Ashley Wells is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Mental Health Counselor, LMHC. She received her Masters of Science in Counseling/Marriage, Family, and Child Therapy from University of Phoenix. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from San Diego State University. Ashley’s experience includes working with individuals, families and children in both school and clinical settings. She has been trained in CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), CPP (Child Parent Psychotherapy), DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy), and Play Therapy, and she uses these modalities as they best fit the needs of each client and their family.
She is passionate about using a family systemic approach in which she has the opportunity to work with children and their parents. This model is based on the evidence-based therapy Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). This is a psychodynamic type of therapy that focuses on working with parents to help their children's mental health. This model has been found to be very effective for many childhood disorders, including anxiety, separation anxiety, school avoidance, and depression in children. The treatment is based in attachment theory but also integrates psychodynamic, developmental, trauma, social learning, and cognitive behavioral theories. Therapeutic sessions include the child and parent or primary caregiver. The primary goal is to support and strengthen the relationship between a child and his or her caregiver as a vehicle for restoring the child's cognitive, behavioral, and social functioning. Treatment also focuses on contextual factors that may affect the caregiver-child relationship. This type of therapy helps to heal the family as a unit, and removes the burden and stigma from the individual child. They utilize an approach that appreciates the complexities of children's lives and well-being, including the family dynamics, school setting and deeper psychodynamic factors.
Ashley completed her practicum at an acute care Psychiatric health facility helping clients with crisis stabilization. She completed her internship working at Kinder Konsulting where she worked with children and their families in community based settings as well as clinical settings. She also had the opportunity to complete her internship at La Amistad residential program working with individuals and families who experience serious behavioral, mood, anxiety, and other mental health disorders. This experience has allowed Ashley to gain extensive training and knowledge in using a systemic approach to help individuals, children, and families who are experiencing serious behavioral, emotional, family, school and social problems. She works directly with our physicians to provide integrated care.