Ashley Hayes, LICSW

Ashley Hayes is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) practicing in Rhode Island. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, grief, depression, and the strains of life changes. Her work also addresses relationship and family concerns, parenting stress, sleeping problems, anger, self-esteem, career worries, and compassion fatigue.

Hayes brings eight years of clinical social work experience, including time in oncology care and personal experience as a cancer survivor. That background informs her whole-health view that physical and emotional needs affect each other. She uses plain, practical language and a calm presence to make difficult topics easier to talk about.

Her approach centers on the person in front of her. Sessions emphasize strengths, clear goals, and achievable steps. She helps people notice patterns of thinking, try small behavior changes, and build routines that reduce worry and overwhelm.

Techniques drawn on in sessions include mindfulness practices, cognitive behavioral strategies, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Attachment-based and client-centered ideas guide how she focuses on relationships and the therapeutic connection.

Ashley aims to help people set reasonable expectations and hear themselves more clearly amid life’s stress. She supports people coping with trauma, caregiver strain, first responder and veteran concerns, multicultural issues, panic attacks, and chronic medical challenges. She invites clients to work together on practical steps toward clearer thinking and steadier days.

How therapeutic approaches translate to online care

Ashley commonly uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in her work. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy focuses on helping people notice thoughts and feelings without letting them dictate actions, which can help with anxiety, avoidance, and coping with illness. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy looks at connections between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and teaches practical skills to change unhelpful patterns that maintain depression or panic.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. She will work with each person to match methods to their goals and preferences, and adjust the mix as needs change over time. The emphasis is on trying doable strategies and evaluating what helps in everyday life.

Confirm current session options before booking, since specific formats are not listed in the biography. Online therapy can make it easier to fit appointments into a busy schedule, reduce travel time, and allow check-ins during breaks at work or between responsibilities. It can also let someone choose sessions that rely more on conversation or ones that include guided exercises and mindfulness practice without needing extra commute time.