Community Highlights: Meet Ashley Hampton of Hampton House Counseling

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Hampton.

Hi Ashley, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Being a therapist was not my original life goal. I didn’t dream of therapy or owning a counseling center. I originally wanted to pursue a career in theater but life had different plans for me. After taking a required psychology course in my first years of college, I thought to myself “I love talking and connecting with people why not do it in my work?” and everything spiraled from there. I got my bachelor’s in really the only subject that interested me, psychology and then went on to pursue my master’s in counseling.

Out of my master’s program, I got experience working with children as a school-based therapist for local agencies and was also building my private practice. I was working A LOT during those early years, and it was really hard, but I think it was really beneficial to me in the work that I do today. The ethic and grit I had to develop.

After some years of doing agency work and private practice, About five years ago, I finally made the choice to focus solely on building my private practice. There’s always been a fire burning in my spirit about providing equitable therapeutic spaces for marginalized individuals. As a queer therapist of color, I personally have experienced a lot during my academic and professional years that also fueled a passion for helping other therapists like me. It all kind of snowballed into a little budding idea for a group therapy practice whose primary focus is serving marginalized communities, equipped with therapists who are also representative of those communities. I think that’s an important piece that’s often missing in well meaning spaces. With the support of my wife, we created Hampton House a space where we know that healing in the margins will change the world. It’s been so much more rewarding than I ever could’ve imagined, and I think the story is still just unfolding.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth is definitely not the word I would use! Like I said, there were many early challenges in the academic phase of my story related to the ways in which I was different from my peers. It really taught me to advocate for myself and to be more aware of the challenges that my clients likely face on a regular basis. The early years of working for therapy agencies were definitely challenging, and there are still challenges with growing and sustaining a new business that we’re learning to navigate. I think life and creating new things is rarely easy, and that’s a part of it. It keeps me motivated though.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Hampton House Counseling?
Hampton House Counseling is a group therapy practice whose mission is to provide safe spaces for individuals from marginalized communities–BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and others. Our clients come to us because they’ve struggled to find therapists who understand them, who are not affirming; or they simply feel safer to come to us because they see themselves when they go to our website and look at our “Meet Us” page. The therapists and practitioners on our team, are representative of the individuals we serve, and that’s rare. I think that’s what makes us different, and that’s definitely what I’m most proud of. We have a range of clinical specialties that our team can provide from help with anxiety, depression, self esteem, LGBTQIA+ issues, and identity issues to trauma and PTSD. We also have team members who specialize in working with couples, BIPOC prenatal care, pregnancy, and postpartum mental health, religious dissonance, and women’s issues.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I think what has been most beneficial to me over the years has been my fearlessness to advocate for myself and my clients. There’s a productive anger or passion that comes up in me when I think of the injustices my clients and clinicians face on a regular basis. It’s definitely motivated my desire to create something different, and it continues to fuel me daily. I want to create spaces where folks from marginalized communities feel safe and empowered to show up just as they are.

Pricing:

• Individuals Counseling Services range from $100-$120 per session

Contact Info:

• Email: beth@hamptonhousecounseling.com
• Website: hamptonhousecounseling.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamptonhousecounseling/