Outside the VA. Away from the system. Somewhere the work can actually happen.
Veterans carry what service required of them long after the service ends. The hypervigilance that kept you alive doesn't turn off when the threat does. The moral weight of what you witnessed, did, or couldn't prevent doesn't resolve with time or distance. The transition from military to civilian life is its own specific grief: the loss of structure, identity, purpose, and community that service provided, with no adequate replacement on the other side.
We provide therapy for veterans in Johnson City, TN and across Tennessee via telehealth. We're private pay and entirely outside the VA system, which means no documentation that touches your military record, your benefits, or any government database. Our clinical supervisor, Dr. Katherine Barteck, has extensive experience working within the VA. She understands the system you're coming from and why you might be looking for something outside it.
If this is immediate: If you or someone else may be in immediate danger, call 911 or call or text 988. The Veterans Crisis Line is available at 988, then press 1. You can also see our crisis resources. A therapy inquiry is not the right starting point for immediate danger.
What service leaves behind
The things veterans carry don't always look like what the clinical literature describes. PTSD is real, but many veterans don't identify with the label, don't meet the full diagnostic criteria, or carry something that doesn't map cleanly onto a diagnosis at all. Moral injury is different from trauma: it's not what was done to you but what you did, witnessed, or were part of, and the gap between that and who you understood yourself to be. The transition out of service is its own loss: the structure, the belonging, the clarity of purpose, the identity that came with the role.
Veterans also carry the specific weight of institutional distrust, often including distrust of the VA system they're supposed to rely on. If previous therapy felt like box-checking, if the provider clearly didn't understand the military context, or if the system's documentation requirements felt like they were working against your interests rather than for them, that experience is legitimate and it shapes what comes next.
In East Tennessee, veterans navigate a community where military service is common and cultural expectations about how veterans should handle what they've carried are specific. The pressure to be fine, to have moved on, to not need help with something you chose, is real here. Telehealth across Tennessee means you can access therapy without sitting in a waiting room in the community where you live.
Concerns that frequently bring veterans to therapy
These pages address the specific concerns that often sit underneath the veteran presentation. Each one connects to how that concern may be addressed at Willow & Arbor.
Anger
When the anger that had a legitimate place in service no longer has a legitimate target, and the people closest to you are absorbing what has nowhere else to go.
Betrayal and trust
The institutional betrayal of a system that promised more than it delivered, and what that does to the capacity to trust the next system you're supposed to rely on.
Codependency
The unit culture patterns of over-responsibility for others that follow veterans into civilian relationships and create their own specific strain.
Emotional distance in relationships
When the hypervigilance and emotional suppression that served a purpose in service has restructured the closest civilian relationships in ways that aren't working.
Grief
The loss of structure, identity, community, and purpose that service provided, and the transition out that replaces none of it adequately.
Life transitions
The transition from military to civilian life as its own specific loss: the structure, the identity, the community, and the clarity of purpose, all gone at once.
Loneliness
The specific loneliness of civilian life: the absence of the unit, the belonging, the shared purpose that made isolation rare even in difficult conditions.
Moral injury
The specific wound that occurs when what service required crosses the line of your own moral code, and how you carry that now.
Not sure where to start
When you know something is wrong but the military habit of handling it alone, or the experience of previous therapy not helping, makes it hard to know what trying again looks like.
PTSD
The hypervigilance, flashbacks, avoidance, and reactivity that can follow exposure to combat, threat, or traumatic service experiences.
Sleep and insomnia
The disrupted sleep, nightmares, and inability to fully rest that frequently accompany the hyperactivated nervous system of combat veterans.
Trauma and moral injury
What service required you to witness, do, or be part of, and the lasting weight of the gap between that and who you understood yourself to be.
Service types relevant to veterans at Willow & Arbor
Individual therapy
The primary starting point for most veterans. A consistent, private, confidential relationship outside any institutional system, where the work can happen at your pace.
Couples therapy
When what you've carried from service has affected the relationship and the patterns it's created need to be addressed with a partner present.
Family therapy
When the weight of service and transition has affected the family system in ways that go beyond what either partner can address alone.
Methods often used in therapy for veterans
EMDR therapy
Specifically designed for processing traumatic experiences that remain present in ways talk therapy alone doesn't reach. Strong evidence base for combat trauma, moral injury, and PTSD.
Trauma-informed therapy
An approach to the entire therapeutic relationship that accounts for what repeated trauma exposure does to the nervous system, without requiring a specific diagnosis or event disclosure to begin.
Art therapy
A nonverbal approach for processing what words alone don't reach. Particularly relevant for combat trauma and moral injury that has been suppressed or is difficult to articulate directly.
