This group is intended for female-identifying clients ages 16+ who are survivors of trauma and/or struggle with chronic stress, anxiety, or depression. In this group, the facilitators will use Somatic Experiencing approaches, mindfulness practice, and therapeutic yoga to help clients renegotiate trauma and look forward to healing.

When: Group will meet Wednesdays at 5:30 for 8-weeks.
Deadline to enroll is January 6th. Drbarbie@simplybeingtherapy.com 615-601-1182
Where: Berry Hill
Facilitator: Dr. Barbie Hessel, LCSW, SEP, SP and Christy Sidwell, LMSW

Contact:  Drbarbie@simplybeingtherapy.com or 615-601-1182

February & March 2020

This is a psychoeducational experience designed to educate, empower, and prepare young adult women to seek and experience the sexual satisfaction they deserve. Over the course of eight weeks, meetings will cover topics including sex in American society, the body, birth control, consent, sensual relaxation and mindfulness techniques, clitoral stimulation, masturbation, and intimate communication. The group experience will center around a safe environment for women to come together to discuss and learn about their sexual selves in a nonjudgmental way.

When: Meetings will take place on Thursday nights in February and March
Cost:  $20 per person per meeting.
Email Terah Kimbrell for more information: terahkimbrell@gmail.com

Are you struggling with depression and/or anxiety due to spiritual abuse? Are you struggling with a sense of isolation and loneliness from losing your faith community? Do you feel misunderstood and minimized? Are you struggling with pervasive feelings of guilt and shame? Are you having a hard time understanding and reconciling your sexuality with the teachings of a particular religion? Have you experienced relationship fallout due to spiritual abuse and religious disagreement or trauma? Have you been experiencing nightmares or terrifying thoughts due to spiritual abuse? If you are an adult struggling with the impacts of religious trauma, please know that you are not alone. This group may be for you. This is a closed group limited to 6 members where we will openly discuss and process our relationship to religion and spirituality. We will be working towards building a renewed sense of identity, having a place for honest feedback, and experiencing the shared struggles of people with similar stories. 

When: Thursdays from 4:00 – 5:30 pm
Where: The Greystone Retreat, 2710 Greystone Road 
Facilitator: Brian T. Murphy
More Information & Contact: brian@briantmurphycounseling.com ; 615-656-8928 (call or text) http://www.thegreystoneretreat.com/programs/117/Recovery-from-Religious-Trauma.aspx 

When: Tuesdays, June 4th to July 30th, 7-9am CST/8-10am EST
Where: Online, on Zoom – a HIPAA protected video platform.
Facilitator: Corey L. Emerick, PhD, LPC-MHSP, C-IAYT, RYT-500 Payment: $38-56 per group based on payment option selected. Visit santavie.com for payment options.

Group Overview: We will meet for 2 hours every week, to journey inward and explore the following themes: body connection, awareness, acceptance, choice, discernment, truth, truth-in-action, and flow. An individual silent day will take place approximately midway through our 9 weeks; guidance will be offered to plan this special day.

Group Format:
*Brief centering practice
*Short check-in about the theme of the previous week
*Introduction to the new theme of the week
*Embodied movement infusing the current theme into a body-centered practice
*Savasana (or resting pose)
*Sitting in stillness – time will increase gradually
*Personal reflection and/or journaling
*Open space for sharing while we bear witness and engage in actively attuned listening
*Take home practices will be offered

**No yoga experience, great mobility, or flexibility required – we can learn to be present and in our body in any position/pose, including sitting, standing, and laying down.

For more information or to sign up, please visit santavie.com, contact Corey at (860) 543-5207, or email: corey@santavie.com

Mentalization-Based Treatment group:

PSYCHē has started a new group held on Tuesdays from 5:00-6:00pm. This group is an empirically validated process group designed to treat Borderline Personality Disorder as an alternative to DBT Skills groups. The aim of this particular group is for members to gain a better understanding of themselves as well as the perspectives of others to improve interpersonal relations.

