Ashley Waddington, PhD, LPCS, LPC

Ashley Waddington, PhD, LPCS, LPC Thank you for stopping by!

This page is to provide mental health support, advocacy, information about trainings, workshops and events, as well as relevant information as it pertains to mental health.

06/18/2026

Couples Connection Corner: Fighting 101

A lot of times with our couples were talking about the twenty minutes to twenty four hour timeframe of resolution when it comes to couples getting into an altercation and taking some space or distance between one another before it is completely resolved. So what this looks like is if you are getting into a disagreement with your partner and it’s becoming too heated or you don’t really feel like it’s getting anywhere it’s best case to call for a timeout in the discussion and take a minimum amount of 20 minutes of time before re-entering back into the conversation with a maximum amount of time being 24 hours before you revisit it where you left off.

Sometimes emotions are going to go beyond 24 hours and that’s okay.. However, the communication and silent treatment between couples is what has to stop and is unsuccessful in couples successfully coming back together.

Hope this helps! 🫶🏼

06/16/2026

Therapy Tip: Boundary setting!

it could be so hard to jump to saying no to something so instead try these couple of things:
1. Instead of saying ‘no’ right off the bat, consider saying not right now because you may not have the capacity to help them like you would want to.
2. If the deadline is not super close, it’s also appropriate to ask them if they could come to you at a later date to see about your ability and capacity to help with them.

The whole purpose is you want to still be honest and consider your feelings just as much as they ask.

Hope this helps! 🫶🏼

TW: pregnancy announcement 🥹♥️ While I know seeing this information pop on your feed may cause a little twinge in your h...
06/01/2026

TW: pregnancy announcement 🥹♥️

While I know seeing this information pop on your feed may cause a little twinge in your heart and chest, I want it to come from me that I am pregnant, again ♥️ We will be having our bundle of joy in October with my expected maternity leave beginning October 1, 2026 where I plan to take 12 to 13 weeks off of work.

I appreciate all of the continued love and patience I have received in people finding out the news and my clients supporting me and my story as they have found out.

Becoming a mom is one of the greatest things that I could have ever hoped and wished for and I feel so incredibly lucky that I get to do it a second time this fall. I am so thankful and grateful for modern medicine and doctors who share so much love for the journey.

Sending hugs to people still in their season of waiting. Baby dust to you! 💕

05/25/2026

Therapy Tip: breathing to release tension! 🧘‍♂️

here are three different techniques you can use to breath to release tension:
1. Breath counting is where you will sit or lie in a comfortable position, breathe and deeply into your belly and let yourself pause before you exhale, and as you exhale count one-four to yourself as you continue to inhale an exhale. What you may notice is your breathing gradually slowing, your body, relaxing, and your mind calming as you practice this breathing meditation and it’s recommended to do this for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. The relaxing sigh is ignited from catching yourself, sighing or yawning during the day, which is generally assigned that you’re not getting enough oxygen and sighing or yawning is your body‘s way of remedying the situation so you can do this by sitting or standing, saying deeply and letting out a sound of deep relief as air rushes out of your lungs and without thinking about inhaling, just let the air come in naturally. Do this 8 to 12 times and let yourself experience the feeling of relaxation.
3. Let go of tension is done by sitting comfortably in a chair with your feet on the floor and every time you inhale, you say to yourself, breathe and relaxation, let yourself pause before you exhale, and when you breathe out, you say to yourself, breathe out tension. You may find it helpful to use your imagination to picture or feel the relaxation entering and tension leaving your body as well.

Hope this helps!

05/21/2026

Therapy Tip!! 🛋️: Shawn Achor studies happiness and what he found was how a 15 minute walk causes the brain to cascade and act as an antidepressant, further explaining the the benefits of walking and exercise. This 15 minute walk causes the brain to ‘record a victory’ which triggers mood boosting neurotransmitters like endorphins and serotonin (responsible for your mood, appetite AND sleep - aka lots of times, the reasons people step into my office!)

So, get to walking!

05/17/2026

FYI! 🛋️

05/09/2026

Couples Connection Corner: Are you reactive in your communication with your partner?? Or better yet, over trying to communicate your side because you’re tired of them not hearing or listening to you?

Let’s talk Reactive Communication. This type of communication is not curious, often comes off angry, scary, and defensive because truly it is about that person not feeling heard or respected or whatever it is, they may be feeling and then trying to communicate that back to their partner.

here are some things we promote within couples for communicating:
1. Soft landing: instead of being quick to respond to your partner, check in with yourself and see how you might be responding back to them. Does it have a tone of anger in it? Is what you were going to say hurtful? Is what you were going to say, acknowledging or validating what they have said? Create a soft landing point where you can try to practice being curious about what your client is trying to communicate.

Critical Pause: is exactly how it sounds, critical. Sometimes reactive communication gets a little too loud and a little too big and sometimes you have to stop the conversation altogether and revisit at another time. This is completely OK and often we recommend creating a safe word or calling a time out and immediately setting a timer for 20 minutes before you can revisit the conversation. Minimum amount of time is 20 minutes. Maximum amount of time is 24 hours.

Curiosity: unfortunately, a lot of of us stop being curious about our partners and start to predict and assume their language and communication which hinders us from ever knowing new versions of them. with this comes really listening to the words that they’re saying and often validating what you did hear them say to clarify that you understood.

Stay tuned for more CCC! 💕

05/07/2026

Breathing 101: breathing is a necessity of life that most people take for granted. With each breath, you get oxygen and release the waist product carbon dioxide. Poor habits diminish the flow of these gases to and from your body, making it harder for you to cope with stressful situations, which later can also impact your anxiety, panic attacks, depression, muscle tension, headaches, and fatigue.

The overall goal with breathing is to learn to be aware of your breathing and practice, slowing and normalizing your breath, which will ultimately lead your mind to quieting and your body to relaxing.

05/05/2026

Let’s LEARN a lil bit —> Meet the DIC method!
Duration • Impact • Criteria as it relates to mental health diagnosis!

05/04/2026

Couples Connection Corner: Removing blaming language (aka: you never do…, you always.., you, you, YOU!)

Let’s call a spade a spade:
• communication patterns are often built overtime
• involves lots of feelings and emotions behind the defensive words
• can be passed down overtime and hereditary at that!
• and REQUIRES patience, grace and practice.

Wha more couples connection things are all wanting to see?! 👀 🛋️ 💕

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