What's different about therapy for veterans at Willow & Arbor
We understand the military context and the VA system veterans are often coming from. That changes what's possible from the first conversation.
Dr. Katherine Barteck, who clinically supervises all therapy at Willow & Arbor, has extensive experience working within the VA system. She understands the institutional culture veterans are coming from, the specific way military service shapes how distress is expressed and suppressed, and the particular kind of trust that has to be built before the work can actually begin. When you describe what service was like, what leaving it was like, or why previous treatment didn't help, you won't have to explain the context from scratch.
We are completely outside the VA system. There is no documentation that touches your military record, your VA benefits, your disability rating, or any government database. This matters for veterans who have avoided getting help because of concerns about what a mental health record might mean for their benefits, their standing, or their identity as someone who handles things. None of that is a factor here.
Veterans also often arrive having tried therapy before, in the VA system or elsewhere, and having found it inadequate. The box-checking quality of institutional care, the providers who clearly didn't understand the military context, the documentation requirements that felt like they were working against the veteran's interests: those experiences are real and they shape what trust in a therapeutic relationship can look like. We understand that the work of building that trust may need to happen before the clinical work can.
Completely outside the VA: no documentation touches your military record, VA benefits, disability rating, or any government system.
VA context understood: our clinical supervisor has extensive experience working within the VA system. You won't have to explain where you're coming from.
Telehealth available: sessions across Tennessee without sitting in a waiting room in the community where you live.
When therapy for veterans may need a different starting point
We provide individual therapy through a standard appointment structure. For most veterans seeking support with trauma, moral injury, transition, identity, relationship patterns, or the accumulated weight of service and what followed it, this is an appropriate level of care.
If what you're experiencing involves active crisis, significant safety concerns, or a level of impairment a standard therapy appointment can't adequately address, a higher level of care or a different kind of support may be the right starting point. If there is immediate danger, call 911 or the Veterans Crisis Line at 988, then press 1.
We also work with veterans whose concerns connect to specific clinical presentations including PTSD, depression, and anxiety, as well as those whose experience doesn't fit a diagnostic category cleanly. You don't need a diagnosis or a clear label to begin.
No diagnosis required: you don't have to have a formal PTSD diagnosis or any other label before reaching out.
Telehealth available: therapy across Tennessee when telehealth is clinically appropriate and a practical fit.
The consultation is free: a 15-minute conversation to understand what's bringing you in and whether we may be an appropriate fit.
In person and telehealth
Sessions are available in person in Johnson City, TN and by telehealth across Tennessee when appropriate. Clients from Kingsport, Bristol, Jonesborough, and surrounding communities are welcome.
Learn about telehealthFees and consultation
The initial consultation is free. Sessions are self-pay and vary by therapist and type of appointment. We don't bill insurance directly. Therapy is provided by associate-licensed therapists under the clinical supervision of Dr. Katherine Barteck.
View feesCommon questions about therapy for veterans
Will this affect my VA benefits or military record?
No. We're a private pay practice completely outside the VA system. There is no documentation that touches your military record, your VA benefits, or any government system. What happens in therapy stays between you and your therapist, with the standard legal exceptions that apply to all therapy.
I've tried therapy before and it didn't help. Why would this be different?
That's a common starting point for veterans seeking care outside the VA system. Previous therapy that didn't fit, didn't go deep enough, or felt like it was checking boxes rather than doing work is a real experience. Our clinical supervisor has extensive experience working within the VA and understands why that system often falls short for the people it serves. The work here is built around genuine engagement, not documentation requirements.
Do I have to talk about what happened in service?
No. Therapy doesn't require you to recount specific events or disclose anything you're not ready to disclose. The work can start wherever you are, including starting with what's happening now rather than what happened then. The pace and direction of what gets addressed is something you and your therapist work out together.
Practical questions about starting therapy
If you're still working through the practical questions: what therapy costs, what the first session looks like, how confidential it is, or whether this is even the right time, our starting therapy guides answer those from the perspective of this practice.
Browse starting therapy guides →
This page is provided for educational purposes only. The information here is not clinical advice about your particular situation, and reading it does not establish a therapeutic relationship with any Willow & Arbor therapist. Guidance that applies to your specific circumstances can only come from a direct professional relationship with a qualified provider.
Therapy for veterans at Willow & Arbor is provided through individual therapy and telehealth therapy across Tennessee. See all therapy by concern or all services.
You don't have to go back to the system that already let you down.
The consultation can help sort out whether we may be an appropriate fit and where the conversation should begin.
If you're in crisis or immediate danger, call 911 or call or text 988. Veterans Crisis Line: 988, then press 1. See our crisis resources.