Meet Ashley: Collaborative and Active Therapy to Help Clients Recover
Meet Ashley Ellis, one of our newest clinicians at Kindful Body! She’s an LMFT with an undergraduate degree in Cognitive Psychology from the University of California, Irvine and a Master’s in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from Pepperdine University.
In this meet-and-greet, you’ll learn about how Ashley got started, her approach to therapy, and her thoughts on the importance of taking an active role in your journey through recovery.
How a Shoulder Injury Set Her on Her Path
Ashley’s route to therapy started at a very early age — she was that kid that always asked “Why?” because she was curious as to why people behaved the way they did and what their motivations were.
In high school, she suffered a shoulder injury that would change her path forever. The injury was severe enough to require physical therapy, and her physical therapist said something about the importance of mindset when people are trying to recover: “If they don’t want to get better, they won’t.”
What a thought! The concept fascinated Ashley, and she started learning everything she could about cognitive processes through college.
Looking for ways to grow as a therapist and pursue her passion, she started an internship at an eating disorder treatment center. Most individuals struggle with body image issues at some point in their lives, so she knew this focus was something she could help a wide range of people with and decided to specialize in body image concerns.
A Collaborative and Active Approach to Therapy
Along with body image issues and eating disorders, Ashley often works with clients who struggle with anxiety and/or depression, and is a perfect fit for someone that is motivated to explore themselves and is looking for a positive guide to help them grow and change.
She loves taking on a collaborative approach with clients to help them meet their goals and explore who they are as individuals in a safe, supportive environment that she creates. Clients also aren’t surprised to get “homework” to do between sessions, as they help integrate components being worked on in order to take those lessons and apply it in real-world scenarios.
Helping Clients Learn to Create Change
Many of Ashley’s clients struggle with thoughts of self-criticism and self-judgement. It can understandably be hard to feel good and take actions that work in your favor when you’re constantly putting yourself down or feeling like you are not measuring up.
Creating awareness of these sabotaging thoughts is the first step in creating change. If you don’t know (or don’t acknowledge) that there is a problem in the first place, then you don’t know that anything could and should be changed.
After acknowledging that there’s a problem, the next step is to practice noticing when the problematic behavior is happening or being triggered. That’s the moment you can choose to do something different. And a therapist can help guide you toward a decision-making process that works for you, not against you.
“Just like friendships, it is important to find a therapist that is “right” for you.”
Sometimes starting with a new therapist can help you see things differently to continue the work you’d been doing on your own or with your previous therapist. If you’re seeking out your first or a new therapist, keep in mind that they’re not one-size-fits-all.
Tell them about things you’ve done on your own or with your last therapist that worked well and not-so-well. A therapist should not only make you feel comfortable enough to talk about these things, but also make you feel safe enough to share about what you’re struggling with that you may not be comfortable sharing with others.
Encouraging Therapy for all Areas of Life
The mental health field is growing towards awareness, accessibility, and reducing stigma. When the practice of getting therapy is stigmatized, this causes people to wait until a crisis has happened or avoid seeking therapy altogether. But more and more, Ashley has seen the positive shift toward recognizing the importance of having hard and real conversations about the prevalence of mental health issues and make it feel more “normal.”
“Therapy does not need to happen only when a crisis occurs.”
Many people seek therapy after a traumatic life event or during stressful situations, but therapy can be useful at any time, not just when facing a “big” problem. Going to therapy is for everyone, at any time.
You can go, of course, to get through those significant life changes, but you can also go because you simply want to understand yourself better. Instead of seeking therapy after a crisis, Ashley has found that her clients who attend therapy regularly don’t lose their balance when difficulties in life occur because they have built emotional regulation skills and have the self-care routines to weather the storms of life.
When not with her clients, you can find Ashley spending time outdoors, camping and hiking — she finds that being outdoors is conducive to practicing mindfulness and feeling more connected to herself and the people she’s with.
Want to talk to Ashley one-on-one? Contact us today to set up a discovery session to see if Ashley or another counselor at Kindful Body is right for you!
