Dr. Daniel “Dan” Goldstein, PhD, is a Nashville, Tennessee-based counseling psychologist, Certified Group Psychotherapist, and clinical director and co-founder of Nashville Psych. Dr. Goldstein approaches therapy with genuine empathy, curiosity, authenticity, humor, and a quiet openness. He is committed to therapy that values honesty, emotional courage, and the belief that meaningful change happens in relationships, not in isolation. His psychotherapy groups are an excellent match for individuals who have been in therapy before or who are motivated to understand and work through the underlying causes of their difficulties in longer-term therapeutic relationships.
Dan’s clinical work is centered on facilitating interpersonal process groups. Over time, he has come to see group therapy as one of the most powerful and transformative settings for deep psychological work, particularly for people who feel stuck in familiar relational patterns despite insight and effort. His group work is grounded in modern psychoanalytic and interpersonal process traditions, with a particular emphasis on how relationships shape identity, emotion, and change. Dan continues to pursue educational and professional growth opportunities in this area through his membership in the American Group Psychotherapy Association and training at the Center for Group Studies.
While Dan’s practice is primarily group-based, he also meets individually on an as-needed basis with clients who are participating in his groups, in service of the group process and the client’s overall treatment. In individual sessions, his approach emphasizes emotional presence, curiosity about relational patterns as they emerge in real time, and careful attention to how the therapeutic relationship itself becomes a vehicle for understanding and change. He is also a certified SomEx practitioner and is EMDR-trained; he uses both of these modalities to help clients cultivate insight and renegotiate difficult past experiences in the “here-and-now.” Individual work is collaborative, reflective, and oriented toward supporting the client’s engagement in the group.
In addition to leading multiple weekly therapy groups and seeing individuals, Dan provides supervision and consultation to master’s- and doctoral-level clinicians seeking to deepen their relational awareness, clinical presence, and capacity to work with complexity in both individual and group settings.
Dr. Goldstein earned a PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Georgia (UGA). During his training, Dr. Goldstein provided therapy and assessment services to individuals, couples and groups in schools, community mental health and university counseling centers.
Dr. Goldstein completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Vanderbilt University Counseling Center in Nashville. Goldstein completed an APA-accredited pre-doctoral internship at Clemson University Counseling and Psychological Services. Prior to entering the doctoral program at UGA, Goldstein earned a Master’s of Science in Clinical Psychology from Barry University in his hometown of Miami, Florida.
Dr. Goldstein earned multiple academic awards for his research on mothers-in-law and marital satisfaction. He utilizes his extensive knowledge in this area to assist couples in setting boundaries and in developing effective communication.
Prior to entering the field of psychology, Dr. Goldstein worked for ten years in real estate. After years of feeling personally unfulfilled by his profession, he took a leap of faith, deciding to go back to school to pursue his passion for psychology and helping others. Dr. Goldstein’s approach to therapy is informed by his own experience of growth and change.
Dr. Goldstein is licensed in Tennessee and New York, in addition to all PSYPACT states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.