Welcome!
"The inspiration you seek is already within you. Be silent and listen."
- Rumi -
Taking the first step into treatment can be terrifying. Why is going to see a therapist any different than seeing a physical doctor? If you break your arm, what do you do? Do you wait it out to see how it goes, despite the pain? Maybe you tell your friend about it and she offers some suggestions, but you still have a broken arm. Maybe you decide to avoid, drink to deal with the pain, pretend it doesn’t hurt. Then eventually the pain becomes overwhelming messing with your sleep, work, and now your partner is insisting you go to the doctor. The body continues to work toward healing, despite all the barriers you have put in place and by the time you get to the doctor the arm has started to heal, but now it is crooked.
Does this scenario sound familiar? We all do it, especially with mental health issues. You have a bad week, and instead of just going to get checked out we generally do the above with our brain. Like the body, the brain is always moving toward healing, however WE put barriers in subconsciously to block healing. So what would happen if like a broken bone we just went got checked out, explored healing options, and allowed our brain to heal?
The issue is that with mental health healing, we often are not aware of our own blocks. That is where a therapist comes in and can point them out. There are many fears that go along with mental health treatment; fear of being judged, fear of getting healthy, fear of change, fear of what you may discover about oneself, and fear of saying something out loud which people believe makes it true. Thoughts are not truths, and in fact often they are lies that we developed to make sense of our perceptions. The point is that just like physical issues, the ability to identify and work through barriers, simply allows the brain to naturally heal.
Ready or not?....lets be still.
Places to Get Started
who am i?
what do i offer
other ways of being still
how to take first step
how to contact me
About Ashley Lauderdale
What I am… is an LPC therapist, that has found through my own healing process that stillness is the path. I have practiced for more than 15 years in various facilities, state agencies, and for a wide range of populations.
What I have discovered is that education is a nice starting point, but the ability to be still in your own personal life allows for healing with my clients. Basically, I work really hard to have peace, awareness, and stillness within myself so that when we are together I can be a blank space. I can help hold pain, I can see things maybe out of sight, and I can offer alternative avenues to peace. I can list my education, all my trainings, where I have worked, blah blah blah. But don’t you really want to know how we can connect and get you feeling better?