Ever wondered why some conversations spiral while others heal? We sit down with Barrett Wilson, owner of Ascending Self, to unpack how practical therapy tools and real empathy can transform daily life—whether you’re navigating grief, stuck in recurring arguments, or just craving more ease in your relationships.
Barrett traces his path from a spark in a high school psychology class to building outdoor programs for foster youth, hiking the Appalachian Trail, and working in wilderness therapy. That journey shaped a grounded, skills-forward approach that blends insight with action. When families saw change with their teens, parents invited Barrett to help repair marriages and rebuild trust, laying the foundation for his private practice in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. Along the way, he dispels the myth that therapy is only for crisis, highlighting how support for communication, emotional regulation, and values alignment can prevent small issues from becoming big ruptures.
We also explore how personal loss informed Barrett’s craft. After his father’s death in 2020, he became a client himself, deepening his understanding of grief and the courage it takes to ask for help. He shares accessible tools—reflective listening, repair scripts, pacing tough talks, and reframing harsh self-talk—that make relationships safer and more resilient. Expect insights you can try the same day: how to slow a heated exchange, how to validate without surrendering your needs, and how to create rituals that keep connection strong. If you’re curious about real-world therapy that fits busy lives and complex families, this conversation offers both hope and a map.
Explore resources or book time with Barrett at ascendingself.com, and if this conversation resonates, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more neighbors find practical mental health support.
Episode Transcript
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Skip Money.
SPEAKER_01 (00:11):
Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the
Good Neighbor Podcast of EastTennessee and Western North
Carolina.
So today I'm super excited tohave uh someone in our studio
for the first time, and um alluh excited to learn all about
them and their enterprise, andI'm sure you will be as well
because today I have thepleasure of introducing your
good neighbor, Mr.
Barrett Wilson, who is the owneroperator of Ascending Self.
(00:34):
Barrett, welcome to the show.
Thanks so much.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you too, Barrett.
And like I said, we're reallyexcited to uh to uh have you
here.
We focus on uh locally ownedsmall businesses and nonprofits,
and we'd love to learn all aboutyou.
So if you don't mind, why don'tyou kick us off by telling us
about Ascending Life, Self,sorry, Ascending Self.
SPEAKER_02 (00:55):
Yeah, ascending self, it's uh it's just a small
uh mental health therapy uhpractice that I run.
I work with individuals andcouples and families, just
helping them uh work through uhthe challenges that they're
having uh relationally and umand and you know just work in
mental health uh for themselvesas individuals as well.
(01:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:20):
Very good.
Well, um Barrett, how did youhow'd you get started in in this
industry?
SPEAKER_02 (01:27):
Yeah, I got um I got really inspired uh all the way
back into high school.
I took my first uh psychologyclass, and it was the first
thing that interested me outsideof just literature and that kind
of thing.
And from there, I I startedstudying uh psychology at UT and
I uh helped create a a small umfeature of a of a foster care
(01:51):
program where we were doing outoutdoors uh exposure and like
work with kids that uh were juststruggling to fit in for their
um for their uh foster carehomes.
And then from there I umgraduated, hiked the Appalachian
Trail, and uh and then uhstarted working for therapeutic
(02:13):
programs in Utah, doing stuff umwith adolescents and um
wilderness therapy.
And then um after that cameback, got my master's, and uh
started started workingadventure therapy as well.
And then from there, uh the thefamily systems that I was
(02:33):
working with were so uh you knowgrateful for the healing that
was happening in their familiesthat they started hiring me on
the side uh to do work with theparents, uh, help heal their
marriage after we had repairedthe relationships with their
kids.
And then uh from there I starteduh ascending self uh let's see
(02:55):
about 2015.
SPEAKER_01 (02:57):
Oh wow, wow.
So eight years, nothing tosneeze at for sure.
Yeah, it's been good.
Awesome, awesome.
Well, very unique, actually.
Adventure therapy.
What uh what are some miss ormisconceptions that you can
think of in the therapybusiness?
SPEAKER_02 (03:13):
I think a lot of people uh get uh into this
mindset that um therapy is forfolks that are having uh real
severe uh challenges.
