Child and Family Therapy Collective was founded in 2021 when Eleanor Ezell, LCSW, relocated back home to her native Nashville, TN. She dreamed up what kind of practice she would be proud to build, and it was deeply rooted in the idea that children exist within our community, not next to it. Every parent she had ever worked with shared a common goal: for their child to be happy and capable. How do you build happy, strong, and resilient children? You do this within community.

From before the conception of the practice, it had long been our founder's goal to build a multi-disciplinary team clinic to serve children and families the way she believed treatment should be provided—this was reinforced during her multi-disciplinary fellowship training. Comprehensive care with creative delivery of mental health services is the heart of what we do at the practice. Taking these ideas together, our founder landed on the word 'collective'—a group of individuals acting or working together towards a common goal or purpose—to support the practice name and work.

Ms. Ezell opened Child and Family Therapy Collective in July of 2021 as a solo private practice for virtual and community-based care, which expanded to in-office care through the years. What began as one therapist's vision of community-centered care quickly proved that families were hungry for this approach. The early success and growing waitlist confirmed that her instinct was right—children thrive when their entire support system is involved and empowered.

In 2024, Child and Family Therapy Collective opened our flagship office in Nashville, TN and grew our team to four clinicians. Our sustained growth has allowed us to increase support to our patients, add new offerings, and further support our community. In 2025, we launched our Testing Clinic and our Undergraduate Internship Program to support learning and exposure to clinical experiences for college students interested in mental health and speech and language pathology.

This evolution from solo practice to collective reflects our core belief that we are stronger together. Looking back to our roots and our beliefs in how we support you best, we also focus on growth mindset and being forever learners internally. We are better together, borrowing one another's brains, building creative care applications, and working within the collective to best serve you and keep balanced lives ourselves.

Read more about Eleanor Ezell, LCSW, her training, and her clinical roots that support us at the clinic.