The group will be $250.00 per month on a 12-week rolling basis. A referral form filled out by the member’s individual therapist or psychiatrist is all they need to begin.

Please contact us at 615-274-8400 or info@psychepllc.com if you are interested!

Therapeutic Support Groups for Transgender and Non-Binary teens or young adults. 3 separate groups are offered: Middle School, High School and Young Adult (18-28). Groups offer safe space for education and processing Gender Dysphoria and Mental Health, relationship-building, social skills and navigating school and work life.

WHEN: Monthly
WHERE: 211 Donelson Pike, Ste 113 Nashville, TN. 37214
CONTACT: Jennifer Strickland, LPC/MHSP at jstricklandlpc@gmail.com

What defines a narcissistic family? In this family, the needs of the parent take precedence over the needs of the child. The narcissistic parent, defending against an underlying sense of inadequacy, recruits her child to “complete” the parent’s sense of self. The child is asked to provide and/or be whatever the parent needs in order to feel whole. As a result, this child becomes an adult with such personality traits as a lack of self-confidence, a chronic need to please, difficulty being assertive, a vulnerability to depression, and she has great difficulty identifying and acting upon her own feelings, wants, and needs.

Sometimes a narcissistic parent is easy to spot. She is relentlessly critical and judgmental, in her attempts to mold a more perfect child. It is her way, or no way. Other narcissistic parents, however, are far more covert in their neglect of the child’s emotional needs. This parent may look good to the outside world, yet she is subtly manipulative, punitive, and withholding of love and approval in response to the child’s non-conforming behaviors. In either situation, the child grows up with a harsh, negative sense of self, as if the withholding parent lives on inside her.

Many adult children of narcissistic parents choose narcissistic partners, and then re-enact the childhood drama, trying to get volatile, self-centered partners to love them. As Dr. Elan Gloms has written in her book, Trapped in the Mirror, about her own and her friends’ struggles “Our unconscious goal was to turn these men into loving, giving, and available partners. It was like trying to carve Mt. Rushmore with a toothpick.”

What are the goals of a therapy group for adult children of narcissistic parents? One goal is to challenge the negative self-image, which was put in place by endless parental demands for change. Also, when the adult child struggles to birth a self, she may worry that she needs too much and has become self-focused, like her narcissistic parent. The members of the group, who have shared similar struggles, can function as more reliable mirrors, providing acceptance in place of critical judgments.

The adult child of a narcissistic parent needs a place in which to honor a positive self. Describing adult children of narcissists, Dr. Golomb writes, “We are like bonsai plants, with prior years of confinements, suppression, and reshaping. What is our natural shape? It takes years to uncover, as we revert by degrees to growing.”

WHEN: Every Tuesday evening, 6:00 until 7:15 p.m.
WHERE: 2323 21st Avenue South, Suite 401, Nashville, TN 37212
CONTACT: Philip Chanin, Ed.D, ABPP, CGP at email: philchanin@gmail.com
WEBSITE: www.drphilchanin.com

“The curse upon men at the moment is that they have been driven to seek from women what can only be found among other men or in community and decent work: a sense of connection, justification, shared power and mystery…There is at the center of men’s lives a sexual despair and isolation stemming from their separation from other men, the absence of shared male tenderness and wisdom.
I see the same thing in all my friends: a yearning not only for women but also for fathers, sons, and comrades…Without comrades, men bend and wither in relation to women, they come to them lacking conviction, pride, and potency, and what vanishes then is all real chance for softness, tenderness, or joy.” (In a Man’s Time, by Peter Marin. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974, pp. 214-215)

“When men speak of fearing intimacy what they really mean is that they fear subjugation. In a visceral way, most men in our culture experience vulnerability as opening themselves up to be overrun.” (How Can I Get Through to You: Reconnecting Men and Women, by Terrence Real. New York: Scribners, 2002, p. 245)

As men, we continue to struggle in our relationships with women, as Peter Marin observed forty years ago, in part because we are isolated from the support and nurturing, in his words, of “a community of loving male comrades.” Often, absorbed in our roles as workers and husbands and fathers, we don’t begin to know how to even locate such a community.

