Ashlee Demastus, LPC, NCC
Licensed Professional Counselor · Women's Issues, Perinatal & Parenting Support
When a baby is born, a mom is born. I help you find your way back to yourself in the middle of that shift — warmly, honestly, and without pretending it's easy. I also work with women moving through perimenopause, neurodivergence, and other big life changes.
Meet Ashlee: Therapist for Women's Issues
Hi, I'm Ashlee. I'm a therapist for moms, and a mom of two little boys myself. I do my best work with women who are somewhere in the middle of the question, "Who am I now?"
When a baby is born, a mom is born. It's a huge shift in identity, and it ripples through everything: your body, your partnership, your career, and the parts of your life that got quietly paused when your babies arrived. Maybe you're still carrying your birth story, a hard pregnancy, or a long fertility journey. Maybe it's postpartum anxiety or depression. Maybe you just feel like you're searching for yourself again and nothing feels the same. I help you find your way back to the parts of you that got put on hold, and to the mom you want to be.
My background is in school counseling, early childhood, attachment, and interpersonal neurobiology, so I understand what's happening in your little one's brain and in your own. Parenting doesn't come with a manual, and one of the hardest parts is parenting ourselves. Our kids have an uncanny way of showing us where we still have work to do. I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor and Nationally Certified Counselor with extensive training in play therapy and parent-child relationship work, and I'm currently working toward my perinatal mental health certification (PMH-C).
In session, you'll find me warm, empowering, and affirming. I draw on parts work (IFS), person-centered therapy, ACT, and expressive arts and sand tray, depending on what fits you. You don't need to have the words yet. Sometimes art and sand give us another way in.
Watch a short hello from Ashlee
We'd be a great match if
- You're a mom who feels like she's searching for herself again, and nothing feels quite the same
- You're still processing your birth story, a difficult pregnancy, or your fertility journey
- You want a therapist who understands attachment and your child's behavior, and who won't make you feel like you're failing
- You're noticing shifts in your partnership, or rethinking your career or your identity
- You're parenting a neurodivergent kid (ADHD, autism, 2e, sensory differences) and want someone who gets it
- You're a woman facing perimenopause or another big life transition, and your mood, sleep, or sense of self feel different
- You're a mom of kids of any age, from newborns to adult children, and you're ready for support of your own
- You're a neurodivergent woman (diagnosed or wondering) who is tired of masking and wants to be understood
What I help with
- Women's issues & life transitions
- Perinatal depression & anxiety
- Birth & pregnancy trauma
- Fertility & pregnancy stress
- Identity shifts after becoming a mom
- Partnership & career changes
- Parent consultations
- Parenting neurodivergent kids
- Trauma & adjustment
- ADHD & autism
- Perimenopause
- Moms of kids of all ages
Ways we can work together
The basics
- Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Virginia #0701014850
- Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC)
- Professional School Counselor
- MA in Education and Human Development: School Counseling, George Washington University
- Extensive play therapy training, including filial therapy, expressive arts, and sand tray
- Training in trauma and neuroaffirming support
- Working toward PMH-C (Perinatal Mental Health Certification)
- In person in Fairfax and virtually across Virginia
- Working with adults, especially women and moms, and some adolescents (not young children)