What Vacation Keeps Teaching Me

In this solo episode of The Art of Being a Therapist, host Ashley Charbonneau reflects on lessons from her recent travels through London and Southern Africa. As a therapist who's always juggling client care with her own well-being, Ashley shares what taking real time off keeps teaching her.

She unpacks five lessons that emerge every time she leaves town.

1. Work hard, play hard isn't sustainable.

2. Be a student of the world.

3. Clients and supervisees are usually fine when we are OOO (confronting the fear of being indispensable)

Be sure to listen for the other lessons on the list.

Host Bios:

Ashley Charbonneau, LCSW, LAC, ACS, is a therapist, evaluator, clinical supervisor, consultant, and educator. Her clinical expertise centers on working with individuals impacted by the legal system, grounded in a commitment to offender accountability, survivor healing, and restorative justice.

Ashley has developed multiple 45-hour training programs on clinical supervision and is the author of The Resilient Therapist (Bloomsbury, 2026) and Supporting Clients of Sexual Trauma: Establishing Safety, Processing Shame, and Fostering Healthy Intimacy (PESI, 2026). She provides training nationally on restorative justice, addiction, clinical supervision, working with individuals who have committed sexual offenses, professional boundaries in therapy, and mandatory reporting.

To contact Ashley directly, her website is: https://www.ensopllc.com/

Morgen Villegas, LCSW, LAC, ACS, is a therapist, writer, consultant, and an EMDR International Association Approved Consultant. Through her practice, Vida Idílica Therapy & Consulting, she specializes in helping women heal from trauma, attachment wounds, emotional neglect, and the lasting effects of overfunctioning and caregiving. Using a blend of Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), she helps clients reconnect with themselves and create lives that feel more authentic, spacious, and connected.

Morgen also provides consultation to EMDR therapists seeking greater confidence and nuance in working with complex trauma. Drawing from both professional expertise and lived experience, she is passionate about helping people move beyond "faking fine" and toward lasting healing. She is the author of Shadows to Light, a collection of stories and reflections on emotional neglect, motherhood, and breaking intergenerational cycles. Morgen lives in Colorado with her husband, two sons, rescue dog Raven, and an ever-growing stack of library books waiting to be read.

To contact Morgen directly, her website is: vida-idilica.com