About Me
Hi & welcome! My name is Ashley Buckner and I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Utah and California. I specialize in a form of trauma therapy called Brainspotting that works to help people find more regulation in their nervous system. I primarily serve adults and teens as well as offer family therapy services on a case by case basis. My local practice is based in Cedar City, Utah where I opened doors to serve the community in 2022. I additionally provide virtual telehealth sessions to clients throughout Utah & California.
My journey started in 2006 when I moved to Los Angeles, CA for college. I received my Bachelor’s in Sociology at Loyola Marymount University which led me to the therapy field. I attended graduate school at the University of San Diego and received my Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2012.
I started my therapy career working with at-risk youth in East County San Diego as a school based therapist at an alternative education high school. This population offered early perspective into trauma, the impact of access to mental health services, & the importance of community support. My experience with youth inspired Mending Matters, a nonprofit I co-founded in 2014 with a vision to give every student access to mental health services by qualified support on school campuses. I currently serve on the board of directors for the organization.
In 2018, my husband and I decided to move back to Cedar City, Utah. Initially, I started working at a residential treatment facility for adolescent girls. I took some time off to have my first child and pivoted to more remote work to find more balance in my family life. When the pandemic hit, I transitioned fully to providing telehealth services.
In 2022, I was trained in Brainspotting and this shifted the trajectory of my career. Brainspotting works directly with the nervous system and allows people to release distress from their nervous system and experience more regulation for presenting symptoms. To learn more about Brainspotting click here.
My expertise is in trauma work, depression, anxiety, and body image. Since opening a practice in Southern Utah, I have stumbled on an additional speciality of religious trauma and faith transitions. I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (aka: the Mormon Church) and later left in 2008. What I want people to know is that my office is a safe space to question religious beliefs and I am learning that those safe spaces are hard to come by in Utah.
Movement is also a large part of my method, both in my office and in the local hot yoga studio, Bristlecone, I teach at. I deeply believe that healing requires movement- physical, mental, emotional- whatever ails us needs space to move.
​I recognize the courage it takes to seek support and feel humbled each time I am able to hear and honor parts of a person’s experience. One last thing about me as a therapist - anything I ask of my clients, I am doing or working on in my personal therapy sessions. I learned early on in this field that I couldn’t practice as a therapist without doing my own inner work.
What I know is this- healing is hard and also worth it. I am on this journey with you and am so grateful for the collective healing of the community.
