Hello. It’s nice to meet you.

Welcome.

My name is Ashley L. MacLaren. I am a Washington state Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) and National Board Certified Counselor (NCC) supporting clients through online therapy, referred to as telehealth.

My focus

Our relationship with ourselves is life-long and at times, takes the back seat in our own lives. Perhaps you have felt overwhelmed as life continues to move forward while you have found less joy in things you used to love. You feel stuck as if you’re losing parts of yourself, or maybe you aren’t sure who you are just yet. As time has gone on, your relationship with yourself may have shifted as you navigated school, career and finding relationships and community. Our struggles may make it feel like we carry around a burden of pain. Life appears to find ways to enable us to walk around our pain or over it but not through it. 

The hardest thing to do is to go through it. Feel it. Learn from it, adapt with it. To make space for acceptance, compassion and allowing rather than judgement, criticism and shame. To learn to identify and sit with our emotions even when they are uncomfortable or feel unsafe.

Sometimes the bravest thing is to choose you.

You need a safe space—just for you—to process your relationship with yourself, create a pathway to radical self-acceptance, and the grace to process transformative healing. 

Together, we will build a partnership to explore with curiosity the ways in which you struggle and feel pain, and how you have learned to cope and adapt. Unlearning and processing what makes life hard for us can be a daunting task. Asking for help when you need it is a brave first step. I am here to offer you the space to explore your unlearning and relearning without judgement. You may already have the answers within you. Let’s find them together. 

Philosophy of counseling

My philosophy of counseling is centered on the concept of building. a strong and trusting therapeutic alliance between us. The partnership that we create in the space of our work seeks to help you make connections, process your experiences, and learn tools and skills necessary for you to navigate life with more joy and hope. It can be a daunting and scary experience to seek out a therapist, especially when we are struggling and in pain. The process involves commitment, bravery, and vulnerability, which can take time to cultivate. I will provide a safe space for you to be your most authentic self and develop your voice. I believe that as we learn and grow, we see our confidence increase and our outlook improve. We are better equipped to handle what life throws at us. Personal growth is a lifelong journey and I believe that everyone can benefit from strengthening their relationship with themselves. 

My background and experience

I am a licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate (LMHCA) and National Board Certified Counselor (NCC) with a master’s degree in Counseling, a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Creative Writing and a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. My prior experience includes working with families, youth, and couples in both community-based and private-practice settings. I have worked with foster youth, individuals struggling with a housing or job-related crisis and have taught students in a university setting. I have lived in communities from California to Montana and Western Washington, where I found home. In my own time, I enjoy reading for work and pleasure, writing for self-discovery, and gaming for adventure and connection.