About Ashley
Ashley McNealy is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) based in Florida who helps people facing anxiety, stress, depression, trauma, and related struggles. She writes plainly and listens closely to what matters most. Her manner is direct but compassionate, and she focuses on practical steps clients can take between sessions.
She uses a collaborative, client-centered style that blends evidence-based methods with attention to each person's story. Sessions often include concrete skill-building for mood, sleep, and stress, alongside conversations about relationships and identity.
Background and approach
Ashley emphasizes small, manageable changes that add up over time. Before becoming an LMHC she spent many years working at the intersection of criminal justice and mental health. That work involved connecting people with community services for housing, substance use treatment, and suicide prevention.
That background informs a pragmatic view of support systems and resources. Ashley has eight years of clinical counseling experience and has helped people with a wide range of issues including bipolar disorder, addictions, grief, parenting strain, and intimacy concerns. She also addresses attachment difficulties, codependency, dissociation, and chronic health challenges.
Her sessions welcome discussion of identity and LGBT-related concerns, and she offers coaching-style guidance when clients want goal-focused work. The pace and focus are shaped by client needs, and she encourages steady progress through a step-by-step plan.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Ashley integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) into online work. CBT focuses on identifying unhelpful thought patterns and testing new behaviors to reduce anxiety and depression. ACT emphasizes values-driven action and learning to notice painful thoughts without letting them dictate choices.She also draws on Attachment-Based Therapy ideas to explore how early relationships affect current connection and trust. That work can help with intimacy struggles, codependency, and attachment worries by building awareness and new ways of relating.
Choosing the right approach is a team effort. The therapist and client talk about goals, try methods, and adjust the plan together. That collaborative process helps match techniques to what actually helps the person in daily life.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is useful for face-to-face conversation and teaching skills. Phone sessions can fit a tight schedule or lower bandwidth situations. Live chat and messaging work well for short check-ins, skill reminders, or when someone prefers written communication. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent while fitting it into work, family, or travel routines.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Anger management
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Trichotillomania
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Experience
- 8 years
- Licensed
- Florida
- Languages
- English
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