About Ashley…

We're the right fit if.... you are seeking a different relationship with nourishment and your body and you feel frustrated by the ‘same old same old’. Often nutrition counseling is focused on fixing behaviors or changing habits and this has not and will not be effective without bringing the whole self into the conversation. Our behaviors and habits are powerful sources of information for us in understanding what we need and want. Embracing those and tapping into the body’s experience in the world can hold the key to a new understanding.

Client I work with usually.... are tired of the mental and emotional space that worrying about food and body have consumed in their lives. They have been harmed by the diet culture in which we live, by medical providers who have prescribed ‘fixes’ that have been unhelpful and dangerous, by systemic oppression, and by their own internal belief systems about their bodies.

I create safety and connection in our relationship by.... leading with curiosity and a deep desire to understand a client’s experiences and beliefs about food and body. Diet culture teaches us that we can’t be trusted to understand and nourish our own bodies. I reject this and believe that we are our own best experts and that our relationship with food can be a great source of information about what we want and need in our lives. I hope that I create safety and connection by listening, creating space for broad exploration, asking the client to take the lead in naming what they want and need from the therapeutic relationship, and embracing the full humanity of my clients

Values I bring into my practice include.... providing unbiased care to all my clients and holding space for whatever they bring. I recognize the harm that societal oppression and diet culture have inflicted on us as human beings and seek to advocate for healing and wholeness for my individual clients and for our society. I value my ongoing training as a provider and pursue education in trauma informed, body-centered approaches through The Embodied Recovery Institute, the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (isst-d) and the Charlotte Transgender Healthcare Group.