself to refreshments and kick back in our cozy waiting nooks, and we’ll come get you at your appointment time.
Therapy Process
Your 1st session
“The Intake Session.” Your first appointment lasts about 50 minutes, and we'll go over the following:
𖥸 some basic business and therapy information like confidentiality, payments, etc.
𖥸 your intake forms
𖥸 the concerns that have brought you in, to whatever degree you are ready to talk about them
𖥸 your specific hopes or goals for therapy, and how we might go about collaborating to help you work toward them
𖥸 there’s no pressure to get the entire history told, or all the circumstances or symptoms explained in this one session. What’s important is that you feel like we’re getting it. (Often there’s so much to say, and the time goes surprisingly fast when someone makes space for you to talk. And if you’re not sure what to talk about, we know just what to gently ask you, so there’s no pressure either way.)
Feel free to schedule an in-depth 75 minute session for your first meeting if you’d prefer to knock out your intake and start digging deep in your very first session. It’s sort of like two sessions in one for those who feel comfortable kickstarting the process quickly.
2nd Session, onward
Here’s where we start really digging in (at your pace).
𖥸 You may have thought of things you wanted to mention last time in between sessions, and we’ll make time to hear more about that, or start getting more details on what’s going on.
𖥸 Truly, our goal is to be present to your needs, and we’ll make space for whatever you need, whether it’s venting, complaining, reconnecting to your emotions and body, doing deep trauma work, or helping you set up practical accommodations or coping skills if you need.
Along the Way
This process belongs to you.
𖥸 You are welcome to let us know if you feel drawn to or want to avoid any therapy techniques or modalities - and you definitely don’t have to come in knowing what to ask for.
𖥸 Your therapeutic experience is yours and yours alone, and we will help you attune to your needs and offer the support that feels right to you.
Therapy is always a matter of the right “medicine,” at the right dose, at the right time.
𖥸 What’s worked for others or for you in the past may be ineffective or even detrimental today.
𖥸 Attunement to you, right in the moment, is the standard we’re after, and one main skill we hope you take away from your therapy process with us.
This session, and for as long as you need, is also about letting your therapist earn your trust.
𖥸 You don’t have to share anything you’re not ready to process yet. You don’t ever have to answer any questions we ask, and we always admire you for asking for what you need. Again, what’s important is that you’re feeling heard, seen, and like we’re really getting it.
𖥸 Safety is such a big part of the process of growing or healing up. We’ll be focusing on keeping things emotionally safe for you in session, and may start to help you feel out the safe/supportive places in your life, and…the less safe spaces. This step is especially important if you’re planning to do trauma work, and we’ll help guide you through it in a way that feels best to you.
𖥸 If you’ve requested a diagnosis for insurance out-of-network reimbursement, we’ll also really dig into how you’re experiencing the tough stuff and how it is making your life harder right now. If you’re wanting a diagnosis, we usually take 2-4 sessions to really get to know you and your lived experience so that we’re not slapping a judgment on you from atop some sterile ivory tower.