Anxiety, Trauma-Informed Care & Burnout Recovery | Ashley Pettway, APC

Описание: In this episode of Meet Your Mental Helper, host Jim interviews Ashley Pettway, APC—an associate-level therapist in Georgia who provides virtual therapy and mental health education through Sage Mental Wellness Center. Ashley’s work focuses on anxiety, trauma-informed care, burnout, and the ways systems and identity shape mental health.
Ashley shares how her early life experiences, disability advocacy work, and trauma-heavy clinical settings shaped her into a thoughtful, culturally responsive clinician. Together, Jim and Ashley unpack what clients often misunderstand about therapy, why progress can be subtle and still meaningful, and how validation creates safety for people who feel judged or guarded. Ashley also explains creative approaches like role play and psychodrama, and introduces brainspotting as a trauma-informed method that helps clients process what the nervous system has been holding.
Ashley also discusses therapist burnout, the realities of early career training, and why real self-care has to refill you, not just maintain you.

0:00 – Welcome & intro to Ashley Pettway
1:20 – Ashley’s journey into counseling and early life experiences
2:29 – Disability advocacy, systems, and identity
7:18 – Therapy isn’t one-size-fits-all (and progress doesn’t have to look “right”)
10:57 – How identity and lived experience show up in the therapy room
14:17 – What “subtle progress” looks like in trauma recovery
18:11 – Role play/psychodrama and creative therapy tools
34:10 – Therapist burnout and rebuilding capacity
39:45 – Brain spotting explained (and how it compares to EMDR)
46:51 – For people unsure about therapy: how to start
48:08 – What it feels like to do therapy with Ashley
50:59 – Burnout workbook + where to connect with Ashley

Practice or Business Name: Sage Mental Wellness Center
The practice website to book with me as a clinician: https://www.sagementalwellnesscenter....
Tiktok Account: @lowkey_therapy
Psychology Today Profile: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/th...
Best Email for Client Contact: [email protected]
Atlanta, Georgia
License & Credentials (if applicable): M.A., APC


James Weisbecker, LPC Licensed Professional Counselor (Arizona, Colorado) Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (Ohio) Licensed Mental Health Counselor (Florida) Certified Life Coach (Global)
Counseling Website: ⁠ https://frameofheartcounseling.com/⁠ Podcast Website: ⁠ https://meetyourmentalhelper.com/⁠ Instagram: ⁠   / jamesaweisbecker⁠   Facebook: ⁠ https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=6... LinkedIn: ⁠   / james-a-weisbecker-1b28841b9⁠   Email: ⁠[email protected]⁠
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