Ashley Gartner
I am a 39-year-old graduate of Wake Forest University with a Master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling. I grew up between Bloomington and Nashville, Indiana. My family has deep roots in Brown County, but I was born in Bloomington, where I lived until my junior year in high school. I went to elementary school in Bloomington and junior high and high school in Brown County. Growing up in Bloomington at that influential time allowed me to experience various people and cultures and develop my worldview regarding multiculturalism. But it wasn’t until moving to Brown County that I first witnessed true poverty and neglect. It was during this time that I first had an inkling that I had to follow a path where I could help the pain, anger, and hopelessness I saw in the kids and families around me. I also realized that people came to me to talk about their problems and would leave the conversation feeling better. These two realizations, plus my personal experiences with therapy, combined to help me conclude that counseling was my future. Unfortunately, some experiences during my first year of college derailed this plan. After switching majors a few times and attaining an associate’s degree in culinary arts, I took a 10-year break from school.
During this time, I fell into a career in multifamily management and worked my way up to being a property manager. I prospered in this career but still felt incomplete, having not attained my undergraduate degree. So, in 2017, I decided to return to school to finish my psychology degree. Around that time, the upper management in the company I worked for changed, and I was let go from my job. I took it as a sign that I needed to focus on school and follow my original path. I chose to return to Indiana University to overcome my mistakes early on in my undergraduate career and prove that I had grown as a person. For the next 46 credit hours, I demonstrated how much I had grown. I dug myself out of the hole I created, raised my GPA significantly, and graduated in May 2019. I started attending Wake Forest University the following fall.
During my coursework at Wake Forest, I also completed my Master’s level internship at Catholic Charities Bloomington. This experience allowed me to work with the type of poverty and exposure trauma I have always desired to treat. I also had the chance to learn about and use Play Therapy as a treatment option for my younger clients. The experience confirmed how much I love doing the work and how rewarding it is. In my Wake Forest admissions interview, I said that if I could help one kid, to reach one kid, all of the time and money would be worth it. I was right. The joy I experienced terminating my first client, knowing she no longer needed me, was overwhelming. It was a joy that continued throughout my internship and grew as each client moved on. I can only imagine it will be a joy I continue having throughout my career.