As men, we were not socialized to share our struggles and our “quiet desperation,” in Thoreau’s words, with other men. Terrence Real, in his book I Don’t Want To Talk About It, writes, “Men are not supposed to be vulnerable. Pain is something we rise above.” (p. 22). As we encounter problems–often in the relationships that matter most to us–we are hesitant to voice our pain, and lack a community of comrades who can resonate with our situation and provide us with much needed support.

M. Scott Peck began his best seller, The Road Less Travelled, with the sentence, “Life is difficult.” Yes, life is difficult and being a man is difficult. “Fearing subjugation,” in Terrence Real’s words, it is hard to know when to take a stand in our relationships, or when to yield.

This is a group for men who wish to better understand ourselves and improve our relationships. In each group meeting, men will be encouraged to explore common relationship issues and concerns. We will become comrades for each other.

WHEN: Every Wednesday evening, 6:00 to 7:15 p.m.
WHERE: 2323 21st Avenue South, Suite 401, Nashville, TN 37212
CONTACT: Philip Chanin, Ed.D, ABPP, CGP at email: philchanin@gmail.com
WEBSITE: www.drphilchanin.com

Weekly 90-min. group to learn coping skills in the 4 DBT modules of mindfulness, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance. Great for clients who struggle with intense emotions and urges. Includes skills for clients with substance use disorders. Requirements are that members be in individual therapy, and that they commit to completing all 4 units (approx. 6-7 months).

WHEN: Tuesdays from 6:00 – 7:30 eight consecutive weeks beginning February 12th
WHERE:  4535 Harding Rd., Ste 200, Nashville, TN 37205
FACILITATOR: Linda Hardy, LPC
CONTACT: Phone/text: (615) 645-2296 Email: linda@lindahardylpc.com

Are you a recent Counseling graduate? New to the Counseling licensure process? 

I invite you to join the Tennessee LPC-MHSP Licensure Support Group on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/434573660309867/

Here you will find support and encouragement for new graduates and mental health professionals in Tennessee in the licensure process. The goal is to provide a safe environment to support each other in the midst of struggles and triumphs in the licensure process. We’re here to encourage and support you and have some cool things brewing for 2019. 

Join us! Let’s keep the positivity and good vibes going! 

This is a group for adults who are currently in individual therapy or who have done a significant amount of their own work. Rather than being theme or issue oriented, this group deals with any and all facets of life. The goal is to heal and deepen the relationship with self and others through group process. The style of the group is informed by Modern Analytic Group Psychotherapy, and will be facilitated by Michael Murphy who is a Certified Group Psychotherapist.

When: Thursdays 5:00 – 6:30 pm
Cost:  $60.00 per session
Location: 205 Powell Place, Brentwood, TN 37027
Contact:
Michael Murphy: (615) 370-3701
mmurphy.lcsw@comcast.net

Email jenna@jenniferlongmire.com for a flyer with more information.  Join other women seeking spiritual community that values the Divine Feminine in a safe and sacred space.  I have had a few requests for a therapist/healer’s circle with a special focus on self-care and spiritual nourishment.  I’d be happy to add another monthly women’s circle for therapists if there is enough interest.
WHEN: We will meet monthly starting November 8th, 5:30-7:00
WHERE: at my office building and moving to Art & Soul in December.
CONTACT: Please email questions and referrals to jenna@jenniferlongmire.com 

Cynthia Ezell, LMFT, and Jamie Kyne, PHD have been offering a twice-monthly group supervision experience for two years and are now offering an addition second group which currently has two openings

The group supervision includes didactic reflections on case presentations with special emphasis given to: (a) technique, or what to say and when to say it, (b) the use of transference and countertransference, (c) a pragmatic approach to the use of theory and concepts, and (d) practice management concerns.

