Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the TN-WNC-SWVA region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The TN-WNC-SWVA.
Is your business serving the residents of TN-WNC-SWVA? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA
EP# 373: From Anxiety To Agency With Reflections Counseling
Skip welcomes Jessica Cox, owner of Reflections Counseling Services, for a candid, myth-busting look at modern therapy that trades TV clichés for real tools that work. Jessica specializes in helping adults navigate anxiety, depression, healthy relationships, and major life transitions, and she explains why strength often looks like asking for help before life hits a breaking point.
We explore what it means to build an “invisible toolbox” of coping skills, starting with grounding techniques that bring anxiety down to something workable. From there, Jessica walks us through cognitive behavioral therapy in plain language—how to spot distorted thinking, test assumptions, and rewrite the inner script that keeps old patterns alive. She also shares why she focuses on individual therapy rather than couples work, creating a space where people can speak unfiltered and move faster toward clarity and change. Her current pursuit of certification in narcissistic abuse recovery offers vital perspective for survivors who need validation, language for what happened, and steps to rebuild agency and boundaries.
Beyond the clinical lens, we get to know Jessica’s love for nature, photography, and the office’s most popular teammate: Stevie, an English cream golden retriever who helps lower stress the moment clients walk in. Whether you’re a college student finding your footing or a midlife parent balancing everyone’s needs, you’ll find practical, compassionate guidance on how to navigate hard feelings without pretending they’ll vanish. Want to learn more or book a session—virtual or in-person with Stevie by your side? Visit www.reflectionscounseling.org. If this conversation helped you, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more neighbors can find the support they need.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Martin.
SPEAKER_02:Well, hello, everybody, and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. So I am very excited today to have uh a guest for the first time in our studio. And uh I'm very excited to learn all about them and what they do. And I'm sure you will be as well because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Miss Jessica Cox, who is the owner operator of Reflections Counseling Services. Jessica, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_01:Hi, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_02:Well, like I said, we are super excited to have you and uh intrigued to learn all about Reflections Counseling Services. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us what you do?
SPEAKER_01:Sure, sounds great. Um, I provide mental health therapy for adults. Um mostly focus on anxiety, depression, healthy relationships, and life transitions.
SPEAKER_02:Focus on anxiety, stress, and and I'm sorry, what was the third thing?
SPEAKER_01:No, I just said um anxiety, depression, healthy relationships, and life transitions, but certainly stress too.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yes, yeah. Stress and anxiety kind of go hand in hand, don't they?
SPEAKER_01:Sure, they sure do.
SPEAKER_02:Very cool. Well, how did um how did you get started uh in the counseling business?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, you know, like most therapists, of course, you know, I wanted to help people. Um, and I struggled with mental health and trauma throughout my whole childhood. And because of that, I wanted people to see that their pain can have purpose, you know, and that that they matter. Um, so that's kind of what led me here. Um, and I've been doing it for 20 years.
SPEAKER_02:So wow, you don't look old enough to thank you.
SPEAKER_01:I am 45.
SPEAKER_02:20 years. Uh pain can have purpose. I I like that a lot. Um, so um I'm sure there are a lot of myths and misconceptions in in the the counseling business. Um, can you think of any that really stand there?
SPEAKER_01:I really like this question. Um, so first of all, you know, we we don't ask how does that make you feel all the time? And um no one's lying down on a couch, nobody does that, you know, um like on TV. It's not really like that. Um, but some of the biggest myths that I think are important to mention um is that, you know, I think it's important to know that going to therapy doesn't indicate weakness. In fact, I think it signifies a lot of strength and bravery, you know, to step into this work and really work on yourself in such an honest and vulnerable way. Um, you know, I think another myth, you know, like we can't eradicate depression and anxiety. Like when people come to see me and they're like, what do you want to get from this? And they're like, I don't want to have any more anxiety or depression. And I'm like, I can't do that. Um but what we can do is give tools to help people navigate it. And that's kind of what I like to do is sort of develop this invisible toolbox of coping skills to help people navigate life outside of this room. Um, and you know, I think another important thing to know is that you don't have to have a deep mental illness to benefit from therapy. Um, you know, like who wouldn't benefit from having an objective person just to kind of help them process, you know, the the struggle and the heaviness of life.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Any any um well, a couple of questions. One, why is it on TV that people lay down when they're in a counseling session?
SPEAKER_01:I think years and years and years ago, if you think about like the very start of psychology with Sigmund Freud, he was probably doing that, and that kind of caught on. And so, you know, that was something that they were literally doing so long ago, and I don't really know why they did it so long ago, but I think it caught on and it just kind of became a cliche that's very, you know, like easy to kind of throw into a TV show or something like that.
SPEAKER_02:Interesting, very interesting. Well, uh, and coping skills, uh and I know you can't give advice over, you know, sure podcast, but just what are some things I'm just interested. What are some things that uh that in general most people can utilize as coping skills?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, great, great question. So one thing I do a lot is just grounding tools, you know. I think that anxiety sucks us up into this twister, a lot of chaos and turmoil and things like that, and bringing people back down to a grounded state of reality, you know, to just help them think through things in a rational way while also validating their experiences. So, you know, we do just a lot of work to kind of bring anxiety that's shooting up at a 10, maybe down to like an eight. And then when we're at the eight, then we can kind of take a deeper look at what's going on. Um, I do a lot of like CBT work, which is also like looking at like deep-seated like beliefs, you know, false belief systems that a person may have, and learning to kind of rewrite their script and rewrite their inner dialogue and things like that. Um, you know, so you know, a lot of calming techniques while also kind of peeling away some deeper layers of of people's experiences and learning at, you know, like why do you believe these negative things about yourself? And is it perpetuating, you know, this like self-fulfilling prophecy of defeat and how to kind of intervene with that, you know, and promote growth and healing and change?
