Nashville, Tennessee — you shouldn’t have to drive an hour to find the right support.
Specialized adult speech therapy — one clinician from intake through discharge. Available from home, across Tennessee. Marina Coakley, M.S., CCC-SLP.
After a stroke, many Nashville-area families discover that steady support matters most after discharge — when intensive rehab ends but daily life still calls for skilled care. Recovery continues far beyond the hospital chapter; what helps most is consistent, individualized therapy aligned with real life.
Middle Tennessee has meaningful local resources. Many families also need care that fits distance, fatigue, caregiving, and work — without adding long drives on top of recovery. Virtual speech therapy is one way to keep therapy consistent while life stays manageable.
Sessions take place over secure video from home. We schedule around your reality as a family, and telehealth aphasia therapy is well supported by research for many adults. Beginning care and sustaining it matters more than any single setting.
I'm Marina Coakley. I work with adults navigating aphasia and communication changes after stroke or brain injury — virtually across Tennessee. You work with me from the first session forward, so your goals and history stay centered in one relationship. For aphasia, that steadiness is part of the therapy itself.
Aphasia has always been the work I've been most drawn to — the complexity of it, the stakes of it, and the fact that meaningful recovery is possible at any stage. If you're looking for someone who chose this work deliberately and has been preparing for it longer than they've been doing anything else, I'd like to talk.
Services Available in Nashville
Aphasia Therapy
Specialized help for the language changes that can follow a stroke or brain injury. Starting sooner helps, and meeting online means you can begin without the drive.
Apraxia of Speech
Focused, repetition-based work to rebuild reliable speech, all done online so where you live never gets in the way of the care you need.
Adult Communication Therapy
If words won't come, thinking feels slower, or conversation tires you out after a TBI or brain injury, I can help with that and with fluency, voice, and everyday communication, all online across Tennessee.
Frequently Asked Questions
My family member just got out of inpatient rehab in Nashville. Is it too late to start outpatient speech therapy?
It's not too late — and the sooner you start, the better. Research consistently shows that the brain retains significant capacity for recovery well beyond the acute phase after a stroke. Many people make meaningful gains years after their injury with consistent, targeted therapy. The window that matters most is not a fixed time limit — it's the period of active, regular engagement with a qualified speech-language pathologist. If inpatient rehab has ended and you're looking for next steps, outpatient or virtual therapy is exactly the right move.
When is virtual speech therapy a good fit for Middle Tennessee families?
Many families choose virtual sessions when steady weekly therapy needs to fit around caregiving, work, distance, or fatigue after stroke or brain injury. Sessions meet you at home on a schedule we build together. Telehealth aphasia therapy is well supported by research for many adults. What matters most is individualized care you can sustain — and for many households in Middle Tennessee, that includes staying close to home.
Can you work with someone who has severe aphasia and struggles to use technology?
Yes — and this is one of the most common concerns families bring up. Severe aphasia doesn't disqualify someone from virtual therapy. Sessions can be structured so the person with aphasia doesn't need to manage the technology themselves — a family member can set up the session and step back, or stay involved as a communication partner. In fact, having a caregiver present is often a clinical advantage: it allows for real-time coaching on communication strategies that carry over into daily life. We can discuss your specific situation in a free consultation before committing to anything.
Will I work with the same clinician at every session?
Yes. Affinity Therapy is a solo practice: you work with me, Marina, from your first session forward. Your history, goals, and progress stay in one continuous thread. For aphasia, therapy builds session over session — continuity is woven into how I work.
Does Affinity Therapy work with families and caregivers, or just the person with aphasia?
Both — and family involvement is encouraged. Communication partner training is one of the most evidence-supported elements of aphasia therapy. When the people closest to you understand how to reduce communication breakdowns, create space for you to get words out, and respond in ways that support rather than frustrate, recovery happens faster and life gets easier between sessions. Caregivers can be included in sessions directly, and home strategies are always discussed so progress continues outside of therapy time.
What does a first session actually look like?
The first session is a conversation, not a test. We talk through what happened, what's changed, what you're most hoping to get back, and what your daily life looks like now. For some clients we do a brief informal language assessment to understand where things stand; for others we spend that first session just getting oriented and building a picture of what matters most. By the end, you'll have a clear sense of whether this is a good fit and what a realistic path forward looks like. There's no pressure and no commitment required from that first call.
Let's get started right from home
The first call is free and there's nothing to commit to. I meet with people online all across Tennessee.
Schedule a Free Consultation