OUR THERAPISTS
Gayden Fite, MEd, LPC-MHSP, LICDC, TTS
Gayden Fite is the owner of East Nashville Counseling. Gayden has been in practice for over 20 years and offers general services with special interests in relationship issues, depression, dissociative identity disorder (DID), and LGBT issues. Gayden also offers group therapy sessions for LGBT relationships and for those with DID. You can reach Gayden at
615-440-8909
Julia Hoge- Ed.S, NCC, LPC-MHSP (temp)
Julia Hoge believes in the counseling process; the space it opens internally and the shifting it can provide for clients on their life’s journey. With over a decade of counseling children and adolescents in Metro Nashville Public Schools, she has a unique and expansive experience working with children, adolescents, and their families.
Whether working with children or adult clients, she utilizes each clients’ strengths alongside both attachment-based and trauma-informed lenses to help them meet their counseling goals. Julia incorporates play and art therapy, cognitive strategies, EMDR, Brainspotting, and whole-hearted healing techniques to unearth each client's story and to help them find their own path to healing. She is an ally and advocate for diverse populations and the LGBTQIA+ community and loves working with all clients in an open and caring environment.
Julia is also a consultant for schools to build trauma-sensitive practices, and is an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt.
Telehealth therapy is available, if preferred. To connect with Julia, you can reach her by email to schedule a session. julia@eastnashvillecounseling.com
Ashley Elmquist- Ed.S, NCC, LPC-MHSP (temp)
A major thread in Ashley’s work has been care for families. Having worked in volunteer and professional capacities with children and families for more than 17 years and as a mother of three young children, Ashley has found herself with a deep care for helping people find their own healing to stop cycles of toxic stress. When children or teens feel out of control or parents feel overwhelmed, working through issues that require learning how to emotionally regulate–such as trauma, stress, anxiety, depression, ADD, and OCD–can lead to healing that improves one’s ability to securely connect in relationships. Trauma, which might be described as any disruption in typical development, creates survival responses that can prevent us from finding safety in connections. Ashley’s personal model of counseling, an eclectic combination of attachment theory, CBT, brainspotting, play, artistic expression, and DART therapy, helps clients heal from issues that chronically disrupt relationships and wholehearted living. By developing a great foundation of healthy coping and regulation skills through this model of counseling, moving through trauma to healing becomes that much more possible.
To inquire about in-person or telehealth therapy, contact Ashley at ashleyelmquistlpc@gmail.com.
Tozia Ware- Ed.S, LPC-MHSP (temp), NCC
Tozia is a trauma-informed and psychedelic-assisted therapist passionate about helping individuals heal from trauma and find their inner strength and wisdom. He uses a variety of techniques, including Internal Family Systems, Brainspotting, and Somatic Experiencing, to address anxiety, depression, racial trauma, and complex PTSD. Tozia creates a safe, culturally sensitive space for his clients and those exploring psychedelic medicine. His holistic approach focuses on the whole person, empowering you to overcome challenges and achieve your goals. Ready to begin your healing journey?
Contact Tozia today:
Email: tozia@modernhealingco.com
Phone: 615-502-2115
Danielle Peters - NCC, LPC-MHSP (temp)
Danielle offers psychotherapy for adults (individuals, couples, and groups) and enjoys working with a wide range of people and concerns. Her focus areas include anxiety, shame, perfectionism, relational distress, addictions, betrayal trauma, and complicated grief. Many live with the inner conflict between life’s longings, the pursuit of happiness, and the hope that things are not as they should or could be. Danielle offers a space for clients to grapple with being human - the delightful, confusing, painful, overwhelming, and sorrowful parts — to validate the struggle, expand awareness, repair the hurt, and practice new strategies toward a life of wholeness.
Danielle approaches therapy with a trauma-informed, attachment-focused lens and integrates various theories to promote understanding and change. She has additional training in Marriage & Family Therapy, Brainspotting, Kali Connection Therapy, level 2 Gottman Couples Therapy, Polyvagal Theory, and Partner Betrayal Trauma.
