Good Questions

My approach is relational and emotionally focused — which means we look at how your early experiences of connection, and sometimes disconnection, shaped the patterns you live with now. I draw primarily on Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), rooted in attachment theory, alongside Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which helps us move toward what matters even when the hard stuff is still present.In practice, this means our work will be honest, curious, and grounded in what's real for you — not in a checklist or a diagnosis.

No — I'm not a faith-based counselor. That said, I deeply respect the role that spirituality, faith, and meaning-making play in people's lives, and those things are always welcome in the room if they're part of your story. If you're navigating deconstruction or a faith transition, this page might be helpful.I work with people across the full spectrum — those with deep faith commitments, those who are questioning or deconstructing, and those with no religious background at all. Whatever your relationship with faith or spirituality, you don't need to set it aside here.

Both — and honestly, working with individuals as well as relationships is one of the things I love most about this work. Whether you're coming on your own, with a partner, a family member, a friend, or a colleague, what matters to me is the relationship itself and the people in it. If it's an important connection in your life, it's worth tending to.

Yes. Relationship counseling isn't limited to couples. I work with friends, family members, colleagues, and others who want to navigate a significant relationship with more clarity, honesty, and care. If there's an important relationship in your life that feels stuck or strained, that's enough of a reason to reach out.

Yes, fully and without reservation. I work with people across the full spectrum of gender identities, sexualities, and relationship structures. You don't need to explain or justify yourself here — just show up as you are.

Yes — and I want to name that directly because I know it's not always easy to find a therapist you think you'll actually connect with. I work with men regularly and take seriously the particular ways that showing up for therapy can feel unfamiliar or uncomfortable at first. You don't have to have it figured out before you reach out.

Tell me. Seriously — I'd rather you name what didn't work than carry it quietly into our sessions together. Sometimes the approach wasn't the right fit. Sometimes the timing wasn't right. Either way, it matters and it's worth talking about.

Click the "I'm a New Client" button at the top of any page to submit a form and join the waitlist as a private pay client. Typically, the wait is about two to four weeks. I'll reach out after I receive your inquiry and we'll figure out together how to move forward with scheduling.

Mostly, a conversation. We'll talk about what brought you in, what you're hoping for, and a little about how I work. There's no pressure to have everything figured out — most people don't, and that's completely fine. By the end we'll have a sense of whether this feels like a good fit and what working together might look like.

For most clients, especially early in the work, weekly or bi-weekly sessions tend to be the most effective. Consistency matters — it builds momentum and gives us enough continuity to go somewhere meaningful together. That said, we'll talk about what makes sense for you and adjust as we go.

Honestly, it varies — and I'd be skeptical of anyone who gave you a firm number upfront. Some people come for a season and leave with what they needed. Others settle in for longer work. What I can tell you is that we'll check in about it regularly, and you're always in the driver's seat about how long we continue.

I ask for at least 24 hours notice if you need to cancel or reschedule a session. Cancellations with less than 24 hours notice, or missed sessions without notice, are charged the full session fee. I know life happens — if something unexpected comes up, reach out as soon as you can and we'll figure it out together.

Yes — for clients who aren't able to come in person, I offer online sessions across Tennessee and Virginia through a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform. If you're local to East Nashville, I'd always encourage coming in when possible — there's something about being in the room together that the work benefits from. That said, online is a genuine option and the work is real either way.

I'm not accepting new insurance clients — and that's an intentional choice that I think benefits you. When therapy goes through insurance, a diagnosis has to be assigned before we can begin, and that diagnosis goes into your permanent medical record. An insurance company gets to weigh in on how long we work together and what we work on. And much of what I care about most — relationship counseling, premarital work, group therapy — isn't covered at all.Private pay removes all of that. There's no diagnosis required to start. No third party defining what's necessary. Just you, me, and the work that actually matters to you. I've written more about this here if you want the full picture.

Tim Jackson Counseling is a private pay practice and does not bill insurance for new clients. If you have a PPO plan, a superbill is available upon request for potential out-of-network reimbursement. However, Tim Jackson Counseling does not provide a formal diagnosis for new clients, which most insurance plans require for reimbursement. Some plans may still consider a claim without one — we recommend contacting your insurance provider directly to confirm before assuming reimbursement is available.

Yes. Individual therapy sessions qualify as a medical expense under most Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Account plans. It's one of the most underused options for people investing in their mental health — and it can make private pay more accessible than people expect.

No — as a licensed therapist I don't prescribe medication. If medication feels like something helpful to explore alongside therapy, I'm happy to help connect you with a trusted psychiatrist or prescriber. The two can work well together, and I'm glad to be part of that conversation.

EFT is an approach to therapy rooted in attachment science — the understanding that we are fundamentally relational beings shaped by our earliest experiences of connection. In practice it means we slow things down enough to look at what's actually happening beneath the surface — the emotional patterns, the protective responses, the cycles that keep showing up in your relationships and your inner life. When we can understand those patterns from the inside rather than just describe them from the outside, something shifts. EFT is one of the most well-researched approaches in the field, with strong evidence for both individual and relationship work.

ACT starts from an honest premise — the hard stuff isn't going away. Anxiety, difficult thoughts, painful feelings — these are part of being human. What ACT offers is a different relationship with that difficulty. Rather than fighting it or avoiding it, we get curious about it. We learn to observe it without being consumed by it. And from that steadier ground we turn toward your values — what actually matters to you — and start moving toward that life deliberately. ACT builds psychological flexibility, which is a fancy way of saying the capacity to feel hard things and still choose what matters.

