Ashley Tilson is a Master-level multi-modality holistic practitioner that specializes in recovering from childhood trauma based on her own experience overcoming childhood abuse. She offers private online sessions in addition to her program –The Rise of the Phoenixes – which is a progressive, in-depth journey to break free from the past, heal your childhood self, transform your mindset, and begin your new life's story as the uplifted & prosperous person you dream you can become! You may know of her from her external blog, which predates her business and continuously see's 1000+ readers each month; Empath Confessions Ashley invites everyone that wishes to learn more and be introduced to her methods to take part in her FREE 4-Part Webinar Series that's offered through her website.
Ashley Tilson, Intuitive Transformational Trauma-Release Healer
Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
I’m a nature-loving, rural-living Canadian that’s all about leading a life of living my personal dream while helping as many people as possible. I’m all about leaving a small carbon footprint at home, using all natural & cruelty-free products, and living a very conscious lifestyle. I’m in my mid-30s and live with my husband in our countryside home where we enjoy watching & listening to the local wildlife, couch snuggling with our rescue dog while watching TV, and stargazing from our outdoor hot tub. It sounds dreamy when I summarize it, but this wouldn’t have been my life if it weren’t for the healing journey I went on which was what led me to starting my business.
Little known facts about me are that I'm an avid tabletop, PC & console gamer in my downtime, I enjoy arts & crafts when the inspiration for a project hits me, I enjoy cooking & baking from scratch, I’m not afraid to pick up tools and do my own little reno projects around the house, and I enjoy writing – not only for Brainz, but for my blogs. One accomplishment that even I overlook sometimes is my blog Empath Confessions... which actually predates my business. I started this as an open journal to share all the information I wished I had back when I was spiritually awakening & recovering from my traumatic past... all for the purpose of having that readily available for anyone that looked it up.
Thanks to its continuous success which soared when the pandemic started, it’s a priority of mine that's completely standalone outside of my business. If you can’t tell, I’m a little bit of a workaholic, but I enjoy doing all of it!
What is your business name and how do you help your clients?
I’m self-employed as a Holistic Trauma Recovery Specialist. I first started my business when I was just a Reiki Practitioner and Intuitive/Tarot Reader.. but once I went through further training and honed in on my personal transformation of overcoming my childhood abuse, I knew my story and the process I went through was the gift I’m meant to share with the world. Now, I serve men and women, of any age, who are ready to break the cycle because they’re realizing that their traumatic triggers, false beliefs & conditioning, and negative self-talk are keeping them from being truly happy, free, and from living the dream they think they can only wish about having.
Through doing the market research in developing my business plan, I recognized that there are many people – just like who I used to be – that were in their adult lives, just getting by, and suffering from repressed trauma, addictions, and a false perception created by their experiences, but didn’t know how to begin addressing and fixing them. Since my years-long recovery journey gave me all the hope and tools to completely turn my life around, I turned everything that I have learned, and can offer [in terms of holistic healing], into a progressive program for my clients. It’s made up of a bunch of recorded workshops & classes, workbooks/journals, and of course, includes private sessions with me for coaching, counseling, and specialized healing sessions. But I also offer individual private sessions for anyone that’s either not ready, nor has a personal need, for the program. Everything I offer is easily done online using Zoom.
What would you like to achieve for yourself and your business in the future?
Since transitioning to my niche in late 2021, I’ve shifted everything about my business so admittedly I’m still in a growing stage. I’m looking at the bigger picture these days, mostly around serving an international audience and growing my clientele that way. Like many, I want this to be a thriving career for me wherein I can be more widely recognized. I believe in “go big or go home” and so it’s not a hobby or a gig-type business for me – it’s honestly an extension of my life. I want to be able to achieve a 6-figure business income so that I can employ others to help me. But outside of that, I’d like to obtain that stage of financial & time freedom so that I can start writing the books that I also want to publish.
What is your work inspired by?
It’s honestly inspired by my own story and personal experiences. I remember once feeling it was completely impossible to not have my past hanging over me, and that I could never lead a truly happy & productive life due to my PTSD. I used to be completely lost and detached from myself, unable to keep a job, unable to have control over my thoughts and actions, so I know what it’s like to be in my client’s shoes. And I also remember how going to service providers, who had no idea what it was like to have been abused or controlled, didn’t help me in the way I needed it to. I know that I want to show up in this world as someone that can help others through their childhood trauma because that’s what I know best, and also be the supportive shoulder that can confidently and authentically say “hey, I know how you feel” and “this is what can help”.
I strive to lead by example, and for me, my lived experiences are a huge part of my expertise, so it ended up becoming my mission to create a positive ripple effect in this world through trauma healing. Whenever I look back to do a comparison review for my business, I can honestly say that I no longer recognize the person that I used to be – and that is the end result that I’m offering for my clients. Everytime I take stock of that comparison, I’m reminded and re-inspired about the reason why I do what I do.
Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.
A recent achievement was my completion of a government run program for my business that received a monetary award. It was tough because I had to do a formal presentation pitch of my business in front of a panel of judges.. literally just like going on Dragons Den! Sounds simple enough, but they needed those facts & figures on why my business deserved the money and since the world of holistic healing had been heavily scrutinized by our local health units [at that time], I had to convince them why I was worth investing in. In the end, the emphasis placed on the statistics surrounding the number of reported cases along with the margin of error due to unreported cases, and the focus on the long waitlists for local victims services – which is honestly part of the reason I took my recovery upon myself – I blew the panelists away, inspired them, and received a lot of praise for my story & mission.. so it became a big achievement for my business.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
I’d have to rope this back to an earlier answer where I highlighted that I honestly never thought I could become the person that I am today. I had to hit my rock bottom of getting fed up and wanting to give up on my life, and had to turn my anger into action so that I could start on this path. And it hit me like a much softer brick wall when I did the work, and literally one day realized that I wasn’t struggling anymore. Not only was I able to get off all of my medications, I no longer needed to go to therapy, and I had started living my personal dream and needed to stop and realize how far I had come. My results became my purpose, and the reason for why I do what I do. And it led me to create the quote I like to use a lot in my business, which is “If I can do it, you can do it too!”.