SPEAKER_02:Very cool. Yeah, now do you do you uh help uh, you know, I know different counselors, some do adults, some do children, some do, you know, who's who's your target audience, I guess.
SPEAKER_01:Sure. Yeah, well, I only work with adults, I don't work with any minors, and I no longer offer offer couples counseling. I love talking about relationships, I love working on healthy relationships through an individual lens with people. Um, so some of my favorite people to work with would be like college kids. I love working with college kids, you know, and you know, as someone who's mid-40s with children and also really working with that population because I can relate to them so deeply. Um, so that's that's kind of like my my favorite people to work with. But the the people that I won't take is anyone under 18, and I no longer work with couples.
SPEAKER_02:No longer with any particular reason on couples or um okay, I'll be honest.
SPEAKER_01:Um, I kind of got tired of angry men yelling at me. Kind of calling them on their stuff, you know what I mean? Um, and so yeah, I'm actually working on a certification for narcissistic abuse recovery. So that's gonna become a niche, you know, in the next coming months once I get that certification. That's I really love working with that population. Some of my favorite clients have have come from situations like that.
SPEAKER_02:You know, it's interesting. One of the misconceptions I'm aware of, you know, having been through counseling, marriage counseling before, is that sometimes people have an expectation that a counselor is going to take a side and that oh well, you know, they're right and you're wrong, and that's not the case at all, right?
SPEAKER_01:Right. No, absolutely not. And I would often say when I was doing couples counseling, like, I'm on the side of your marriage, you know. Um, and you know, sometimes that means taking a hard stance on something that one person is doing, you know. But um, I also just I I really love creating such a safe, safe space for people to come into. I want people to walk into this room and just feel like they can say anything unfiltered. Um, and I think that that is hard to do in couples counseling. I think that couples counseling is so important and I refer out to it a lot, but I want to create this super safe space for people to just say unfiltered what's on their mind so that we can kind of, you know, work on that and navigate through that together.
SPEAKER_02:Very good, very good. Yeah. Now, sounds like you're you're incredibly busy with your practice. When you're not working, what do you like to do for fun?
SPEAKER_01:Um, well, I enjoy spending time with my family. I like being in nature and I also enjoy photography.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, cool. You're are you a digital or a film person?
SPEAKER_01:Um, digital, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Digital. Very good. You're there, there are some purists that still do film.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I started with film a long time ago and it it was great, but yeah, I've kind of advanced to the digital world a little bit.
SPEAKER_02:So I think most of us have. Yeah. Um cool. And of course, you know, being out in nature, living in East Tennessee is you're in the perfect place for that. So yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I love it here.
SPEAKER_02:Are you originally from uh Knoxville or from the Tennessee?
SPEAKER_01:Um, no, I grew up in West Virginia. Um yeah, and I also lived in Cincinnati for almost five years. Um, and I've been here in Tennessee for 19 years, and I love it. There's nowhere else I'd rather be.
SPEAKER_02:Same, same here. Yeah, yeah. By God, West Virginia.
SPEAKER_01:That's what part of West Virginia, uh Beckley, which is like the southwestern part. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I've actually been to Beckley.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_02:Very cool. So um if uh if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about you and about reflections counseling, what would that be?
SPEAKER_01:Um, you know, I think that therapy is for everyone. Um, I think, you know, like again, like just having like a safe person to come and be vulnerable and honest with is so, so valuable. Um, and I think another fun fact is um this girl back here, well, she's on the couch right now, you can't see her, but I do have a therapy dog. Her name is Stevie, she's an English cream golden retriever. Um, she's very sweet, very gentle, very anxious, which makes her very relatable to my clients. But she is an instant head of dopamine for your day. So if you come for in-person therapy, because I also offer virtual, but if you come for in-person, you get to hang out with this adorable dog, you know, which just makes your day instantly better.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, wow. Well, I'm I'm down for that. I'm a dog guy. So what was her name again? Stevie?
SPEAKER_01:Stevie. She's named after Stevie Nix.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, very cool. Fleetwood MacBan.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely, very cool. Well, um, if uh any of our listeners are intrigued, they want to come, you know, spend some time with Stevie and get some things off their chest or just get some help. Um, how can we learn more?
SPEAKER_01:Um, probably my website is the best way. All of my contact information is there, and the information for my social media is there. My website is www.reflectionscounseling.org. Also have a blog on there you can read. Um, but yeah, that's the best way to figure out how to contact me.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome. Very good. Well, Jessica, I can't tell you how much we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to be here with us. Yeah. And uh we wish you, your family, your practice, your clients all the best moving forward.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:All right, and uh maybe we can have you back sometime.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that'd be wonderful. I'd be happy to.
SPEAKER_02:All right, very good. Well, you have a great, blessed rest of the day.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. You too.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Try Dash Cities.com. That's GNP Try Dash Cities.com or call 423 719 5873.