Individual, Couples, Family, and Adolescent Therapy

Therapy that attends to the whole person.

Evidence-based psychotherapy for adults, couples, families, and teenagers who want more than symptom management. Three licensed psychologists, three distinct clinical approaches, one practice. Memphis and throughout Tennessee by telehealth.

Our Approach

Three psychologists, three approaches, one standard.

Ballast is a group practice on purpose. Our three founding partners were trained in different traditions and we did not flatten those differences into a house style. Dr. Chris Ferrand works primarily from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Dr. Tara Samples works from compassion-focused CBT and Schema Therapy, with Cognitive Processing Therapy and exposure-based treatment for trauma. Dr. Jesse Malott works from relational psychodynamic, narrative, and existential traditions. All three of us draw on other evidence-based methods when the person and the problem call for it.

That range is the point. We work to formulate a case rather than apply a protocol, and match the method to the person instead of the other way around. When we are not the right fit, we say so and help you find who is.

We take history seriously. Patterns, how the past shapes the present, how sustained pressure changes a person, and how the demands of a career and the interior life act on each other over years.

If meaning, vocation, or ethical conflict is part of what you are carrying, there is room for it here. We do not raise it unless you do, and we do not substitute philosophy for psychological treatment. Two of our partners have specific training in working with existential and occupational material, including published research on moral injury.

Two people in conversation during a psychotherapy consultation.
We attend to patterns, how history shapes the present, how pressure changes a person, and how the internal world and the external demands of a career interact over time.
Couples Therapy

Restore clarity and connection.

Couples who are both carrying serious responsibility face a particular kind of relationship strain, two people who are both managing enormous responsibility, often at the expense of the relationship itself.

Couples therapy at Ballast Behavioral Health is not about conflict management alone. It is about understanding the deeper patterns, and building something more durable.

We work with couples on...
Communication & Conflict
Understanding the patterns, not just managing the arguments.
Intimacy & Connection
Rebuilding what distance and pressure have eroded.
Life Transition Strain
Parenting, career changes, health crises, and the toll they take on partnership.
Premarital Preparation
Serious, psychologically grounded preparation for marriage.
Recovery After Betrayal
For couples navigating the aftermath of infidelity or broken trust.
Parenting a Child with Additional Needs
The strain on a partnership when a child's diagnosis, trauma history, or adoption reshapes daily life.

Both partners attend. We will tell you in the first two sessions whether couples therapy is the right format or whether individual work needs to come first.

Family Therapy

When the problem lives between people, not inside one of them.

Sometimes the person who gets identified as the problem is the person carrying the family's pain. Family therapy at Ballast starts by understanding the whole system: how roles were assigned, what is not said out loud, and how a family under sustained pressure organizes itself to survive.

We work with:
Parents and adolescents who have stopped being able to talk
Families after a diagnosis, an evaluation, or a hospitalization
Foster, adoptive, and kinship families navigating attachment, loss, and behavior that makes sense once you know the history
Families absorbing a parent's illness, deployment, job loss, or professional demands
Blended families and families in the middle of separation or divorce
Grief that has reorganized a household

Who attends can change week to week, and we will be explicit about why.

Therapy for children and teenagers.

Dr. Samples sees clients as young as 3. Dr. Ferrand and Dr. Malott see adolescents. Our emphasis with younger clients starts with clarity, because the right understanding changes what treatment should look like, and continues into therapy with parents included as collaborators rather than spectators.

See our Children and Adolescents page for ADHD, autism, learning differences, accommodations, and family resources →

If your job is holding other people, this is not a niche for us.

All three of us have worked inside medical systems, academic institutions, ministry settings, and executive leadership. You will not spend the first four sessions explaining what a bad shift is, why you cannot take Tuesday off, or what it costs to be the person everyone comes to.

Ballast is an independent practice. We are not an EAP and we are not affiliated with any hospital system.

Care for healthcare professionals →Therapy for leaders and executives →
Who We See

You don't have to explain your world here.

Physicians & Residents

Nurses & APPs

Mental Health Clinicians

Healthcare Executives

Business Leaders

Couples & Families

Parents & Caregivers

Children and Teens

Foster and Adoptive Families

Adults with ADHD

Educators

Veterans and First Responders

Pastors & Clergy

Graduate Students

Assessment and Therapy

Two services, deliberately separate roles.

Ballast provides both psychological assessment and psychotherapy, and we keep the roles distinct. Your evaluating psychologist and your treating psychologist can be two different people, and usually should be. Testing is a defined engagement with a report and a referral question. Therapy is an ongoing relationship. When we do combine them, we tell you what that means for your records and get your consent first.

Learn more about assessment →

When we are not the right fit.

Knowing our limits is part of the work. We refer out for active substance dependence requiring detox or a higher level of care, eating disorders requiring medical monitoring, acute psychosis or imminent safety concerns requiring urgent evaluation, court-ordered and forensic evaluations including custody, and neuropsychological evaluation requiring a board-certified neuropsychologist. We do not prescribe medication, and we coordinate with your physician or psychiatrist when medication is part of your care. We keep a working referral list in Memphis and will make the introduction rather than handing you a phone number.

If you are in crisis or thinking about ending your life, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day, or go to your nearest emergency department.

Logistics

Practical details.

Telehealth

Available throughout Tennessee with HIPAA-compliant video. Telehealth may be available in other jurisdictions where the treating psychologist is legally authorized to practice. Dr. Malott's telehealth authorization is pending. Ask us where you are located and we will tell you who can see you.

In person

3051 Kirby Whitten Rd, Suite 5, Bartlett, TN 38134. Located within Ascend Health: Chiropractic & Primary Care.

Fees

  • ·Free 15-minute consultation call
  • ·Standard therapy appointment, approximately 45 to 55 minutes: $200
  • ·90-minute therapy appointment: $300

If you are uninsured or paying privately, you will receive a written good faith estimate of expected charges before we begin, as federal law requires.

Insurance

Dr. Christopher Ferrand is credentialed with select insurance plans. Credentialing for Dr. Tara Samples and Dr. Jesse Malott is in progress. Insurance panels are credentialed to each individual psychologist rather than to the practice as a whole, so coverage depends on which clinician you see. Call or email us and we will tell you exactly where each of us stands with your plan before you schedule.

Common Questions

Therapy FAQ

Ready to begin?

A brief consultation, no commitment required. We'll listen and help you find the right fit.

Book an Appointment