Meet Ashli King | Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashli King and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashli, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I am a native of Louisiana and my background of growing up in Southwest Louisiana fueled the creative side that I am so passionate to share with others today. Growing up in Southern Louisiana includes family, festivals across the country, and wonderful music that includes Zydeco, Swing-Out, Jazz, and great Blues artists; so it was natural and in my blood, to pick up musical instruments such as the clarinet and saxophone throughout my matriculation of grade school and my undergraduate experience at Southern University and A & M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

My upbringing was beautiful, in the sense, that it was the true sense of “Lassez-Faire” which simply stated, means to let things take their time or how I interpreted was, enjoy the freedoms presented to me such as family time, honoring my school responsibilities, and spending time in any extracurricular activities that kept my attention and around individuals whose focus were bettering themselves.

All those attributes of my youth and my family dynamic impacted who I am today.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a licensed professional counselor doing functional family therapy in the state of Louisiana. With my background working in mental health with families, children, and adults, my career path assists me with providing skills to people in the state of Louisiana which includes showing up for others within different cultures, religions, and assisting families that may struggle due to low socio-economic status and meeting families where they can comprehend systems in place that may be causing injustices in their life, stress, depression, anxiety, or possible abuse of substances.

Becoming a licensed professional counselor was not easy by any stretch of the imagination and took sacrifices that included time away from my family, unpaid internships, commuting, back and forth, 3 hours a day, when completing my graduate school program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.

I overcame these obstacles because my vision and goals imagined what I could do when becoming a licensed professional counselor, where my life could be, and the access to care I could provide to different communities when reaching the goal of graduating from graduate school and conquering the 3,000 hours of supervised clinician work experienced needed to become a licensed professional counselor in the state of Louisiana.

The lessons that I learned about myself along the way really showed how much grit and power I possessed. The challenges at the beginning of my academic graduate career along with becoming a licensed therapist displayed to me my ability to make specific goals, set a realistic action plan, and give myself a timeline that is adjustable and also achievable.

I would like the world to know that even with grief, heartache, pain, discomfort, and failure along my journey, I still also held on to my positive outlook on life, that good things would come, will come, and have came.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Visits in Louisiana can be either relaxing or jam-packed! The route that I generally enjoy begins with food and good drinks!

The first stop for a best friend trip includes seafood from a local Cajun restaurant called Prejean’s that offers authentic local cuisine of freshwater and saltwater seafood such as crawfish, oysters, and fish! Prejean’s offers live music, is family-owned, and has been open and operating for 40 years! You can’t start your trip to Louisiana without stopping for gumbo, etouffee, or a mouthwatering seafood boil.

The next destination that shows the beauty of Louisiana’s landscape and why Louisiana is called, “Sportsman’s Paradise” would be a Swamp Tour provided by Basin Landing which provides swamp tours on the Atchafalaya Basin by airboat as an option. Getting an up-close look at the wildlife Louisiana has the offer, the history that is still preserved by Louisiana waterways, and enjoying the beauty that the Louisiana swamp has to offer is by far one of my favorite tourist attractions.

If the swamp tour may be too adventurous for some, nature lovers may enjoy views from local destinations such as Avery Island which is home to the Tabasco Pepper Sauce Factory as well as Jungle Gardens. Both properties are on the same stretch of land which includes walkthrough tours, information on how 5 generations have preserved Avery Island, home of the tabasco, and bird city which is a bird colony founded in the 1890s that assists in protecting egrets during their migration across the Gulf of Mexico. Jungle Gardens spans over 170 acres, with tours available or you and your family have the luxury to walk around by yourself.

Lastly, if a friend wanted to enjoy the local music scene in my area, places like downtown Lafayette may provide a good time as well as other restaurants and dancehalls which include Vermillioville or Buck and Johnny’s which showcase local entertainment and great food!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to shout out my parents, honestly, as individuals I would like to credit them for encouraging me, preparing me, and instilling values in my life. My father was an entrepreneur as the best possible description as a business owner and was adamant about doing good deeds, financial responsibility, making smart moves, and always looking for knowledge to continue learning and growing in whatever stage of life someone may be in.

My mother is a health care provider and as a nurse, I’ve seen my mother show care for people who may be afraid to speak up, and fight for patient rights, as well as other hospital personnel.

Instagram: vsg_ashli