Widening Circles, PC

03/16/2026

✨ Cohort 4 Has Begun ✨

Today we welcomed ten beautiful humans into Cohort 4 of the Heartwood Integrative Mental Health Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) at Widening Circles.

For the next 10 weeks, this group will gather Monday–Friday from 9:00 AM–12:00 PM for a deeply supportive and integrative healing process.

Our integrative mental health IOP weaves together evidence-informed and experiential approaches designed to support whole-person healing. The program includes:

🌿 Trauma-informed psychotherapy
🎨 Expressive arts and creative process
🌲 Ecotherapy and nature-based practices
🧠 Nervous system regulation and somatic work
📚 Psychoeducation on mental health, brain health, and resilience
🤝 Community connection and relational healing
💊 Integrative psychiatry and medication support when needed
✨ Opportunities for ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) as an adjunct to care

Each cohort becomes its own small community — a circle where people can reconnect with themselves, others, and the deeper rhythms of healing.

We are honored to walk alongside this new group as their journey unfolds. 🌱

If you or someone you love may benefit from this level of care, feel free to reach out to learn more.

02/14/2026

Our friends at The Pearl Psychedelic Institute are hosting a movie night featuring the film Music for Mushrooms by East Forest at Asheville Pizza and Brewing this Tuesday. Doors at 6pm.

Join us Tuesday February 17th for an intriguing movie night at Asheville Brewing Company! We are excited to have the opportunity to screen the documentary “Music For Mushrooms”.

“Music for Mushrooms is an 82-minute narrative feature film, an ode to the transformative potential of art and introspection in a world aching for healing and connection.”

When: Tuesday February 17th - Check in starts at 6:00PM, movie starts at 6:30PM followed by a panel Q&A on music and p$ych3del!c experiences
Where: Asheville Brewing Company, 675 Merrimon Avenue

We have a suggested donation of $10 that will go toward sliding scale therapeutic services provided by The Pearl Institute.

We hope to see you there!

12/21/2025

✨Turning toward the light together ✨
Grateful for this brilliant, tender, weirdly wonderful circle of humans.
Wishing you rest, warmth, and just enough magic this solstice/holiday season. 🌲🕯️

10/02/2025

Our team is continuing to evolve and grow! We loved supporting at their annual Gathering of the Pearl a couple of weeks ago to help raise funds to support access to psychedelic treatment.

From left to right:
Teva Hite, LCMHCS, Clinical Director
Su Wasseluk, PMHNP, FNP
Kim Skelton, LCMHCS, LCAS, Executive Director
Cheryl Taylor, PA-C

09/27/2025

Come visit Widening Circles at Asheville Pride!

07/25/2025

🌿✨ Celebrating our very first Heartwood cohort! ✨🌿

Twelve weeks of courage, creativity, and community have taken root—and yesterday we marked the journey’s close by building living terrariums. Each tiny ecosystem now carries the spirit of our time together and reminds us that growth continues long after the glass lid is placed.

To every participant: thank you for trusting us with your stories, for showing up with open hearts, and for weaving rings of Heartwood that will support future cohorts.

07/17/2025

We have two slots left for this new training that happens two weeks from tomorrow! NBCC CEs offered.

06/23/2025

Our Heartwood Integrative Mental Health IOP is in it's 8th week!

We are now enrolling for our second cohort that begins on Monday, August 4. Each cohort lasts for 10 weeks and is made of up no more than 12 clients.

Heartwood is an integrative mental health IOP blending psychiatry, individual and group therapy, neurofeedback, somatic skills, expressive arts, ecotherapy and nature connection, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (as clinically indicated), all within a trauma-informed, holistic care model. While we are a mental health IOP, we are open to clients struggling with co-occurring SUD, as many of us are dual-licensed. Therapeutic ketamine treatment is not a requirement to be a part of the IOP.

We have programming Monday-Friday from 9am - noon at this time. If demand increases, we plan to offer an afternoon cohort as well.

We’re committed to making innovative, integrative mental health care accessible to more individuals in our community. If you or someone you know may benefit from comprehensive, insurance-based mental health IOP support, we'd love to connect.

We are in-network with BCBS, United/Optum, Aetna, VACCN, and have applied for others like Cigna/Evernorth and Medicare.

Feel free to reach out directly or visit our website at www.wideningcirclesnc.com for more details! We are located at 25 Orange Street.

Combining traditional therapeutic practices with integrative and innovative modalities, creating a supportive environment for sustainable healing.

05/22/2025

Again, week 3 of our Heartwood IOP. Today was our first IM KAP integration group. It’s been a three year process to get to this place and it’s happening. We can create and embody paradigm change.

05/19/2025

This week begins Week 3 of our Heartwood Integrative Mental Health IOP. This is the first cohort where we are able to accept insurance!

The lesson for today’s Heartwood group is Strength in Vulnerability and Authenticity. We read this lovely book, Hope for the Flowers, and talked about everything from meaning making to late stage capitalism to death anxiety.

Hope for the Flowers is an allegorical novel by Trina Paulus. Originally published in 1972, the story is described as “partly about life, partly about revolution, and lots about hope,” and is intended for adults and “other caterpillars who can read.” The narrative follows two caterpillars, Yellow and Stripe, on their journey of self-discovery as they climb a caterpillar pillar in search of meaning, only to realize that true transformation lies in an unexpected path.

01/31/2025

Widening Circles
Asheville, NC

When we look at our world right now, many of us are feeling lots of emotions including disheartened, rageful, petrified, encouraged, and energized. Counselors are frontline workers to this revolution, both as activists for change and supporters of clients.

Widening Circles is committed to offering services to our community through integrity, compassion, empowerment, collaboration, sustainability, and inclusivity. We denounce the blatant targeting of minoritized communities by the current White House administration.

Professionals at Widening Circles are committed to offering gender affirming care to the gender expansive community. We passionately believe that gender affirming care is ethical and saves the lives of our gender expansive siblings.

We put confidence in our clients who are experts in their own lives and will support gender expansive clients in their individual gender journey. We denounce the gate keeping system that is prevalent in gender affirming care and trust our clients to know what is authentic for them.

We pledge to support our gender expansive clients, siblings, fellow counselors, and community members.

01/13/2025

We are so excited that one of our providers, Angela Brooks-Livingston, LCMHCS, LCAS, CCS, is offering this timely continuing education series. If all sessions are attended, you can earn 30 CEs through NBCC. All sessions are in person at Widening Circles at 25 Orange Street.

From Angela:

“Hey y'all!

I'm excited to announce a new training I've created: Move Beyond Affirming to Competence: Working With Gender Expansive Clients.

This is a 30 hour CE institute that participants will go through as a cohort. The purpose and intention of this training is to encourage self-reflection when working with gender expansive clients. It is designed as a cohort on purpose in order to encourage self-reflection in a safe space, as well as having accountability conversations. I am passionate about cultural humility as a continual process that has no end.

You will not receive a certificate of completion for this training nor is Evolving Fire Counseling, PLLC or Widening Circles, PC endorsing any participant who completes the 30 hour trainings as competent in working with gender expansive clients. You will receive a CE certificate for completed hours after each session you attend. Additionally, participants who complete the training will have the option of attending follow-up monthly group supervision.

Please reach out with any questions!”