What a Safari, a Jail Radio, and 9 Books Taught Me About Being a Therapist

On safari, a tracker unclipped a radio from his belt. Ashley Charbonneau suddenly flashed back to her days doing therapy in a jail, where she had to carry the same tool everywhere she went. Different setting. Same job underneath: watch for danger and get everyone home safe.

In this solo episode, Ashley picks up where her last vacation episode left off and shares three more lessons. She talks about why therapists never really stop being themselves, even on vacation. She also gets honest about a lifelong habit of hustle that makes rest hard to learn, and about how slowing down helps you notice more, in a new city and in the therapy room.

Then she opens up her vacation reading list. It covers disease and power in Pathogenesis, body image and ballet in Don’t Think, Dear, and the Red Rising trilogy, plus a few fiction picks with lines she can’t stop thinking about. Each one ties back to therapy: trauma and memory, why “panic” is sometimes your body protecting you, and how often we sort people into categories.

The common thread is perspective. The more of it we can hold, the more compassion we bring to our clients and to ourselves.

Your Host:

Ashley Charbonneau, LCSW, LAC, ACS, is a therapist, evaluator, clinical supervisor, consultant, and educator. She works with people affected by the legal system, with a focus on offender accountability, survivor healing, and restorative justice. She trains professionals across the country on restorative justice, addiction, clinical supervision, sexual offending, therapy boundaries, and mandatory reporting and is the author of The Resilient Therapist (Bloomsbury, 2026) and Supporting Clients of Sexual Trauma (PESI, 2026). Learn more at https://www.ensopllc.com