Hidden Gems: Meet Ashley Smith of Peak Mind: The Center for Psychological Strength

Ashley Smith

I’m a licensed clinical psychologist, professional speaker, author, and co-founder of Peak Mind: The Center for Psychological Strength. I became a clinical psychologist because I was fascinated by the field and driven to help people. I ended up specializing in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Anxiety makes sense to me, and there are some effective treatments available. I love helping people become courageous and confident and overcome anxiety! I am also an individual with a disability. I have a rare vision impairment that makes me legally and increasingly blind. For a long time, I was able to hide my disability, faking normal sight. When my vision loss progressed to the point that I could no longer drive, however, I hit a real low point. I was scared, and I was sad. I was convinced that I wouldn’t be able to be independent, successful, or, frankly, happy. A nice side effect of my job as a psychologist is that I have stellar coping skills. At that low point, though, they just weren’t enough. Not knowing what else to do, I eventually dove into the science of happiness. I learned everything I could and started experimenting to see what helped. Somewhere in there, I also encountered the field of Life Design, which is sort of psychology adjacent and focuses on creating a life experience that works for you.

My anxiety expertise and psychology background, the science of happiness, and life design coalesced to impact me significantly. Personally, my vision no longer holds me back. I’m confident and happy. Professionally, I ventured into entrepreneurship, starting my own psychology practice and co-founding Peak Mind: The Center for Psychological Strength alongside Dr. April Seifert, a dear friend from graduate school. Driven by a shared passion, Dr. April and I are dedicated to using psychology and life design to help people live better lives – to be resilient and joyful while performing at their peak. Specifically, we partner with forward-thinking organizations to create speaking engagements and trainings to help employees and leaders build psychological strength to thrive at and outside work. In addition to my private practice and work through Peak Mind, I also do a lot of speaking and writing. With all of this, my main goal is to change how people think so they can live bold, happy lives!

It definitely could have been a smoother road. On the personal side, coming to terms with vision loss and figuring out how to keep it from limiting the way I live life was quite a process. Professionally, it’s been a journey, too. Venturing out on my own and creating a new business requires a whole set of skills I didn’t have at the start. While I have a deep knowledge of psychology, areas like sales, marketing, and business were new. Over the years, I’ve learned a ton, and I’ve learned to embrace experimentation: try something, gather data about what works and what doesn’t, iterate, and try again. It’s both freeing and unsettling not to know what the entire path forward looks like. There’s a lot of trust and resilience that comes into play.

This is the official scoop about Peak Mind. Two doctoral-level psychologists founded Peak Mind to usher in a new approach to mental health and well-being. Our mission is to empower people to thrive by cultivating psychological strength.

Who We Are: Pioneers of Well-being.

We create innovative well-being solutions rooted in evidence-based psychology, and our expertly crafted speaking engagements and trainings bridge the gap between mental health and performance. With a deep commitment to reducing stigma, we reshape how well-being is nurtured in the modern workplace.

What We Do: Elevate Potential

At Peak Mind, we unleash untapped potential. Our immersive workshops, digestible digital trainings, and transformative keynotes equip individuals and teams with vital psychological strength skills and knowledge. Our highly impactful programs inspire lasting change that amplifies success at and outside work.

Why We Do It: Thriving People, Thriving Organizations

Our wild hypothesis is that organizations are made up of people. When people thrive, organizations thrive. We help people thrive.

Because of my professional and personal experiences, I have a high tolerance. I am willing to venture into uncertainty, to go after big goals, and to fail. It’s not that I love failing; I just believe it’s worth the risk to learn, experience, and move forward. A lot of my willingness to take risks comes from my work with anxiety and knowing how the human mind works. I know anxiety inside and out. I understand it is designed to keep us safe by looking for the potential problems or bad things that could happen. When we take a risk or wade into uncertainty – essentially when we’re not sure if things will be okay or when we think there’s a big chance of something terrible happening – we tend to get more anxious. The natural human response to anxiety is to avoid or escape – stay safe inside your comfort zone. After 20 years of helping people learn to be brave and to override their anxiety, I can’t help but internalize that! I practice what I preach every day, which means tapping into courage and taking chances. Regarding risks I’ve taken, starting my business would qualify. Being vulnerable has felt more risky for me. For example, sharing my thoughts and personal experiences through writing and speaking took courage (e.g., www.peakmindpsychology.com/blog, TEDx talk Is Your Brain Deceiving You?). Over the years, I’ve cultivated a mindset that stretching your comfort zone is beneficial, taking risks is good, and that all experiences, pleasant or not, are valuable. Those beliefs lead me to do things others might view as risky (e.g., traveling without accommodations lined up), but to me, it’s just part of bold living.