And I think that uh therapy canbe great for folks uh that are
dealing with uh relationalchallenges, communication, um uh
(03:35):
experiencing uh you know allkinds of discomforts in the
grief process or uh even inemployment.
Um I help I help folks uh workthrough all kinds of different
challenges.
It's not just about um you knowuh a diagnosis, it's about
(03:56):
figuring out how I can beauthentically um comfortable in
my own skin and in relationshipswith other folks.
SPEAKER_01 (04:05):
Wow, very, very good.
So it doesn't have to be a hugeproblem in order to everybody
needs help.
SPEAKER_02 (04:11):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (04:12):
Everybody needs help.
Well, obviously you're you're asuper busy guy, but uh outside
of work when you're not working,uh what do you like to do for
fun?
SPEAKER_02 (04:22):
Well, I love to go uh rock climbing and backpacking
and and doing uh all kinds oflike outdoor adventure uh kind
of things.
Those are my favorites.
SPEAKER_01 (04:32):
Yeah.
Well, you live in a great placefor it.
SPEAKER_02 (04:34):
I do.
East Tennessee is amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (04:37):
It is the most beautiful place on earth.
Switch gears here for a second.
Um can you describe a hardshipor a life challenge that you've
personally or professionallyovercome and how it made you
stronger on the other side?
SPEAKER_02 (04:49):
Yeah, I um I thought it was really really great for
my practice when um I had theexperience of being on the couch
myself.
Um my dad died in uh 2020, anduh and going through that grief
process was uh quite thechallenge for me.
And and what what that did forme in the long game as a
(05:12):
practitioner was having theexperience as a client, it helps
really enrich my experience as atherapist so that you know
helping folks navigate throughthat and having experienced it
on the other end, I felt likehas really been a huge help for
how I do my work.
SPEAKER_01 (05:30):
Absolutely, and I'm sure your clients appreciate it
as well that they know you knowyou've got perspective.
So yeah, yeah.
Very good.
SPEAKER_02 (05:37):
Going through knowing what it's like to go
through that process can bereally helpful in the empathy
that I can bring for clientsthat are going through similar
challenges.
unknown (05:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:46):
Absolutely.
So if uh Barrett, if you couldthink of one thing that you'd
like our viewers and listenersto remember about ascending
self, what would that be?
SPEAKER_02 (05:57):
It would be that um let's see, that the challenges
that I'm having uh internallywith my own uh conversations in
in my head uh can really improveand resolve through the right
(06:17):
kind of help and and treatment.
I think that uh it's also umincredibly useful to understand
the skills and communication andhow to uh come to a place that
we really understand what'shappening for uh our partners,
for our family, and for thefriends in our lives uh that we
(06:41):
uh can can really heal theplaces that uh are challenges
for us relationally, both withothers and internally.
SPEAKER_01 (06:50):
Very good, very good thing to remember.
And for those of us who, youknow, um need some guidance,
some help, or intrigued andwould like to learn more about
uh all the things that youoffer, how can how can they do
that?
How can they learn more?
SPEAKER_02 (07:08):
Um, I've got a website, just ascending
self.com.
You can you can go on there.
I have a few articles that areuh help for folks there, and you
can also schedule an appointmentif that's if that's the
direction you'd like to go.
SPEAKER_01 (07:21):
You can do that on the website, yeah.
And schedule.
SPEAKER_02 (07:24):
Okay, yeah, it's got a booking link right there, and
and uh that's typically the bestway to get in touch with me.
SPEAKER_01 (07:30):
All right, very good.
Well, Barrett, I can't tell youhow much we appreciate you
taking time out of your scheduleto be here and to tell us all
about Ascending Self and thewonderful things that you're
doing.
Thank you for that.
And uh we wish you and yourfamily, your practice all the
best moving forward.
SPEAKER_02 (07:47):
Thanks so much, Skip.
Really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (07:50):
Thank you.
And uh maybe we can have youback sometime.
It'd be great.
All right, sounds good.
Have a good one.
SPEAKER_00 (07:56):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on the
show, go to GNP Tries dot com.
That's GMP Tri Cities.com orcall four two three seven one
nine five eight seven three.
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