Hello! I’m Ann. In 1964 I married Bill Vander Linden, a Dutchman with a long last name. We live on a farm in southwest Williamson County, with the usual animals: goats, chickens, a buggy horse, two dogs and a barn cat.

Each summer I grow enough vegetables to can and fill a freezer for the winter. Before an early retirement, Bill taught art at Bellevue Middle School. He is an avid golfer, very athletic, and enjoys traveling and tinkering in his wood shop.

I had a successful career in printing and typesetting until the computer emerged and put me out of business. Following that I was in charge of maintenance for several churches and businesses. Because of a number of losses in my life and the difficulty in locating a grief counselor, I decided to go to graduate school in preparation for becoming a counselor. I began this ministry in 1993. Since 1996 I have commuted to Hopkinsville once or twice a week, working with the Southside church.

For the last four years, I’ve had an office at the Western Hills church here in Nashville where I counsel on Wednesdays. I am a member of the South Harpeth congregation, the church of my childhood. Every Easter and Christmas, we invite the members to our home for dinner and a seasonal celebration with gifts, prizes and festivities typical of the holiday.

My initial goal in doing therapy is for people to feel comfortable with me. Some have a mistaken idea of what counseling is. We go to dentists when we have a toothache; to doctors when we’re in pain; and all of us need someone to talk to occasionally. That’s the purpose of a counseling ministry.

After hearing a client’s story, we discuss what they would like to have happen, and options they have in how to accomplish this goal. Tools I use vary, depending on the need. We often construct a geneogram (a “family tree” across three generations), complete with a Taylor Johnson Temperament Analysis (a fun and informative personality profile) and walk through handouts aimed at skill building. Some of the issues most often presented in my office and which I am most skilled in addressing are grief, sexual abuse, depression, marriage, anger and premarital counseling. I am not qualified to prescribe medication, or counsel those struggling with psychotic illnesses, schizophrenia or dissociative disorder. All sessions are strictly confidential, the exception being one’s intention of harming himself or herself or harming some else.
-- Ann