Hi, I’m Tiffany.

Tiffany Acuff, MMFT

Individual & Couples Pre-Licensed Therapist

Welcome to Whole Self Counseling. I’m a Therapist based in Nashville, offering individual and couples therapy rooted in deep curiosity, compassion, and a belief in your inherent wisdom. Together, we’ll create a space where you don’t have to choose between authenticity and connection, where your full self is welcome.

Whether you’re navigating a season of loss, questioning your identity, feeling disconnected in your relationships, or carrying pain that doesn’t yet have words, something in you is reaching for change. I believe that reaching out for support is a courageous act. You don’t have to do this alone.

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My Approach

My work is grounded in the belief that our psychological suffering often comes from the ways we’ve had to adapt in order to be loved or survive. These adaptations, while protective, can disconnect us from who we truly are. I integrate Experiential Interventions with Internal Family Systems (IFS), Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), and Gabor Maté’s trauma-informed Compassionate Inquiry to help you explore those patterns with gentleness and clarity.

Therapy with me is not about fixing what is broken. It is about creating enough internal and relational safety to turn toward what has been exiled. I will meet you exactly where you are, without urgency or agenda, and walk alongside you at a pace that honors your nervous system, your story, and your hope for something more. Healing happens not by force, but by reconnecting with the parts of you that already carry the wisdom to move toward wholeness.

Before entering the mental health field, I co-founded the Nashville nonprofit Corner to Corner, where I partnered with adults and organizations to address both individual and systemic inequities. As the adoptive mother of a child with a disability, I bring lived experience and a profound respect for how the systems we inhabit shape both our inner world and our relationships. My work honors the systems we come from and the protective parts we have relied on to survive.

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My Specialties

I specialize in working with Ambiguous Loss.

This is loss that lacks clarity or closure, leaving a person “frozen” in grief.

There are two types of Ambiguous Loss.

  • Physical Absence with Psychological Presence

    • The loved one is physically gone but remains psychologically present.

      • Missing person, deployment, kidnapping

      • Divorce or breakup where emotional attachment persists

      • Immigration and separation from family

      • A family member’s long-term incarceration or estrangement

      • Adoption and Foster Care

  • Psychological Absence with Physical Presence

    • The loved one is physically present but psychologically absent.

      • Dementia, brain injury, disability, or addiction

      • Severe depression or trauma dissociation

      • Emotional unavailability of a parent or partner

      • Someone “there but not there” in family systems

I Believe…

  • “Healing begins when we stop striving to be different and start allowing ourselves to be whole. Because every part of you belongs."

    Tiffany Acuff, MMFT

  • “Healing begins when we find ourselves again in the space between what was and what is.”

    -Tiffany Acuff, MMFT

  • “Peace doesn’t come from having answers, but from finding steadiness inside the unknown.”

    Tiffany Acuff, MMFT

  • “Healing means learning to hold hope and heartbreak at the same time. You don’t have to choose between them. It's learning how to rest in both. ”

    Tiffany Acuff, MMFT

My Style

  • Simple outline of a heart inside a wavy-edged badge or seal.

    Encouraging

  • Black background with a white computer cursor arrow in the center, surrounded by a decorative scalloped border.

    Thorough

  • Icon of three people inside a badge outline, representing a group or community.

    Direct

  • Line drawing of a star inside a badge or seal with wavy edges.

    Invitational

Get in Touch

Reach out for a brief 15 minute consultation call to determine whether working together feels like a good fit.

Connect Here
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F&Q

Whether this is your first experience with Therapy, or you have been doing the work for years, you probably have questions.

This section covers many of the details that you will need to get started.

Learn More Here
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Our work together begins in a space where all of you is welcome.