Ashley Porter – LPC

Ashley Porter, LPC

Whether you’re facing major life changes or could just use an emotional check-in, we all need someone to sit with us and hear our story. Therapist Ashley Porter offers empathy and approachability so that you feel safe to share your challenges and victories alike.

Getting stuck is part of the process of therapy—and learning to understand yourself. That’s why Porter works with individuals to acknowledge struggle and celebrate growth. She brings together psychodynamic and cognitive approaches, including Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT).

Porter works with adults of all ages, including many Millennials new to Chicago and also first-generation immigrants. Other areas of expertise include life transitions, personal growth, grief and loss, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and depression.

Read on to get to know Porter more—and click here to set up an appointment.

What do you want for your clients?

Therapy is a constant process of taking two steps forward and one step back. Regardless of how big a step back you take, you’re still one step ahead of where you started from. There may be setbacks, but it’s part of the process. What I want is for you to have a better understanding of yourself, your experience, and the space you take in the world.

What led you to this work?

As a result of a huge loss and change in my own life, I wound up going to therapy. It brought up a lot of things I hadn’t thought about in a long time and I realized I had always been drawn to psychology. I’ve always been an empath and someone people would come to if they needed to have a heart-to-heart. When I went to therapy myself and learned about the process of it – how it works, why it works – I thought, “This is where I want to be.”

What do clients say about working with you?

The feedback I’ve gotten is that I’m genuine and authentic. The person you sit with in therapy is the same person I am outside the session. Clients say they feel cared for—and, yes, they are.  

Why did you choose to practice at CFC?

Everyone here is warm, welcoming, and genuine. They really made me feel part of the team.

What do you do in your free time?

I’m a musician and play guitar in a band. I’m also a competitive powerlifter. Oh, and I play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons.

Book you’ve read over and over

I’m gonna let my nerd flag fly. I love reading F. Scott Fitzgerald and Oscar Wilde, but also the George R.R. Martin series, A Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted into Game of Thrones.

Best therapy advice

The world doesn’t have to be crashing down around you to come to therapy. I have so many clients who come in and say, “I don’t really know what to talk about today.” And I’ll say, “Well, tell me what’s going on in your life. What are some of the good things that happened in your week?” Many of us don’t even think to focus on that, but there are insights to be gathered there too. We don’t always have to let the darkness guide us.

Specializing In: