Susan E. Hammonds-White, Ed.D    Licensed Professional Counselor Mental Health Service Provider   110 30th Avenue N., Suite #1 Nashville, TN  37203 615 321-8624 615 482-6574 sushammonds@bellsouth.net Hello, and welcome to my web page! I appreciate your interest in learning about me and my practice.  You will find me to be an experienced therapist who is both warm and insightful.  I have worked in a wide variety of settings, including community mental health centers, hospitals, drug and alcohol outpatient facilities, and schools. I work well with couples and families who want to change their patterns of behavior, with survivors of childhood trauma, with those who are bereaved, and with issues of disordered eating.     Approach   A client once said to me, “I’m glad you are driving this bus” (of therapy).  I gently responded, “You know, the way I see it is that we are journeying together, and you are the driver…I am with you, and supporting you, and helping you navigate, yet I see you as the driver of our journey.”  I believe that each human being has the knowledge and power to find his or her own answers.  Sometimes we all need help along the way in finding those answers, especially if we have faced challenges in childhood that have left us sometimes without models from which to learn.   Good therapy is, for me, about supporting the emerging growth of the self and supporting connection.  I believe that the relationship between client and therapist is the crucible through which transformation takes place; that relationship must include trust, caring and empathic regard in order for the journey to be valuable.  Although I use many different techniques in service of my clients’ goals, I believe that the relationship is the most important factor for creation of change.   I am a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist, and I work with couples from this perspective.  I am also trained in EMDR at levels I and II and use this process in working with depression, anxiety and trauma.