Lara Ashbaugh

Practical, compassionate therapy for everyday challenges

LPC Missouri

Experience: 10 years in practice
Focus areas: Stress, Anxiety, Grief, Self esteem
Approaches: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Languages: English

About Lara

Lara Ashbaugh is an LPC based in Missouri who draws on cognitive behavioral approaches alongside acceptance and commitment strategies to help clients navigate emotional challenges. With ten years of professional practice, she blends practical skill-building with a respectful, client-centered manner that emphasizes each person's strengths and values.

Background and approach

Her work often focuses on stress, anxiety, depression, grief, self-esteem, coping with life changes, addictions, trauma and abuse, and related concerns. She uses Dialectical Behavior Therapy techniques to support emotion regulation, relationship skills, and coping strategies, and integrates mindfulness and motivational interviewing to tailor treatment to individual needs.

Additional areas of focus include issues such as ADHD, bipolar concerns, parenting and career challenges, LGBT matters, compassion fatigue, and a range of family and interpersonal topics. Lara aims to create an interactive, nonjudgmental therapeutic environment and adapts interventions to support practical change while honoring clients' unique resources and goals.

Prospective clients can expect a collaborative process that builds on what is already working, with attention to developing concrete tools for managing symptoms and improving daily functioning. She frames therapy as a partnership aimed at helping people move toward a more satisfying and workable life.

Evidence-Informed Approaches for Online Care

Lara often integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in her work. CBT focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns to reduce symptoms like anxiety and depression, while ACT emphasizes values-based action and learning to accept difficult emotions rather than avoid them. Both approaches offer practical tools clients can apply between sessions to manage mood, coping, and daily functioning.

She also draws from Client-Centered principles, which prioritize a collaborative, empathetic therapeutic relationship that helps clients explore goals and build on personal strengths. Finding the right mix of methods is part of the therapeutic process, and the therapist will work with each person to determine which approaches best match their needs, preferences, and goals in a cooperative way.

Online therapy with Lara can use video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to increase flexibility and accessibility. These formats make it easier to fit consistent therapy into busy lives, help maintain continuity when schedules or locations change, and support practice of skills in real-world settings between sessions.

Frequently asked questions

What kinds of concerns does this therapist address?

Lara focuses on a broad range of issues including stress, anxiety, depression, grief, self-esteem, coping with life changes, addictions, trauma and abuse, and related challenges listed in her specialties.

What is the therapist's general approach or style?

The practice blends cognitive behavioral techniques with acceptance and commitment principles and a client-centered stance, using a warm, interactive style that emphasizes respect and nonstigmatizing language.

How much clinical experience does the therapist have?

She has ten years of professional experience working as a therapist, with additional roles in supervision and teaching earlier in her background as noted in her profile.

Where is the therapist licensed and located?

The provider is an LPC licensed in Missouri, listed with credential MO LPC 2007035135.

Which languages are available for sessions and can international clients join?

Sessions are offered in English, and international clients are not currently accepted.

What session formats does the therapist offer?

Therapy can be conducted via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging according to the available session formats.

How are costs and subscriptions handled?

Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions are provided through a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.

What steps are involved to begin working with this therapist?

To get started, select the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule sessions based on the therapist's availability.

Areas of expertise

Primary focus

Stress, Anxiety Grief Self esteem Depression Coping with life changes

Also works with

AddictionsLGBTTrauma and abuseParenting issuesAnger managementCareer difficultiesBipolar disorderCoachingCompassion fatigue ADHD

Additional focus areas

Adoption and foster careAging and geriatric issuesBDSM, kink, and alternative sex cultureBody imageCaregiver issues and stressCommitment issuesCommunication problemsControl issuesDissociationDivorce and separationEmptinessFamily problemsFertility issuesGender dysphoriaGuilt and shameHearing impairedHIV / AIDSHoardingHospice and end-of-life counselingImpulsivity Isolation / lonelinessLife purposeMoney and financial issuesMood disorders Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD Panic disorder and panic attacksParanoiaPersonality disordersPhobiasPolyamory / non-monogamous relationshipsPostpartum depressionPost-traumatic stressPregnancy and childbirthSeasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)Self-harm Social anxiety and phobiaWomen's issuesWorkplace issues

Therapeutic approaches

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)Client-Centered TherapyCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)Mindfulness TherapyMotivational InterviewingSolution-Focused Therapy

Experience

10+ years

Licensed

Missouri

Languages

English