Welcome to Brave Space Healing
Ashley Parker, LISW, LICSW
Online Evening Therapy Available for
Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington State Residents
"We are all capable of the most incredible change."
Doctor Who
A radically authentic healing space for
deep exploration and
real transformation.
Hi, I'm Ashley (she/her), a biracial, neurodivergent clinical social worker and therapist offering virtual, telehealth therapy to adults residing in Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington State.
I work with emotionally intense, thoughtful, overwhelmed, and self-aware adults who are trying to understand their patterns and break out of old survival strategies. Many of my clients are cycle-breakers, helpers, people-pleasers, perfectionists, late-diagnosed neurodivergent adults, adult children of chaotic families, or people who feel like they have spent their whole lives being “too much” and “not enough” at the same time.
I commonly support clients with anxiety, depression, trauma, complex trauma, attachment wounds, emotional overwhelm, ADHD, autism, rejection sensitivity, burnout, shame, boundaries, family-of-origin issues, relational trauma, identity exploration, and the exhausting work of learning how to trust yourself.
My goal is to help you reconnect with your own power to heal, grow, and transform through adversity, while building a life rooted in peace, connection, and unapologetic purpose.
MY APPROACH
My approach is warm, conversational, collaborative, and action-oriented. I lead with wit, humor, compassion, and radical authenticity.
I am not a blank slate therapist. I show up as a real person: engaged, curious, responsive, honest, and deeply invested in the work we are doing together. I want therapy to feel human and easy to settle into, while still being grounded in clinical training, structure, ethics, and care.
You are the expert on your own life and lived experience. I see my role as a guide: someone who can help you sort through the noise, make sense of what feels tangled, notice patterns, and turn insight into meaningful change.
As a millennial therapist, I have been known to bring humor, pop culture references, and the occasional irreverent comment into session when it feels helpful. Therapy can be deep, meaningful, and hard without being stiff, sterile, or painfully serious all the time.
I believe therapy should be both deep and useful. We can explore your story, relationships, patterns, identities, attachment wounds, protective strategies, and inner world while also building practical skills, boundaries, language, and next steps for everyday life.
My work is relational, trauma-informed, feminist, neurodivergent-affirming, LGBTQ+ inclusive, and rooted in social justice. I do not believe our pain exists in a vacuum. Our lives are shaped by family systems, relationships, culture, trauma, identity, power, oppression, racism, ableism, patriarchy, capitalism, and the systems we are trying to survive inside.
I draw from DBT, ACT, IFS, EMDR, attachment-based therapy, relational therapy, and trauma-informed care to help you understand your patterns, regulate your nervous system, build self-trust, process painful experiences, and create meaningful change.
I am compassionate, candid, growth-focused, and not afraid to challenge you with care, honesty, and a little sass. Swearing and laughter are always welcome.
My goal is to help you reconnect with your own power to heal, grow, and move through adversity while building a life rooted in peace, connection, and unapologetic purpose.
“The place of true healing is a fierce place. It’s a giant place. It’s a place of monstrous beauty and endless dark and glimmering light.”
— Cheryl Strayed
MY THERAPIST ORIGIN STORY
I came to this work through both lived experience and a deep belief that none of us gets through life alone.
As a biracial and neurodivergent person who grew up in a complex family system, I learned early how much our environments shape us. I also learned how powerful it can be to have someone truly see you, believe you, challenge you, and help you make sense of what you have been carrying.
Before becoming a therapist, much of my work centered around advocacy, community care, and social justice. I spent years in nonprofit, political, public health, and grassroots spaces focused on reproductive justice, HIV/AIDS prevention, harm reduction, education, and community organizing.
That work taught me that healing is never just individual. People need support, safety, resources, dignity, connection, and communities that are willing to care for one another.
I received my Master of Social Work from the University of Iowa, where my training deepened my commitment to person-centered, trauma-informed, and systems-aware care. My background also includes work in higher education, where I supported students navigating mental health concerns, identity development, crisis, trauma, relationships, life transitions, and the messy process of figuring out who they are and what they need.
Those experiences continue to shape how I practice therapy. I believe we heal in relationship, and I believe our lives are deeply impacted by the systems around us. My work is grounded in the idea that we all do better when more of us have access to care, safety, dignity, connection, and the support we need to stop merely surviving.
At the heart of it, I became a therapist because I believe people deserve spaces where they do not have to survive alone.
CLINICAL SPECIALTIES:
Anxiety, Burnout, Emotional intensity, Complex Trauma / CPTSD, ADHD & other neurodivergent conditions, borderline personality disorder, attachment wounds, family-of-origin work, shame, self-worth, burnout, helper fatigue, life transitions, identity exploration, and cycle-breaking.
“If you can’t run, you walk. If you can’t walk, you crawl. And if you can’t crawl… you find someone to carry you.”
— Firefly
