Ashly Andersen Ruffo

Mental Health Counselor in training proficient in providing caring and methodological counseling services in diverse settings. Skilled in developing and maintaining therapeutic relationships and helping patients progress toward planned outcomes. Highly focused on somatic, animal-assisted, and nature-based counseling techniques with expertise in providing crisis intervention strategies to assist patients.

Founder of ConserveUS - a non-profit organization that ran for five years designed to encourage high school students to form a strong connection between their peers, their communities, and the natural environment. Students act as catalysts for change by working within their communities on a wide variety of projects, including volunteering at homeless shelters, soup kitchens, retirement communities, Children’s Hospital, and for various non-profit organizations on wildlife and environmental issues. Students also work on community clean-ups, planting community gardens, and work with Habitat for Humanity. Students serve as leaders in their school community by organizing student-led assemblies, working with the elementary school kids, organizing fundraisers, and, most importantly, leading their peers by example on their educational path. By mobilizing young people to work on community improvement projects, they obtain the ability to build critical civic engagement, life, social and environmental justice, and leadership skills.