This group has been designed for experienced therapists who are or want to be curious about psychotherapy, be personally and intellectually challenged, and keep improving their skills and useful knowledge base in providing psychotherapy. The group is limited to only six members so that all participants have ample opportunity to utilize feedback and discussions during group meetings. The fee per group meeting is $120 payable monthly. There will be no charge for meetings that are cancelled due to holidays. Meetings will be held on alternate Monday mornings from 9:15-10:45  at 1901 Acklen Avenue, in Hillsboro Village. It’s possible the group could meet at another time if it was more convenient to all.

About the leaders;

For thirty years Cynthia Ezell has been providing individual, couples, and family therapy in a private practice setting in Nashville as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.  She is a Clinical Member of the American Academy of Marriage and Family Therapists. She is a member and former Chairperson of the Nashville Psychotherapy Institute. She is also a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist and is a Founding Member and former Board member of the Eating Disorder Coalition of Tennessee. Cynthia is a 2009 graduate of the New Directions in Writing program at the Washington Center for Psychoanalysis and is currently a candidate for the MFA in Writing at Spalding University. Cynthia speaks and writes frequently about family issues as well as leading consultation groups for therapists seeking to increase their proficiency in treating couples.

Cynthia’s thinking about the work of psychotherapy has been influenced first by systems theorists like Murray Bowen and Salvador Minuchin and later by John Bowlby, Donald Winnicott, and Heinz Kohut. Her work is significantly informed by the research and writing of John Gottman and Daniel Wile on the treatment of couples in psychotherapy as well as training provided by The Imago Institute and Drs. Ellyn Bader and Peter Pearson.

Jamie Kyne, Ph.D., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. For thirty years he has been involved in providing mental health treatment to individuals, couples, families, and groups in a variety of settings including inpatient hospitals, jails, schools, and private practice. He has also consulted to businesses on matters related to communication, conflict, morale, and leadership in both the not-for-profit and for-profit sectors. He began working with people in the Los Angeles area and moved to Nashville in 1993 and has been in full-time private practice here since 1996. Jamie is a member of the Appalachian Psychoanalytic Association, the American Psychological Association, the Division for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of the American Psychological Association (Div. 39), and the Nashville Psychotherapy Institute. Jamie has served on the Board of the Nashville Psychotherapy Institute including as the Board Chairperson. He has provided supervision and consultation to therapists for the past ten years or so and enjoys speaking on topics related to psychotherapy to a variety of audiences.

Jamie’s thinking about psychotherapy has been influenced by a variety of well-known writers on the topic including: Winnicott, Mitchell, Rogers, Kohut, Stark, and Wachtel (individual therapy); Wile, Schnarch, and Bader (couples therapy); and Friedman (families and organizations). He’s deeply indebted to his long time supervisors Winston Gooden and Karin Ahbel-Rappe.

Please contact either Cynthia  or Jamie if you are interested in learning more about this group.

Cynthia Ezell at cynthiaezellblair@gmail.com  or 615-386-0201

Jamie Kyne at jamiekyne@gmail.com   or   615-383-8844

I would like to announce the opening of an interpersonal process group, which will take place on Wednesday mornings at 8:15 am and will last 75 minutes. The cost will be $90 per person. Group membership shall not be limited by diagnoses, yet suitable referrals shall include individuals whose difficulties center on interpersonal issues, including but not limited to conflict avoidance, difficulty with social/emotional vulnerability, or difficulty demonstrating empathy. If not in weekly individual therapy, group members should be followed by a mental health professional. Please contact me at  to discuss potential referrals to the group.

WHEN: Wednesdays, 8:15 – 10:00 am
COST: $90 per person
CONTACT: dan@nashvillepsych.com or 615-955-0322