Ashley Absher Email and Phone Number

I provide inpatient treatment to female residents at the PRTF facility. The children I provide treatment for have been severely traumatized and present with intense behavioral and emotional issues.

Provide MST services in-home in the community for at-risk teens and their families.

Responsibilities: As a student therapist intern working under a Graduate Assistantship, I am required to work a designated twenty hours per week. During this twenty hours per week, I am required to see any walk-in clients when I am not currently in session. In addition to seeing walk-in clients, I am responsible for seeing scheduled clients. After seeing a new client, it is my duty to reschedule at a convenient time for the client and keep in contact with them if they miss an appointment. I see only students who are enrolled at the university, mainly individuals; however, some students are able to bring their significant other to sessions for couple’s counseling. After completing each session, it is my responsibility to maintain accurate case notes for my clients.

I work at the front desk of our on campus Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic. I assist student therapist in scheduling, issues regarding confidentiality and any technical formalities regarding case files. I am one of three graduate assistants that share this position. We work together to make sure that we are all on the same page regarding certain things that occur during the week. Working the front desk means that I am one of the first voices that the clients hear when they contact our clinic for services. I help clients to feel comfortable and safe when they call for an appointment and help them to get set up with a therapist intern at our facility.

I am an intern at a private practice who sees clients at a reduced fee. I utilize my training in systemic therapy to help clients with whatever problems or concerns they come to me with. I have seen many clients for marital issues, dating and romantic relationships, parenting, parent/child relationships, children with problems at school, anger, anxiety, self-esteem, and many other areas.

I assist parents and students with any needs they come in with, retrieve all phone calls, and conduct any mandatory office work. I also tutor students on the subject of reading comprehension, writing, grammar, and anything pertaining to language/arts. I have tutored high school students prepping for the ACT test, middle school grammar students, and elementary students. It is my job to assign homework and check it when the children bring it back. Another duty is communicating with the parents on what their children are doing, and how well things are going.

Responsibilities: As a therapist, I am a part of a multidisciplinary team consisting of a judge, assistant district attorney, probation officer, case manager, and other fellow therapists. We work with adolescents in the legal system who have issues with substance abuse, truancy, anger issues, etc. My role in this team is to provide therapy to the adolescents and their families from a systemic perspective. If at any point my client receives time in the Green Oaks Detention Center, I will visit and conduct therapy at the detention facility. In addition to this, I also am a teen group leader for the juveniles. In these groups, we discuss relevant issues such as negative influences, future plans, how to be drug free, family issues, etc. I am, also, responsible for making sure my clients receive their required treatment hours each week, writing weekly court reports on my client's progress, attending weekly team meetings where I assist the team in coming up with creative incentives and sanctions for each client, and attending the court dates in which my clients will be present. I spend approximately 15 hours in my obligations to the drug court and am under the supervision of Dr. Bethany Simmons, the treatment director for the drug court.

As a student therapist intern, I facilitate court ordered visitations between non custodial parents and their children. I am responsible for upholding safety regulations as well as confidentiality agreements. I am accountable for writing letters to the court in order to report clients’ attendance and compliance record whenever the clients have to appear in court. During visits, I am expected to make certain that all of The Wellspring’s policies and procedures are upheld. If a parent should break any rule, I am expected to intervene by redirecting the conversation, modeling appropriate conversation, or coaching the parent. If a parent refuses to comply, I must make a decision regarding terminating the visit. I correspond with both the custodial and non custodial parents regarding their scheduled visit times, grievances, and visit cancellations. I am expected to provide accurate and thorough documentation for each case that I oversee. Also, I am responsible for keeping my supervisors up to date regarding my cases.

As a student therapist intern, I provide therapeutic services to families, individuals, and couples. I am responsible for corresponding with my clients, scheduling sessions, and keeping accurate case notes for each client. Some examples of clients I have seen are married couples, single parent families, premarital couples, juvenile drug court clients, the elderly and suicidal clients. In addition to seeing clients, I am responsible for consulting with my supervisor when needed, and keeping him up to date on which models I am using and how I am growing as a therapist. On my designated practicum night, I am a part of a team of therapist interns and am expected to contribute where I see fit in order to help a colleague on a difficult case. I am also expected to follow the policies and procedures of the clinic including the AAMFT code of ethics.

As a child care worker, I would work eight hour shifts on a unit with six teenage girls who were in custody of the state due to neglect, child abuse, or sexual abuse. Many of the girls had a criminal record which entailed battery, theft, assault, and vandalism. All of the girls were diagnosed with some sort of mental disorder such as bipolar disorder, manic depressive disorder, or depression. Several times, I was assigned suicide watch over the youth who had threatened suicide, which meant I had to sit within six feet of the youth at all times, and make sure she was not going to harm herself. Often this entailed having lengthy conversations. As a child care worker, I would form relationships with the girls in order to provide a positive influence in their lives. I would teach them important life skills such as reading, writing, speaking formally, decision making, etc. I was always accompanied by at least two more child care workers while on the shift. So, I was able to develop a leadership role on the unit; therefore, I would be in charge of disciplining the girls and dissolving arguments. Through working here, I learned many things about people, and relationships, and families operate.