About Ashley
Ashley Karstunen works with people feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure where to turn. He meets each person with calm attention and practical support. Sessions aim to help you find clarity, manage stress and anxiety, and make steady changes that feel possible.
Ashley is a PACFA counsellor with six years' clinical experience. He draws on somatic approaches alongside talk-based work to help people notice how stress shows up in the body.
Background and approach
That somatic focus is used alongside attachment-based and client-centred ways of working to build safety and trust in the room. He uses straightforward tools from cognitive behavioural and existential approaches to support mood, rumination, and life-purpose questions. Mindfulness and grounding practices are shared when helpful to reduce overwhelm and improve day-to-day coping.
The work is collaborative and paced to each person’s needs. Ashley also supports people dealing with grief, trauma and abuse, relationship and intimacy concerns, compassion fatigue, and career or life-change decisions. He attends to how long-term stress, chronic illness and caregiving pressures affect emotions and behaviour.
Sessions are offered in English and available through online formats. To begin, people complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule according to his availability. Ashley aims to create a steady, practical route toward greater ease and meaning.
How somatic and relational approaches work online
Ashley often combines somatic work with attachment-based and client-centred approaches. Somatic work helps people notice physical sensations and stress patterns in the body and use breathing and grounding to reduce overwhelm. Attachment-based work looks at how early relationship patterns shape current responses and helps people develop more supported ways of relating. Client-centred therapy focuses on being heard and understood so people can explore goals at their own pace.Choosing the right mix of approaches is a collaborative process. Ashley will check in about your needs, goals and preferences and suggest practices to try. Together you will adjust the balance of body-focused and talking-based work as you learn what helps most.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls let you work face-to-face from home, while phone sessions, live chat and text messaging provide alternatives when video is difficult. These options can make it easier to fit therapy around work, caregiving or health demands and to keep going when life gets busy. Online formats also allow the therapist to share mindfulness exercises and somatic practices that you can use between sessions.
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does Ashley help with?
How would you describe his therapeutic style?
What is his clinical background?
Which credentials and location apply to his practice?
Can I have sessions in other languages or from overseas?
What session formats are available online?
How are sessions paid for and what do they cost?
How do I begin a course of therapy?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Attachment issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Family of origin issues
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Money and financial issues
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 6 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English