Hi, I’m Ashlyn,
I am a licensed clinical social worker and qualified supervisor in the state of Florida. I have worked in just about every type of social work arena from court-ordered drug treatment to dialysis to community-based outpatient centers. I have worked in the trenches for most of my career but also found a love and passion for supervising and helping new therapists.
I am myself a bariatric patient, celebrating more than 10 years since surgery. I find myself in a place where less than 5% of bariatric patients will find themselves: I have kept off 100% of my excess weight at a 10-year follow-up. So in addition to the research & clinical experience, I also personally know a thing or two on how to be a successful bariatric patient.
I am a member of the ASMBS so I stay up to date with research and knowledge in this constantly evolving field. I have been working with ASMBS to ensure that mental health providers have a place at the table. Just the presence or input of mental health workers is a little new for the field.
Lastly, I’m an unofficial misinformation dispeller. Misinformation about bariatric surgery is rampant. People have very strong opinions about things they know little about. Our clients are going to run into this misinformation too, and it’s important that we have the information, tools, and facts to give them up-to-date information.
How did I find myself here?
It was 2018 & my husband & I were broke, both working full time with $40K in debt (mostly medical) that we couldn't get out of. As a clinical supervisor at community mental health I made less than I had as a line cook in college. I didn’t feel ready to start a full time private practice, nor did we have the savings to make that a wise decision. We considered driving for Uber Eats. Then we thought up a part time practice focused exclusively on bariatric evaluations. I’d done them in my agency work before but it wouldn’t be in direct clinical competition with my agency’s mission.
So I continued my full time job & started a part time practice that exclusively provided Bariatric Assessments. In the first year of business, we paid off all our debt, paid off our car, saved for a down payment, and bought a house.
That makes it sound like a breeze but here’s the rough part: there wasn’t really any training out there that could train me to do these evaluations. I only found one which wasn’t transparent about their pricing. The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) doesn’t have specific training. They had all the information available to read to figure out what was needed for the evaluations, but you had to do all the legwork to make the letter template, figure out what you wanted to put into the education, etc. This took me literally years of trial and error to get to where I now can complete an entire assessment almost in the time I see the client.
ASMBS does not endorse nor require this training to be able to conduct bariatric psychological evaluations.
Qualifications
I am a licensed clinical social worker and qualified supervisor in the state of Florida. I have worked in just about every type of social work arena from court-ordered drug treatment to dialysis to community-based outpatient centers. I have worked in the trenches for most of my career but also found a love and passion for supervising and helping new therapists.
I am myself a bariatric patient, celebrating more than 10 years since surgery. I find myself in a place where less than 5% of bariatric patients will find themselves: I have kept off 100% of my excess weight at a 10-year follow-up. So in addition to the research & clinical experience, I also personally know a thing or two on how to be a successful bariatric patient.
I am a member of the ASMBS so I stay up to date with research and knowledge in this constantly evolving field. I have been working with ASMBS to ensure that mental health providers have a place at the table. Just the presence or input of mental health workers is a little new for the field.
Lastly, I’m an unofficial misinformation dispeller. Misinformation about bariatric surgery is rampant. People have very strong opinions about things they know little about. Our clients are going to run into this misinformation too, and it’s important that we have the information, tools, and facts to give them up-to-date information.
