Insight Counseling Centers exists to restore lives to wholeness – mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We delight in the opportunity to assist older adults in healing mental health struggles, emotional pain, spiritual wounds, and relationship challenges. Thanks to funding from the West End Home Foundation, Insight is able to provide counseling to older adults on an income-based fee scale, making therapy more affordable to those who are often on a fixed income.
Bernie came to Insight with hurt and confusion around her family relationships. After years of supporting other women who struggle with co-dependency, she suddenly recognized the pattern in her own life.
“I have had a longstanding very difficult relationship with my daughter. Being a co-dependent, you sort of divide yourself, and I realized I was dividing myself between my daughter and my husband.”
“I really felt inside of me it was time to do something about this relationship, to really look at it.”
Bernie reached out to her congregation in Murfreesboro for help, and they recommended Insight Counseling Centers. Working with her therapist has been very illuminating and affirming for her. Now in her eighties, she continues to learn more about herself, “Never before have I ever realized that there is more to me than what I thought. There’s so much more.”
“To have someone be on my side and tell me who I am, and for me to remember who I am, is just such a blessing. You’ve got to find out who you really are and who you’re really meant to be. I just want to thank Insight Counseling for giving me the opportunity of growing, for showing me how I could continue to be more of who God wants me to be.”
In 2021, we served 63 clients like Bernie in our Older Adult Care Program with a total of 349 counseling sessions.
Our therapists see clients in person at eight office locations across Middle Tennessee – in Brentwood, Clarksville, Donelson, Franklin, Hendersonville, Nashville (2 offices), and Murfreesboro. Additionally, we are able to serve anyone who resides in the state of Tennessee through telehealth.
Telehealth, or online therapy as it’s also called, allows clients to speak to a therapist in their home through a video conferencing application on a computer or mobile device. Telehealth can be a great option for those who have transportation issues, unique scheduling concerns, or who haven’t found a counselor nearby who meets their needs.
Last year, the clients in our Older Adult Care Program overwhelmingly chose to receive therapy sessions through telehealth, with 81% of sessions being provided this way.
During a telehealth session, the therapist connects with the client from a secure device in a private location, just like they do for in-person therapy sessions. At Insight, we connect with clients through the popular app, Zoom. Telehealth through Zoom is HIPAA compliant, with data in motion encrypted at the application layer using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
We began offering telehealth services in 2020. We planned to start offering telehealth that year in the fall, but when the COVID-19 pandemic reached Middle Tennessee in early March, our team jumped into action, and therapists and clients began meeting online within a couple of weeks. Since then, we’ve expanded our reach through telehealth to 34 counties in Tennessee.
Our therapists are available to help with issues related to life transitions, caregiving, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, trauma, addiction recovery, and relationships, among others. When someone reaches out to schedule an appointment, our Intake Practitioners guide them through the process of connecting with a therapist, step by step. It’s important to us that our clients feel empowered to choose a therapist they feel comfortable with and who will best meet their needs. Not everyone will click with the same therapist, and that’s okay! That’s why it’s also important to us to cultivate diversity on our team of therapists. Insight contracts with therapists who are diverse in clinical experience, race, gender, religion, and age.
Therapy helps not only individuals but families and couples as well.
We recently served a couple who are in their seventies. In addition to being married, they work together. They noticed a breakdown in their communication because they were blurring “talking as business partners” with “talking as a married couple.” They sought therapy with Insight to address their desire to navigate these two roles differently.
Through couples’ therapy they learned communication tools and listening exercises. They reached a place where they feel good about their communication. They shared that they would be willing to work with their therapist again if they discover a need to do so. They claim to have her on speed dial!
Healing and strengthening relationships has a positive ripple effect, which creates a healthy family, a healthy workplace, a healthy faith community, a healthy neighborhood, and a healthy world.
Written by: Abbie Culbertson, Director of Marketing and Communications, Insight Counseling Centers
