What's My Approach to Therapy?
Feeling disconnected from your partner or struggling to find meaning in your personal relationships? Whether you’re stuck in repetitive arguments, craving deeper intimacy, or longing to better understand yourself, you don’t have to navigate this alone. After 15 years of experience in pastoral counseling, I chose to pursue a master's in Marriage and Family Therapy. I specialize in helping couples rebuild connection, strengthen communication, and rediscover joy together. I support individuals who want greater self-awareness, healthier relationships, or personal clarity—offering a warm, collaborative environment tailored to your needs.
Through a compassionate and structured approach, I guide individuals & couples to uncover and address emotional patterns that influence their relationships. This process enhances communication, rebuilds trust, and deepens emotional connections. Whether you’re repairing challenges or strengthening a connection, I offer a safe space to help you grow together.
I understand how painful it can be to feel disconnected from the people you love most. You’re not alone in this struggle, and I’m here to help. With compassion and evidence-based techniques, we can work together to rediscover connection and create a relationship built on trust and understanding. Take the first step—clarity and growth are within reach.
My Practice & Services
Clarity Therapy is a counseling practice based in Middle Tennessee, with offices in Franklin and Murfreesboro. Co-founded by Robert Russell and Tyler Flowers, both marriage and family therapists, Clarity Therapy offers a warm, collaborative environment where individuals, couples, and groups can explore the deeper patterns shaping their lives. Rooted in evidence-based approaches like emotionally focused therapy (EFT) and internal family systems (IFS), our work focuses on helping clients find courage, authenticity, and connection. Whether addressing relationship challenges, anxiety, or recovery, Clarity Therapy provides a space for meaningful change—where clients can gain insight, build emotional resilience, and move toward a life marked by greater clarity and purpose.
How Psychotherapy Can Help
Psychotherapy offers a space to understand yourself more deeply, heal emotional wounds, and create meaningful change. It?s not about fixing what?s broken, but about uncovering what?s been hidden?your strength, clarity, and capacity for connection. Through this process, you learn to respond to life rather than react to it.
My View on the Purpose of Psychotherapy
The purpose of therapy is not simply symptom relief, but transformation. It?s about cultivating awareness, courage, and compassion so that you can live in alignment with your values. Healing happens when we can safely explore both pain and possibility in the presence of another human being.
My Therapy Focus
My focus is helping individuals and couples move from disconnection to connection?within themselves and with others. I work with clients to understand their emotional patterns, address the root causes of distress, and build the tools for lasting growth and relational health.
What I Usually Need to Know to Help
To help effectively, I need to know your story?what matters most to you, what you?ve tried, and where you feel stuck. I?m less interested in labels and more focused on the patterns, emotions, and unmet needs that shape your experience.
My Guiding Ethical Principles
Integrity, authenticity, and respect guide everything I do. I honor your autonomy, protect your confidentiality, and commit to creating a safe and nonjudgmental space where your story can unfold at its own pace.
On the Fence About Going to Therapy?
It?s completely normal to feel uncertain about starting therapy. Many people worry about what it means to open up or whether it will help. My invitation is simple?come once, and see how it feels. You don?t have to commit to the process all at once.
Important Factors for Choosing a Therapist
The most important factor is the connection you feel with your therapist. Skills and experience matter, but trust, safety, and collaboration are what allow therapy to work. You should feel seen, understood, and accepted.
What I Say to People Concerned about the Therapy Process
Therapy isn?t about being judged?it?s about being understood. You set the pace. My role is to walk with you, not to push or pull. Many clients find that what starts as anxiety about the process becomes relief in having a space where they can finally breathe.
Why Going to Therapy Does Not Mean You are Weak or Flawed
Seeking therapy is an act of courage, not weakness. It takes strength to face what?s painful and to invest in your growth. Therapy is for people who are willing to do the hard work of healing and becoming more whole.
Importance of the Client-Therapist Alliance
Research consistently shows that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is the best predictor of positive outcomes. When you feel safe, understood, and supported, real change becomes possible. That alliance is the foundation for everything we do.
My View on the Nature of 'Disorders'
I don?t see people as disordered?I see them as doing their best to cope with pain, trauma, and unmet needs. What gets labeled as a ?disorder? often makes perfect sense once we understand the story behind it. Healing begins when shame is replaced with understanding.
The Duration and Frequency of Therapy
Therapy is not one-size-fits-all. Some people benefit from short-term work focused on specific goals, while others find value in a longer journey of growth and self-discovery. We?ll collaborate to find the rhythm that best supports your needs and life.
What Makes up a Problem?
Problems often form when pain meets isolation. When we feel alone with our struggles, they grow heavier. Therapy helps unpack not just the problem itself, but the emotions, beliefs, and experiences that surround it?allowing healing to begin from the inside out.
