Meet Ashley
East
End
Ashley Taylor
MMT, MT-BC
she / her / hers
Therapist
Specialties:
LGBTQIA+
Relationship Issues
Sexuality
ENM / Polyamory
Body Image / Fat Liberation
Anxiety
Grief / Death & Dying
Perfectionism
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LGBTQIA+ Affirming
Services Offered:
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Individual Therapy
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Relationship Therapy
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Family Therapy
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Telehealth Therapy
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Music Therapy
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Insurances Accepted: ​​​​​
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Aetna
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Geisinger
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Private Pay
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Anticipated being in network with the following insurances mid-October:
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Highmark / BCBS
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Anthem BCBS
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UPMC
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Ages: ​​​​​
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Toddlers/Preschoolers (0-5)
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Children (6-10)
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Preteens/Tweens (11-13)
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Adolescents/Teens (14-18)
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Adults
Who I Help
I'm a board-certified music therapist and pre-licensure Marriage & Family Therapist who has a background in supporting those who are opening their relationships, grieving a loss, or expecting a child. I love to work with families and couples/partners who are navigating life transitions in their relationships, as well as individuals who are exploring their identity, sexuality, or relationship with their body and self-worth. My work is grounded in family systems thinking, fat liberation, and pleasure activism. I enjoy weaving creative arts into my sessions and connecting clients to resources within themselves and their communities.
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I also work with folks who have concerns surrounding body image, chronic illness/pain, family conflict and dysfunction, codependency and attachment, intimacy concerns and sexual health. Additionally, I love to help others navigate life transitions, recover from perfectionism, shift relationship patterns, and explore queer identity, non-traditional relationship structures (i.e. ENM, poly), or sexual identity.
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Non-Monogamy, Polyamory & Relationships
I often show up as a coach and an educator with couples/partners around most relational issues, especially polyamory, non-monogamy, and sexual exploration. I provide numerous resources, offer new perspectives, and share alternative ways of thinking or relating so that couples and partners can choose which options and ideas work for them as they (re)design their relationship in way that allows both (or all) of them to thrive.
I also sometimes step into an "interpreter" role, assisting partners in understanding each other's perspectives or communication attempts more clearly, compassionately, and curiously. My work with relationships is rooted in sex-positivity and family systems, while holding space for the intersectional identities each partner brings to the relationship.
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I also bring my own lived experience as a polyamorous and queer person who is in a mixed-orientation and neurodivergent marriage.
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Body Image / Fat Liberation
When you are (re)building your relationship with your body, I attempt to accompany you as gently and compassionately as possible. My goal is to serve as a guide leading you towards a more liberatory relationship with your body, movement, food, and pleasure.
I provide resources around the fat liberation movement, the Health at Every Size (HAES) framework, and pleasure activism. I often encourage you to engage in creative arts experiences to get out of your head and into your body, where our feelings and embodied shifts actually happen.
I have lived through my own recovery with diet culture, food restriction, and body
shame, which has led me to reclaim the word "fat" from an empowered stance and to relate to food, movement, and myself with pleasure, trust, and respect.
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Grief / Death & Dying
When you are grieving or processing a loss / heartbreak, I attempt to accompany you as gently and compassionately as possible. I often rely on metaphors, imagery, songs, and poetry to validate your feelings or experiences. I meet you where you are on any given day while also offering hopeful perspectives as needed. When you are ready to memorialize your loved one or process through your loss, I invite you into various music or creative arts projects if you are open to that. These projects often serve as remembrance touchstones or keepsakes for you to honor your loved one -- including pets, unborn children, estranged family members, or other ambiguous/complicated losses.
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What Can You Expect?
Most of us don't know that there are other options for how we live our lives until we feel through what has hurt us, learn what other ways of thinking are out there, and then start intentionally choosing what to keep, what to throw away, and what to invent or redesign. I think it deeply matters to provide information to others, to engage in lifelong mutual discovery, and to bear witness to each other's growth and healing; it is how we nourish ourselves, each other, and the world around us.
I have a layered background of various therapy trainings and experiences that have prepared me to support others from "cradle to grave" of the human experience. I have also served as a teacher, so I enthusiastically share resources with you and feel equipped to accommodate everyone's learning & growing styles. I'm very creative and enjoy bringing that into my perspectives on relationship issues or other problems and inviting you to tap into your own creativity.
Additionally, "systems thinking" offers me a way to see the bigger picture more clearly so that I can hold complexity for all members of a family or couple, and that is an incredibly central value in how I live in and out of session. I wish to see myself and everyone around me as multidimensional and full of potential.
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There are no stupid questions, but I will not put in more work than you on your own healing journey. We will collaborate together and explore as a learning team. I might bring many ideas, perspectives, and experiences to our time together, but ultimately you are the expert on your own life and inner world.
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When I'm not at Open Space CCW, you may also find me...
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Reading (and attempting to write) poetry and novels, making way too many Spotify playlists, listening to way too much Taylor Swift, hiking or snuggling with my dog Rosie, trying to keep my plants alive, and spending quality time with partners, friends, and family.
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Call us, send us a message via our contact form below, or email us to get started.
724-777-1433