yasheluah (yah-SHAY-loo-ah): peace through struggle
Hello, friend! I’m Ashley (she/her). My quest is restoring our connections with the Divine, which heals broken relationships with self, Creator, and creation. I do this by partnering with you to heal spiritual and religious trauma. My ancestors are British, Scandinavian, Italian, and Choctaw. I am a neurodivergent & gifted (2e) healing partner, abuse survivor, author, and educator.
I began coaching in 2019, but I have been a healing partner for much longer. As a healing partner, I am passionate about co-creating and embodying compassion, safety, and hope with my clients. I search for the divinely human beauty in you and your ancestral tapestry as we heal generational trauma patterns. I look for the ways you create and represent meaning, and how you cope with stress. We pull it all together as you reclaim and reintegrate your beautiful, whole self in the context of healing the community, your lineage, and the land. You can learn about my services via this menu.
If you’d like to see what my clients say about working with me, click here.
Helping people heal from spiritual abuse, religious trauma, and toxic theology is a high priority for me. I understand the deep loss we experience when we leave a previously-trusted community of faith, and I acknowledge and validate the grieving, deconstruction, and integration processes look different for everyone. I had many positive experiences during the years I attended and led within Southern Baptist churches and parachurch organizations, which spanned three regions of the US and three continents. However, during that time I also witnessed consistent spiritual abuse of others and experienced it myself. In 2016, I made the decision to leave the SBC and devote my energy to reparations for my participation and complicity, and finding ways to support others as they heal from similar adverse religious experiences.
I am known for my creativity and for seeing the world just a little bit differently. I am AuDHD, highly sensitive, and an empath. I love singing and musical theater, photographing flowers and birds, and finding Creator’s work in unusual places. I love LGBTQIA+ and Two Spirit people, and actively pursue the liberation of all people and living beings through divesting from colonialism, patriarchy, white-body supremacy, and all other oppressive $ystems. I am a part of the community of creation; I am a work in progress.
I was born, raised, and married on Pueblo ancestral land (Albuquerque) in New Mexico, and I live with my family on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish in Seattle, WA. You will see some photos of us below!
I look forward to connecting with you! May you find peace and wholeness along your journey.
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EDUCATION AND TRAINING:
- Doctor of Ministry in Semiotics & Future Studies
- Breaking Evangelical: An Attachment-Focused Framework for Healing Spiritual Trauma (2019, dissertation)
- Master of Arts in Family Life Education
- Child Sexual Abuse Prevention: Does Prevention Exist for the Potential Molester? (2011, thesis)
- Certification in Somatic Embodiment & Regulation Strategies (June 2022)
- Gottman Method Level 1 & 2 (in progress)
- Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) tapping (2020)
- Herbalism Certification (in progress)
- Lifelong learner around trauma, attachment, plant medicine, and healing (especially via the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine, the Trauma Research Foundation, EFT International, Embodied Philosophy, Collectively Rooted, Blue Wind School of Botanical Studies, The Herbal Academy, and Asha Frost, Indigenous Healer)
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:
- EFT International (see our Code of Ethics)
- Energy Medicine Professional Association (see our Code of Ethics)
- Open Path Healing Arts Collective (see my profile)
- Trauma-Informed Programming Advisor for the EverWell Scholarship
- Mental Health Advisor to the Board of Free for Life International (2020-2022)
RESEARCH, SPECIALTIES, AND OTHER INTERESTS:
- Attachment theory, God attachment, and the reciprocal self
- Self-compassion, neutralizing shame and the inner critic
- Mindfulness of emotions, body, and spirit
- Post-traumatic growth and healing across the lifespan
- Polyvagal theory and somatic applications for healing traumatized nervous systems
- Anti-racist work; social justice, dismantling white supremacy and divesting from colonization
- Genealogy and ancestral/generational trauma
- Trauma-informed plant medicine
- Native American and First Nations culture and spirituality
- EFT tapping
- The Enneagram
- Perichoresis
- Biblical hermeneutics
- Trinitarian theology and covenant epistemology
- Intersection of body, mind, and emotion in neuroscience
- Parish ministry and fresh expressions of church
- Christian feminism and liberation
- Healing from evangelical purity culture
- Positive discipline and gentle parenting
- Parenting children with special needs
- Nonviolent communication
- Collaborative law and dispute resolution
- Sexual abuse prevention
- Recovery from narcissistic abuse
Disclaimer: While most clients find our time together therapeutic, I am not a licensed mental health care practitioner and do not provide psychotherapy or mental health treatment. I do not diagnose, treat, or cure disease. During your intake process and subsequent plan we develop together, I will refer you to therapies, counseling, coaching, legal, and/or medical help as necessary.
