Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP# 368: How Early Therapy, Not Last-Resort Crisis Care, Transforms Relationships And Everyday Mental Health

• Skip Mauney & Barrett Wilson • Episode 368

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What if you didn’t wait for rock bottom to ask for help? We sit down with therapist and Ascending Self owner Barrett Wilson to explore practical, compassionate ways to strengthen relationships, manage anxiety and grief, and start writing a truer version of your story today. Barrett blends evidence-based tools from the Gottman Method with Internal Family Systems to help couples and individuals communicate clearly, make repairs that last, and shift from reactive patterns to responsive choices. He also opens up about losing his father, choosing to become a client himself, and how that experience deepened his empathy and sharpened his presence in the room.

We trace Barrett’s path from adolescent development and neuroplasticity research to building an outdoor program for foster youth and leading wilderness therapy. Those roots inform his belief that healing should feel human and grounded. That’s why Ascending Self meets clients in a warm, home-based setting—porch sunshine and birdsong when the weather cooperates, a fireside office when it doesn’t—and via telehealth across East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. Along the way, we tackle stubborn myths: therapy isn’t just for emergencies, and the first therapist isn’t always the right fit. Barrett shares practical ways to find a good match and simple, daily habits that build trust and connection.

If you’re curious about relationship counseling, couples therapy, anxiety support, or grief counseling, you’ll hear clear steps you can try today: soft start-ups, repair attempts, turning toward bids, naming parts and feelings, and tracking small wins. You’ll also hear why authorship matters—how to take back the pen from old scripts and write with clarity and compassion. Ready to move from stuck to steady? Listen now, share with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a quick review to help neighbors find the show.

SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Money.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, hello, everybody, and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. So I am very excited today to have one special in our studio who uh contributes to our community in a very interesting way and a helpful way. And I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am to learn all about them and their business. Because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Mr. Barrett Wilson, who is the owner operator of Ascending Self. Barrett, welcome to the show. Thanks so much. Glad to be here. Well, like I said, we're very excited to have you here and uh uh excited to learn all about Ascending Self and what you do there. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your company?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, Ascending Self is a mental health practice where I help folks navigate the challenges of relationships with partners and family, friends, coworkers, and even themselves. I um I love helping my clients develop insights and skills for their mental and emotional life while also learning to communicate more effectively. We work through hard stuff like anxiety, depression, trauma, shame, grief, unhealth, unhealthy habits, and things like that. But many of my clients find that they feel more confident, have better relationships uh with others uh after we've we've done the work together. I um I also use the the Gottman method as one of my modalities that that helps couples understand what we found in the research around relationships and helps them like gain the most important skills for mending relationships, communicating effectively. And then I couple that with internal family systems, where uh we we start to understand the parts uh that operate within our mind and our brain that um that can be hindrances uh for the way that we're connecting and communicating with others and even internally, so help people gain clarity through that and better understand their processes so that they can uh be more responsive than reactive to things that are happening in their lives.

SPEAKER_01:

Very good. I think we all need some of that. All of us. Um well, very interesting, Barrett. How uh tell us about your journey. How did you get started in uh the the this industry?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I've been um really into psychology ever since I was a teen. I um I was blown away by uh a turning point in my own life when um I had a huge change in the perspective that I was operating from. And uh after taking my first psych class, it was no turning back from there. I I um started working in the field um focusing on um adolescent development and neuroplasticity when I was in college. And then I also helped create an outdoor program for foster kids. Uh, and then after that, I graduated when I went to graduate school, I started um working with uh adolescents and wilderness therapy settings, and then went on to be a clinician at a therapeutic boarding school as well. It's kind of adventure-based, so it's really wonderful just uh helping folks engage in the natural environment and have fun while healing. It was really great. From there, I was working with the families, and after the graduation from the program, so many families wanted uh additional help. So it was a pretty smooth transition from working with just the families and the teen parent relationships to also helping clients individually and then helping couples with their marriages.

SPEAKER_01:

Very cool. I love the concept of the wilderness sessions. That that sounds fascinating, actually. Um absolutely, I'm sure. Well, what are some myths or misconceptions uh in the mental health industry that you can think of, Barrett?

SPEAKER_02:

I think one of the biggest ones would be that uh people come to get help when everything's collapsed. Uh, I actually love helping clients when they're desperately in need, but I also wish we have gotten uh started sooner. It's uh it's sad to see that there was unnecessary damage that could have been prevented if we'd gotten in the office earlier. So I'm always encouraging folks to seek out a good therapist and start the process as soon as they can, also knowing that it's never too late, but we don't want to wait until things are unbearable. And then I'd say another mistake that people make sometimes is thinking that uh their first therapist will be a perfect fit. Um, sadly, it it's usually two or three attempts to find the right one, but um I'm quite sure it's worth the effort for most.