They follow a natural arc. EFT helps us understand where you've been — the experiences that shaped your patterns, the emotions driving them. ACT helps us look at where you are now and where you want to go — the values that can guide you, the flexibility to move toward what matters even when it's uncomfortable. Together they become one honest conversation about who you are, what's gotten in the way, and how to move forward in a way that feels true rather than just familiar.

CBT — Cognitive Behavioral Therapy — works primarily with thoughts and behaviors, helping you identify and change unhelpful thinking patterns. It's structured, goal-oriented, and often shorter term. EFT works at a deeper emotional level, focusing on the attachment patterns and emotional cycles beneath behavior rather than the behavior itself. Both have strong research support. The difference is depth and focus — CBT asks what you're thinking and doing, EFT asks what you're feeling and why, and what that feeling is protecting.

Yes — ACT has strong research support specifically for anxiety. Rather than trying to eliminate anxious thoughts and feelings — which tends to make them louder — ACT helps you develop a different relationship with them. You learn to observe anxiety without being consumed by it, and from that steadier place to move toward what matters to you even when the anxiety is still present. Combined with EFT's focus on understanding the emotional patterns driving the anxiety, it's a particularly effective combination.

Attachment-based therapy is rooted in the understanding that our earliest relationships shaped how we connect — with others and with ourselves. Whether closeness feels safe or threatening, how we reach for connection or protect ourselves from it, the patterns we carry into every relationship we have — these all have roots in early attachment experiences. Attachment-based therapy doesn't dwell in the past for its own sake. It uses understanding of the past to make sense of the present — and to build something different going forward.

Sometimes it's clear — you're coming with a partner or you're coming alone. But sometimes it's genuinely both. Individual therapy can shift relational dynamics profoundly even without a partner in the room. And couples therapy often surfaces individual work worth doing separately. If you're unsure, the consultation conversation is a good place to figure it out together. There's no wrong starting point.

A few things matter more than credentials alone. Do they have a clear, coherent approach — not just a list of fifteen modalities? Does their bio sound like a real person rather than a template? Do you feel something when you read how they describe their work? The therapeutic relationship is one of the strongest predictors of whether therapy actually helps — so choosing someone whose voice and values resonate with you matters more than finding whoever is closest or cheapest.

When therapy goes through insurance a diagnosis has to be assigned before sessions can begin, that diagnosis goes into your permanent medical record, and an insurance company gets to define what's necessary and for how long. Private pay removes all of that. We begin without a diagnosis, work at the pace that's right for you, and focus on what actually matters rather than what's billable. It also means relationship counseling, premarital work, and group therapy are available — none of which insurance covers.

Start with directories like Psychology Today and Therapy Den — both allow you to filter by location, specialty, and approach. Read bios carefully. Look for someone whose voice sounds like a real person, who names a clear therapeutic approach, and whose description of their work resonates with what you're looking for. Then reach out. Trust how that conversation feels.

Fees vary widely — typically between $100 and $250 per session for private pay therapists in Nashville depending on experience, specialization, and location. My fee is $175 per 50 minute session. If you have a PPO insurance plan you may be able to submit for partial reimbursement through out-of-network benefits. HSA and FSA funds also apply. The actual out-of-pocket cost is often lower than people expect once those options are factored in.

Then this is exactly the right time to start. Most people who reach out for the first time don't have it figured out — they just know something needs to change. You don't need to know what's wrong or be able to name it clearly. You just have to be willing to show up and have an honest conversation. That's enough to begin.

Yes — premarital counseling is one of the things I'm most passionate about offering. I work with couples preparing for marriage who want to start strong and stay that way — not just get through the wedding, but actually build something that can hold them through what comes after.If you want to know more about what we cover and how it works, the premarital counseling page has the full picture.

My office is at 1530 Riverside Drive in East Nashville, Tennessee 37206. It's a warm, relaxed space — intentionally not clinical. There's parking available and the office is accessible.I also work with clients online across Tennessee and Virginia through a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform. If you're local I'd always encourage coming in when possible, but online is a genuine option for those who need it.

Yes. Depression often shows up differently than people expect — not always as sadness, but as flatness, disconnection, a loss of motivation or meaning, or simply going through the motions without feeling present in your own life. It frequently travels alongside anxiety and relationship difficulties rather than arriving on its own.In our work together we explore what's underneath the depression — the patterns, the losses, the places where something went quiet that used to feel alive. Using EFT and ACT we work to understand what's happening and find a path toward something that feels more like living and less like getting through.

Yes. Grief is one of the most human experiences there is — and one of the most isolating. Whether you're navigating the loss of a person, a relationship, an identity, a life you thought you'd have, or something harder to name — grief deserves real space and real attention.I don't believe in grief timelines or stages you're supposed to move through in order. I believe grief asks to be felt, witnessed, and gradually integrated — not fixed or resolved on a schedule. If you're carrying loss and need somewhere to bring it, I'd be honored to sit with you in it.

Yes — and more than most people expect. When one partner is reluctant or not ready, individual therapy can still shift the dynamic of a relationship significantly. Understanding your own patterns, your emotional responses, and how you show up in the relationship often changes the relationship itself — even without your partner in the room.Sometimes individual work becomes the bridge toward both partners eventually being willing to come together. Sometimes it stands on its own. Either way, one person doing real work is never wasted effort.

That's one of the most important questions you can ask — and worth checking in on regularly rather than waiting until you're not sure it is.Some signs are subtle at first. You might notice you're reacting differently to situations that used to send you spiraling. You might feel a little more like yourself. Conversations that used to go sideways might land differently. You might find yourself understanding why you do what you do — and that understanding starting to create some room.Progress in therapy is rarely linear. Some sessions feel like breakthroughs. Others feel like you're covering ground you've already covered. Both are part of the work. What I can tell you is that we'll check in about it regularly — your sense of whether this is useful matters, and I take that seriously.