Welcome! My name is Ashley Bennett, and I am a proud Montana resident. I have been working with children and families for over 25 years as a teacher, behavior analyst, and family coach. My father was in the military, and I had the beautiful opportunity to live in several states and 3 countries. Moving every 2-3 years throughout my childhood taught me to be a keen observer of behavior. With every move came a shift in my living space, community, school, and friends. I remember watching other kids’ behavior in school and the neighborhood to see who I wanted to be friends with prior to approaching them and asking them to play. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was searching for kids that were kind, fun to play with, and followed the rules – kids like me. This skill was incredibly useful, and, with every move, I got better and better at selecting kids who had these qualities.

Moving wasn’t always easy. It was difficult leaving friends, neighborhoods, and schools and starting over. There were plenty of tears with each transition. However, I was fortunate to have a family, led by my parents, with strong values and a commitment to helping one another through these transitions. My parents always visited the new town before we moved and found a home, where we would play tennis and do gymnastics, our new schools, our new church, and people in the neighborhood who had children our ages. This provided us a sense of safety throughout the transition, and, as an adult, I am beyond appreciative of the work they did to help us feel psychologically safe.

I believe growing up the way I did and with the values my family had provided me the confidence to move away for college, try new things (and sometimes fail), and develop and live by my own set of values. I also believe it sparked an insatiable passion for helping people.

Throughout my career, I have worked with children and adults of all abilities and exceptionalities. As a special educator and Behavior Analyst, most of my work has focused on understanding and treating children and young adults with disabilities, including learning disabilities, ADHD, intellectual disabilities, severe behavior disorders, and autism spectrum disorder. As a general educator and learning specialist, I have worked with children and young adults who were highly gifted, many of whom experience anxiety and social pressure. While each client presented with unique needs, every client had one thing in common: the need to include their family (parents, caregivers, siblings) in their treatment in order to make lasting changes. The family unit, whoever is in it and however it looks, is the client’s home base. It is their root system. It is their safety. The family system provides the foundation for them to understand who they are, what they are good at, and who they can count on. It highly impacts their ability to build a healthy self-esteem, advocate for themselves, and live independently.

My mission is to continue helping children and young adults thrive! It is with and through a family-focused lens, that I do this work. Parents are a crucial part of the coaching process, and understanding family values is essential in building a care plan that will help every person in the process be successful.