SPEAKER_01:

Not always a perfect fit. Yeah. Very good to know. Well, I'm sure you know you put in a lot of hours doing what you do, uh, Barrett. Uh, when you're when you're in your off time, if you have any, what uh what do you like to do for fun, kicks and giggles?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm a big fan of uh outdoor activities. I'm a big rock climber, but also love hiking and boating and backpacking all over East Tennessee. It's just so much adventure and beauty surrounding us here, and um, it's a wonderful place to live. I also really enjoy the live music in our in our area. I appreciate how musicians can channel their thoughts and emotions onto the stage. And I just think about how lucky we are to be surrounded by beautiful mountains and brilliant artists. So those are the things I love to do.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Outdoors and music, love it. You live in a great place for it. This is to me, yes, East Tennessee is one of the most beautiful places on earth, no question. Sure it is. So uh let's switch gears for a second. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome and how it made you stronger in the end, whether professional or personal?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I'd say uh losing my dad was uh one of my biggest challenges. He was uh uh my rock and an inspiration for me. So losing him really shook me up and my family. Um, so the way that that played out in this work was that I ended up taking on a role of a client to go through uh the grief of losing him. But that was really good for me in my healing process and as a professional. And when I graduated therapy, I felt like uh I left with a richer empathy for my clients and just gratitude for my father. I was so lucky to have a good therapist help me through that process. And and I think it's been uh a huge benefit in the work that I do with my clients as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Very good, very good. Now, if um you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners and viewers to remember about ascending self uh and and you, what would that be?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, just the you know, I'm really passionate about what I'm doing. I I really think I've found my life purpose in helping people work through their challenges. I think that part of part of the work is empowerment too. Um, a lot of folks, we start out with the stories that our parents are kind of writing for us when we're children, as well as the world around us. And I love watching my clients start to take the the pen of authorship for their own story. And, you know, sometimes we even end up making the mistake of handing that pin over to other people later in life or into culture or into other uh you know, hands that that don't necessarily deserve it, and helping clients uh learn how to take that for themselves and um and uh really know their own story as they're writing it um authentically is is huge. Um I'd say the other the other thing about uh my practice that's different than others is that it's not you know held in a strip mall or an office building. Uh I work from home and so uh we get these beautiful settings on the back porch with the sunshine and the bird songs if the weather's good. And if it's cold daylight today, I have a fireside office so uh we can keep warm and a setting that feels more homey than your typical, typical psych office. I also offer uh telehealth for clients that can't meet in person. And um, I know some of the folks that are closer to your region where you are can can still see me via telehealth. Very cool.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, very good to know. And for those of us who, you know, could use some mental health help um are intrigued, like to learn more about what you do and what your specialties are, um, how can they how can they learn more? On my websites uh send our episode.

SPEAKER_02:

And then uh you can also find me on uh Google Maps or Psychology today.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, could you I'm gonna ask you that one more time. I had a little bit of a glitch going on there. Um how how can we learn more? Thanks.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, yeah, you can go to my website uh on ascending self.com. It's just the name of the practice and oneword.com. On there, I'll post uh free resources and information on um my practice as well as like how to apply some of the tools that we'd be learning in our work together. But you can also find me on Google Maps or Psychology Today, or if you even just uh Google search my name or Ascending Self, you'll find it pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_01:

Very good. AscendingSelf.com. We'll keep that in mind. Very good. Well uh Barrett, I can't take it tell you how much we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to uh hang out with us and tell us all about you and Ascending Self and your journey. And we appreciate that. Appreciate what you're doing uh for your neighbors and and for the community, and uh wish you, your family, and your practice all the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_02:

Are you with me? I don't know what's okay.

SPEAKER_01:

You know what? We we could always edit. Um so let's let's try again. So uh so Barrett, but can you hear me okay? Or you froze up again? Are you with me? Are we are we working?

SPEAKER_02:

We're working now. Sorry, man. I feel so that's okay. That's okay. Is it on my end? I hope it's not. I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

That was just sudden all of a sudden, but we'll let's take it from that last question one more time.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

So then we can edit all this out.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, one more time on uh on what um uh on the practice on how can our listeners learn more? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, we'll do it with okay. So uh so Barrett, uh for those of our listeners, viewers that are interested in um uh checking you out, learning more, that they're in need for some mental health help, uh, how can we learn more?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you can find me easily on my website. It's ascending self.com. It's the same name as the practice, um, just one word.com. On there, I have uh free resources uh for uh tools that we use within the practice, as well as a better understanding of the modalities I use like Gottman.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know what happened again. It doesn't want us to finish. It doesn't, apparently. Okay, do do this. Take it from we were good up until you said we have free resources on there, and then everything blocked it.

SPEAKER_02:

No audio right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Testing one, two, three.

SPEAKER_02:

I can't hear anything.

SPEAKER_01:

Testing one, two, three. Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh should I re-refresh it? I still can't hear you.

SPEAKER_01:

Um I don't know. Um testing one, two, three. Can you hear me? Can you hear me at all?

SPEAKER_02:

Nothing, nothing for me. Um I'll I'll refresh it.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Can you hear me now? Yeah, I can hear you. I don't know what's going on, Skip. I don't know either, but that's okay. We'll we'll go for we'll try it one more time. So okay. So uh Barrett, for those of us who are interested in learning more and uh have a need uh for some mental health help, uh, how can how can we learn more?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh you can uh find me on my website, ascending self.com. That's the same name as the practice, just oneword.com, ascending self. On there, I have uh free uh tools and and information that can help clients along the way in the work that we do. And you can also find me on Google Maps or Psychology Today, or even just Googling uh Ascending Self or my name will probably uh help you find me too.

SPEAKER_01:

Awesome. Well, Barrett, can't tell you how much we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule away from your clients to tell us all about you and what you're doing and all the wonderful things you're doing for folks in the community. And appreciate you and what you're doing, Skip. Thank you. Absolutely, and uh wish you, your family, and your clients all the best moving forward. Thanks, you too. All right, and uh maybe we can have you back sometime. I'd love that. All right, sounds great. You have a great rest of the day. You too.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GMP Try Dash Cities dot com. That's GMP Try Dash Cities dot com or call four two three seven one nine five eight seven three.