Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley House.
Hi Ashley, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was a teacher and a coach for ten years of my life. I loved it and was very passionate about it, but around 2019 I started to see the impact of mental health for people. I started to value helping my students walk through some hard moments, specifically in their mental health, and honestly teaching English and coaching track/cross country started to get in the way. I went back to school while I was the head coach of girls’ track and cross country program at Lebanon Trail High School in Frisco, TX. I finished my masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Lamar University around the same time of the pandemic in 2020. Now more than ever, people needed to prioritize their mental health. Long story short, I waited a little longer and eventually left teaching and coaching to start as an LPC-Associate at a private practice in Plano, TX in 2023. I loved my time there, but I felt a strong calling to work with underserved populations, specifically people experiencing homelessness.
That is when I started my own private practice, Sons and Daughters Counseling. I was in downtown Dallas when I saw two homeless people and God impressed upon my heart that they are someone’s son and daughter. That is when I came up with the name and truly set out to make sure each person felt loved, heard, and cared for as a son or daughter. Now, I have my own private practice but I also work as a full time counselor at a transitional living facility for people experiencing homelessness, The Samaritan Inn in McKinney, TX.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would not say that it was necessarily ‘smooth,’ but I knew it was right. When I first decided to leave my teaching job after having my daughter in March of 2023, I knew it was time to start my career as a counselor but just didn’t know where. Going from a steady, salary income that my family relied on for bills, food, etc. was hard. We decided to take out all of my retirement from teaching and live on that for the next six months. After that six months is when I decided to look for a homeless shelter I could work with, but I did not want to give up private counseling. I opened my own practice around the same time that I started my job at the Samaritan Inn and then was able to have more flexibility to do what I wanted with my own business without the financial pressures.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
At Sons and Daughters Counseling, I specialize in mental health services for anyone experiencing life transitions, women’s issues, grief, anxiety and depression, Christian counseling, and identity and self worth. I am known for making therapy accessible to anyone that desires to have it. I have affordable prices for private pay and I offer sliding scale. I am not in it for the money, even though that is nice. I am here for people and I want everyone to feel heard. I truly believe that sets me a part from most therapists in the area.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
As I said before, the biggest risk I took stepping into this field is the lack of financial stability. Clinicians rely on their clients to show up and that is how they are paid. If a client decides to cancel the day before, then the clinician does not get paid. Since I taught for ten years and it was a salary job with benefits, I had never experienced this kind of financial instabilty. When I was working with the private practice that first six months, I was sometimes only making 500$ a month. That was a lot on my family at the time since I was raising two small children. We went through my entire retirement in six months and then I created my business which was another risk at the time since it cost money to start it up.
Pricing:
- 90$ private pay with sliding scale offered
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sonsanddaughters.clientsecure.me/
- Instagram: @sonsanddaughterspllc
Image Credits
sam haines photography
stewart f house photography
