ashley larkin

mindful therapy
let’s sit, together.

schedule an appointment

a place to begin

I believe turning your attention toward yourself, with curiosity instead of criticism, is one of the bravest things a person can do.

Not because it's easy. Because most of us spend so much of our lives giving our attention outward that coming back to ourselves can feel unfamiliar, even a little tender.

That's exactly where we start.

In our work together, we slow down. We pay careful attention to what's unfolding in your body, your relationships, and your inner life, with patience and without judgment. We look at what's been shaping you, what feels stuck, and what might be ready to shift. Sometimes that means getting honest about fear, or longing, or the quiet ways you override yourself without even realizing it.

I'll ask the questions you've been circling. I'll sit with you in the hard parts. And I'll never push harder than the trust between us can hold.

Some weeks we'll go somewhere deep. Other weeks you'll just need to sit somewhere safe and breathe. Both count. All of it is the work.

My hope is that over time, what we do together becomes more than a 50-minute conversation. It becomes your own practice of coming home to yourself. A resource you carry.

You don't have to arrive here knowing what you need. You just get to arrive.

let's connect

roots

I come from people who knew how to hold hard things and still find their way to joy. That shaped me, long before any degree did.

I'm also a mother, which has its own way of teaching you things no training can.

I'm a licensed social worker with a Master of Social Work from NYU and advanced training in family systems theory through the Ackerman Institute for the Family, where I studied how relationships and larger systems shape who we become. My work is also grounded in a long-standing meditation practice and formal mindfulness training through UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, where I studied Buddhist psychology and its practical application to everyday life.

I've worked across community mental health, recovery settings, and holistic treatment centers, supporting individuals and families navigating anxiety, grief, addiction, relational conflict, and the transitions that rewrite everything.

And then there's the part that doesn't fit neatly on a résumé: over 15 years in the wellness space, a background in fine arts, and a creative practice that quietly shapes everything I do as a clinician. I understand what it means to live in a sensitive inner world. I bring all of it into the room.

MSW, New York University

UC Berkeley — Mindfulness Teacher Training

BFA, Virginia Commonwealth University

Ackerman Institute for the Family

EMDR Therapy Trained

the work

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People come to me for all kinds of reasons, but there's usually a thread.

Something that once helped you survive, maybe a way of coping, a way of relating, a way of holding yourself together — has started to cost more than it gives. The strategies that carried you through aren't fitting the person you're becoming. And beneath whatever brought you here, there's usually something tender that hasn't had much room yet.

I'm particularly drawn to working with people in seasons of change. The in-between places where the old version of your life has ended but the new one hasn't fully arrived.

I work with:

Women navigating identity shifts, life transitions, and the slow process of returning to themselves after years of pouring outward.

Creatives and artists who live in a rich inner world and are learning to sustain themselves, not just their work.

People living with anxiety, burnout, or grief — especially when those feelings have become so familiar they've started to feel like personality.

Anyone touched by addiction, whether in their own recovery or loving someone in theirs.

There's no one-size-fits-all here. I believe there are many doors through which we cultivate well-being, and therapy is one of them. My work is to help you find the path that actually fits.

  • Artist & Creative Professionals

  • Women’s Issues

  • Anxiety & Depression

  • Grief & Loss

  • Codependency & People-Pleasing

  • Perfectionism & Over-functioning

  • Burnout

  • Self-Worth, Trust & Boundaries

  • Relationship Challenges

  • Life Transitions

  • Individuals & Families Impacted by Addiction

  • Coping & Regulation

the framework

I draw from a lot of traditions, but I hold them loosely. At the center of everything is a deep belief that you are the expert on your own life -- my role is to walk alongside you, not direct you. What matters most is what actually helps you. Here's what that tends to look like in practice:

Mindfulness & Contemplative Approaches
Not the productivity-hack version. The kind that genuinely shifts how you relate to your own mind, your own body, and the present moment you're actually in.

Family Systems Theory
We don't arrive at ourselves alone. This lens helps us understand how the family and systems you grew up in shaped your patterns, your roles, and the way you move through the world today.

Anti-Oppressive and Systems Informed Practice
The world we live in shapes us. Race, culture, gender, class, and power are not separate from our inner lives -- they live inside them. This framework keeps that truth present in our work together.

Relational & Attachment-Based Work
How you learned to love, connect, and protect yourself early on tends to show up in every relationship you have now. We look at those patterns with curiosity, not judgment.

Buddhist Psychology
Ancient wisdom about suffering, impermanence, and the possibility of freedom, brought into your actual everyday life.

Somatic Awareness
Your body holds a lot of information your mind hasn't caught up to yet. We learn to listen to it together.

Trauma-Informed Care
Everything we do is shaped by an understanding of how trauma lives in the body and the nervous system. Safety is never an afterthought here.

let’s work together

Individual Therapy

A steady, private space to slow down and pay attention to what's really going on. Together we untangle what's been weighing on you and build the kind of self-trust that changes how you move through everything else.

Group Therapy

Something particular happens when you do this work alongside others. You see your own patterns more clearly, and you heal in relationship -- which is often exactly where the wounds began.

Speaking & Consulting

Available for speaking engagements, organizational wellness consulting, and mindfulness-based programming. If you're building something that centers the wellbeing of people, I'd love to be in conversation with you.

Couples & Family Therapy

Relationships are where our deepest patterns live. This is a place to look honestly at what's happening between you, to be heard by each other, and to find new ways of being together that actually feel good.

Mindfulness & Wellness Workshops

Offerings rooted in contemplative practice, somatic awareness, and creative expression. Ways to tend to yourself and your community beyond the therapy room -- whether that's a guided meditation session, a workshop, or an immersive group experience.

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common questions

schedule an appointment

  • I see clients virtually throughout Tennessee and in person at Nashville Therapy Group — with offices in East Nashville and Hillsboro Village.

    East Nashville
     901 Woodland Street
    Nashville, TN 37206

    Hillsboro Village
     1900 21st Avenue South, Suite 200
    Nashville, TN 37212

  • Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

  • Individual sessions are $200 for 50 minutes. Couples or family sessions are $250. I do reserve a limited number of sliding scale spots — if cost is a concern, let's talk about it.

  • I don't accept insurance directly, but Nashville Therapy Group is an out-of-network provider — so your insurance may reimburse a portion of the cost. HSA and FSA cards are accepted, and I'm happy to provide whatever documentation you need.

    For more information visit here.

  • Standard sessions are 50 minutes. If you'd benefit from more space, 90-minute sessions are available by request.

  • I ask for at least 48 hours' notice if you need to cancel or reschedule. That said — life happens. Grace is always extended for genuine emergencies, and there's never a charge for cancellations due to weather.

  • Standard therapy sessions are 50-minutes. If you feel you would benefit from more time, 90-minute sessions are available by request. Group session lengths vary depending on the format.

  • I work with individuals and families who are physically located in Tennessee at the time of each session.

To make an appointment, book a consultation or explore any of the offerings above, please complete the form with a few details about yourself.

Ashley Larkin
Nashville, TN

email: ashley.larkin@nashvilletherapy.org
call or text: (615)492-6715 ext.175

let’s sit, together.