Tools for the work between sessions.
Self-awareness is the beginning of every healing journey. The mental health assessments, interactive therapy worksheets, and clinician-curated recommendations below are designed by our team in Chicago to help you reflect, learn, and grow — whether you're a current client, a future one, or simply someone seeking to understand yourself a little more deeply.
When you need help right now.
A few important things to know.
Ashé Counseling & Coaching is not a crisis center. We are an outpatient mental health practice and do not provide 24-hour emergency services, walk-in care, or active suicide intervention. If you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or someone else, please use the resources below or go to your nearest emergency room.
If you are already an Ashé client and need to reach your therapist between sessions, please follow the after-hours instructions provided in your intake paperwork — and use the crisis lines below for anything that cannot wait.
Begin with honest reflection.
These brief mental health self-assessments are educational tools designed to help you notice patterns in how you think, feel, and relate to others. They are not diagnostic — but they can be a meaningful starting point for conversation with a therapist, or with yourself.
Anxiety Self-Assessment
Explore how worry, restlessness, and physical tension may be showing up in your day-to-day life.
Take the assessmentDepression Self-Assessment
Reflect on your mood, energy, and sense of motivation over the past several weeks.
Take the assessmentSelf-Esteem Self-Assessment
Examine the inner dialogue you carry about who you are and how you see your own value.
Take the assessmentAssertiveness Self-Assessment
Look at how comfortably you ask for what you need, set limits, and speak your truth in relationships.
Take the assessmentBPD Traits Self-Assessment
Reflect on patterns of emotional intensity, relationship turbulence, and sense of self.
Take the assessmentNarcissism Self-Assessment
Consider patterns around empathy, self-image, and how you connect with others in close relationships.
Take the assessmentWork through it, at your pace.
Therapeutic exercises you can do on your phone or laptop — for free, with no account or sign-in. Your responses stay entirely on your device. Nothing is saved, transmitted, or sent to us. When you're done, you can print, save as PDF, or simply close the tab.
CBT Thought Record
A cognitive-behavioral therapy exercise for slowing down a difficult moment, examining the automatic thought underneath, and finding a more balanced perspective.
5-4-3-2-1 Grounding
A sensory grounding exercise to anchor you back in the present moment. Useful for anxiety, panic, dissociation, or any time the mind is racing.
Boundary Script Builder
Build a kind, clear script — one sentence at a time — for a conversation you've been avoiding. The worksheet assembles your draft as you go.
What Matters Most
A values clarification exercise inspired by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Identify your core values, see where your life is aligned, and find one small move forward.
The Self-Compassion Break
A practice inspired by Dr. Kristin Neff's work — soften the inner critic and offer yourself the kindness you would give a beloved friend.
Window of Tolerance Check-In
Locate your nervous system state and choose the right tool to bring you back inside your window. Polyvagal and somatic in approach.
Pages worth sitting with.
A working library of self-help and mental health books, curated by our clinical team in Chicago. These books are not substitutes for therapy — they are companions to it. Each one has helped someone we've worked with see themselves more clearly.
The Body Keeps the Score
The landmark work on how trauma lives in the body — and the many paths the body uses to heal.
Set Boundaries, Find Peace
A practical, compassionate guide to naming your limits — and honoring them without guilt.
Atomic Habits
Tiny, sustainable change as the real engine of transformation. A favorite for clients building new routines.
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
For anyone making sense of childhood emotional neglect and learning to re-parent themselves.
Attached
A clear, accessible introduction to attachment styles and how they shape adult love.
The Big Leap
On the "upper limit problem" — the unconscious ceiling we put on our own success, joy, and love — and how to move past it into your zone of genius.
Daring Greatly
On the courage it takes to be seen — and why vulnerability is not weakness, but the path to belonging.
The Mountain Is You
On transforming self-sabotage into self-mastery — and reading the patterns that keep you stuck as messages from a part of you that needs to be heard.
The Four Agreements
A short, often-revisited guide to freedom from self-limiting beliefs, rooted in Toltec wisdom.
Podcasts & apps we recommend.
Mental health resources for the times between sessions — driving, walking, falling asleep, on a hard morning. Our team uses many of these ourselves.
Podcasts
Honest conversations on mental health, relationships, and being human.
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Therapy for Black GirlsDr. Joy Harden BradfordMental health and personal development conversations centering the experiences of Black women.
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Where Should We Begin?Esther PerelReal, anonymous couples therapy sessions. A masterclass in how relationships actually work.
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Unlocking UsBrené BrownConversations about courage, vulnerability, shame, and worthiness, grounded in research.
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Ten Percent HappierDan HarrisPractical conversations on mindfulness, anxiety, and the mechanics of being a person.
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Hidden BrainShankar VedantamBehavioral science storytelling that helps make sense of why we do what we do.
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Therapy ChatLaura Reagan, LCSW-CTrauma-informed therapy conversations with clinicians — a good listen for understanding the work itself.
Apps
Tools we often suggest for daily practice, mood tracking, and small moments of pause.
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Insight TimerFree · iOS & AndroidThe largest free meditation library, with thousands of sessions. Great variety of teachers and traditions.
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How We FeelFree · iOS & AndroidA beautifully built emotion-tracking app that helps build emotional granularity over time.
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CalmSubscription · iOS & AndroidSleep stories, guided meditations, breathing exercises, and music for rest.
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HeadspaceSubscription · iOS & AndroidStructured mindfulness courses for beginners. Some employers cover it through benefits — worth checking.
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FinchFree + subscription · iOS & AndroidA gentle self-care app where you raise a little bird by tending to yourself. Surprisingly effective.
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BearableFree + subscription · iOS & AndroidTrack mood, symptoms, sleep, meds, and triggers to spot patterns over time. Useful to share with clinicians.
Reflection is a beginning. What's next is yours.
If something you read, noticed, or worked through today feels worth talking about, our team is here. Ashé Counseling & Coaching serves clients across Illinois and Texas — in-person in Chicago's South Loop and Logan Square, and virtually throughout both states.
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