Mountain Creative Arts Counseling

My name is Kara Ashley-Gilmore, and I am a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, Registered Art Therapist, and Provisional Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. I specialize in working with individuals who have experienced trauma and are struggling with chronic anxiety.

I love helping people learn to cope with stress through understanding their emotions, their bodies, their thoughts, their spirituality, and the things that get in the way of feeling ease, pleasure, and connection.

The author, Tanner Christensen, wrote that creativity is a cup of jellybeans. He explained that if a clear cup were full of jellybeans, you would only be able to see the colors around the perimeter. The jellybeans in the center are hidden from view. The insights that come to us as we are being creative are the keys to our personal growth.

When you're suffering from anxiety, you may walk around pretending that everything is fine in front of friends, family, and colleagues, but secretly, you are struggling to get through the day without falling apart. It's no secret that times are tough, and the world can feel like a stressful place to live sometimes.

The Anxiety Skills Group is facilitated by Kara Ashley-Gilmore, a licensed counselor and art therapist, and meets weekly in Downtown Hendersonville. When you're dealing with anxiety, you may feel like you are struggling to get through the day without falling apart.

You may walk around pretending that everything is fine in front of friends, family, and colleagues, while secretly you're battling inner voices of self-doubt, criticism, or fears that you're going to fail, and the world will find out you are a fraud.This charade is exhausting and can leave you feeling drained at the end of the day-with no time or energy to put towards the people and things that make you happy.

During this weekly art therapy group, you'll be guided through meditation, art expression, and sharing designed to encourage creative play, emotional expression, and connection with self and others. Art making can support us in re-connecting with our mind, body, and spirit. This group is catered to adult participants, who are yearning for something relaxing and creative.