the business name, which is inspired by my children. They are the ones who inspire me and drive me forward. The ones that helped me reconnect and listen to my inner child which bought great healing and self-compassion.

The person behind Archella is Ashleigh, pronouns she/her. I am a qualified and experienced specialist trauma-centred psychotherapeutic Counsellor, Supervisor and Trainer based in Kent. I am fully insured and a member of the BACP. I work online and in person.

I am human before I am anything else and that ‘humanness’ comes into all the work I do. I love to laugh and find the joy and truly believe that where words fail memes speak but this is not to be confused with an inability to hold space for the darkness and heaviness that is also a part of the human experience. The tone and depth of any service I offer will ebb and flow just as life does.

Whilst I am partial to a ‘cardi’ and am curious as to ‘how that made you feel’ I appreciate that life, how we identify and how we communicate has changed vastly in recent years and as a human I aim to move with that. I am not a stuffy type therapist and if a meme or a song gives you insight then absolutely yes I want to hear it!

For more than a decade I have had the privilege of working with women and children who have survived domestic abuse. Seeing first hand the resilience and determination of human spirit has been a life changing experience. What I came to understand is that whilst dangerous situations can be fled it is often, arguably harder, to escape the impact on mind and body. For many the nightmare doesn’t end when physical safety is found. This is not just true of domestic abuse survivors but of anybody who has experienced a trauma.

It is through this work that a dedication and passion to promote trauma awareness both for survivor and practitioner was formed.