You can reach Danielle at d.peterscounseling@gmail.com or 615-601-2695
Tara Booker, LCSW
Tara Booker is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 10+ years of experience as a therapist. She has a passion for walking alongside clients into the depths of their stories. Tara believes strongly in each person’s ability & right to heal their deepest wounds in hopes to actualize their truest self. With experience in a variety of treatment settings, Tara has seen the many different ways in which a person can be supported in their journey to a greater wellness in life. She sees two of the defining characteristics of her style of therapy as eclectic — using a variety of approaches depending on each person’s needs at a given time — and relational — knowing the quality of the therapeutic relationship is an essential & useful part of one’s ability to heal & grow as they desire. She is skilled at using EMDR, Brainspotting, SomEx (somatic experiential therapy), psychodrama & Internal Family Systems therapies. Tara integrates these models of treatment as well as a variety of approaches that include strengths-based, experiential, attachment-focused, emotion-focused and somatic styles of therapy. She has extensive experience working with addictions and co-occurring disorders, trauma survivors, pervasive mental health problems, and family/relationship issues. Tara believes in the importance & value of supporting the needs related to marginalized communities including the LGBTQIA+ population & those affected by racism & racial trauma.
You can reach Tara at (615) 647-9364 or pearlsofrecovery@gmail.com
Jordan Sanders, LPC-MHSP (T)
Jordan’s approach to therapy is trauma-informed and human-focused, which means he’s knowledgeable and mindful about how past traumatic experiences can impact present-day living. He takes measures to ensure a space of safety is created and maintained by being present, attuned, non-judgmental, accepting, compassionate, and social-justice focused. In his practice, Jordan predominately works with clients who have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), anxiety, depression, spiritual/religious trauma, struggle with family relationships and setting/maintaining boundaries, identify with the LGBTQIA+ community, and who are seeking to do deeper inner-child healing work.
His view on life is that there are absolutely no bad parts of us. There’s nothing broken or “wrong” with you; you aren’t defective, beyond repair, or irredeemable for anything that has happened to you or that you’ve done. His goal is to hold space and be lovingly present as you connect with, process, and heal the emotional blocks that are keeping you stuck. You’ll learn to love the parts of you that feel the most unlovable, unseen, unheard, and unsafe. Through this process, you’ll begin to see the beauty in life by learning to more fully feel and process the pain. In his practice, Jordan uses a diverse set of techniques and therapies ranging from Internal Family Systems (IFS), Brainspotting, Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Gestalt Threapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, Somatic Experiencing Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and Mindfulness-based techniques.
In his free time, Jordan likes to spend time cuddling on the couch with his wife, play with his dog Sunny, snuggle with his cats, go to the movies, do karaoke, spend time in nature, and write poetry.
To connect with Jordan, email at jordan@gentlespiritcounseling.com
Steven Stewart, NCC
Steven is a Nationally Certified Counselor in East Nashville, TN. He has been treating both individuals and clients on the east side since 2012 and supports them to work through problems, change destructive habits, and improve their quality of life. His goals are your goals- he wants each client to find what they want from themselves in their counseling experience. Those things are usually happiness and satisfaction in life, regardless what the individual details are. In addition to being a mental health therapist, he previously had fifteen years as a healthcare executive. To connect with Steven, use the contact info below:
931-284-4822
Kelly VanCleve, Conscious Parenting Coach
Kelly's extensive experience as an educator in Metro Nashville Public Schools has uniquely prepared her to come alongside parents navigating the nuances of raising children today. Trained with the Conscious Parenting Institute and certified as a Conscious Parent Coach, Kelly holds safe space for parents to process the complexities of raising children in every phase and season. Her approach is not focused on “fixing” children, but rather on guiding parents as they process and gain healthier patterns and strategies to bring their most evolved and healed selves to the life work of parenting. Kelly believes this work is experienced most fully with one another, and in a posture of curiosity, thoughtfulness, and connection.
You can reach Kelly for services at 615-484-8787
Laurie Baldwin, LPC-I
Laurie's goal as a counselor is to really listen to you, to hold safe space for you, to understand your struggles, to consider possible sources of stress, and to help you craft goals to make your life better. With an abundance of life experience, it is her hope to walk with you through life's challenges whether they be family related, relationships, marriage, career, child rearing, illness, divorce, grief or any combination of these. Laurie is a lifelong learner, a working mother, and a funny and supportive friend and family member. People who know her well will tell you that she is strong, determined, straightforward, and kind.
To connect with Laurie, use the contact info below:
615-332-4357