Ashley Hayes

Ashley Hayes is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) practicing in Rhode Island. She helps people manage stress, anxiety, grief, depression, and the strain that comes with major life changes. She also supports those facing relationship or family concerns, parenting stress, sleeping problems, and burnout from caregiving or work. Ashley has particular experience with issues related to trauma and abuse, narcissism, panic attacks, and multicultural or identity-related stressors.

Ashley brings eight years of clinical social work experience that includes work in oncology settings. She is a cancer survivor and uses that lived experience alongside clinical practice when supporting people through illness, end-of-life concerns, and caregiver strain. This background informs her emphasis on treating mental and physical needs together rather than separately.

Her style is collaborative and straightforward. She centers sessions on what the client wants to change and on small, realistic steps toward those goals. She focuses on helping people hear their own thinking more clearly, reduce unhelpful patterns, and build practical coping tools for daily life.

Ashley draws on mindfulness practices, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to shift thinking and behavior. She also uses client-centered and attachment-based ideas to strengthen the therapeutic relationship and highlight personal strengths.

Sessions tend to be solutions-oriented with room to process emotion. Clients can expect clear goal setting, concrete strategies for managing anxiety or grief, and attention to how life circumstances and the body affect mental health.

Therapeutic approaches and online care

Ashley commonly uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people accept difficult feelings and commit to values-based action. ACT can be useful for anxiety, grief, and adjusting to life changes that feel overwhelming.

She also draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help identify and change patterns of thinking that worsen mood or worry. CBT offers practical tools for managing panic attacks, insomnia, and persistent negative thoughts.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Ashley collaborates with each person to match methods to their needs, goals, and preferences. She will check in and adjust the plan as progress and obstacles become clearer.

If you are considering online sessions, confirm current session options before booking so you know which formats are offered. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when schedules are tight. It can also help people continue care while attending medical appointments or managing caregiving duties. Licensed professionals can use these options to provide the same kinds of interventions used in person, adapted for the remote setting.