A Note from Ashley Gilmour – Founder, CEO of MindFit Lab
Firstly, a massive Welcome to MindFit Lab! I am so incredibly happy and excited for you and humanity as a whole that you have found yourself here on our platform. MindFit Lab as you see it here today was an idea that came to me as a gift to you, to humanity, during profound meditation experiences around April 2017. I had sat on this idea for about a year before I decided to take any action to turn this idea into something practical. This is as I could foresee that this platform would be such a massive project to build, that I wasn’t sure where I would even find the time to build this whole platform and write all the course content while trying to operate/run a successful Clinical Psychology practice within which I consult in also. However, I decided I just need to find the time to make this idea a real thing, because it was obviously given to me as a gift to the world for a reason without my decision in the matter, so I needed to act on that and just figure it out one way or another.
For those whom do not yet know me, my name is Ashley Gilmour. I am a fully-qualified Clinical Psychologist based on the beautiful Gold Coast, Australia. I have been practicing psychology since 2009. I am the founder/director of Vitality Unleashed Psychology, a clinical psychology practice in Gold Coast and have been so since April 2013. For those whom I have had the privilege of being of service to will know that all things psychology, mental health, consciousness and helping people are highly important to me and are areas I am very passionate about and interested in. People often ask me, “Why did you decide to become a Psychologist?” For me, there’s no special story on the surface, I was 17 years of age finishing Year 12 scrolling through the QTAC book trying to work out what I wanted to do at University that would determine the rest of my life.
Psychology sounded interesting, though I didn’t quite understand it enough to appreciate it for what level I have of it now. So, I went through University, I did my Bachelor of Psychology graduating with Class IIA Honours, and though not part of the original plan, I decided to apply for the Master of Psychology (Clinical), which is a 4-year post-graduate program to be on my way to become a Clinical Psychologist. This training was highly valuable, it taught me a lot in this time. After this I was then fortunate enough to land a job as a Mental Health Clinician (Psychologist) in a Public Adult Psychiatry sector during which I completed my Clinical Psychology Registrar training, the final qualifying step to become a Clinical Psychologist. Finally! By this point, I thought I had a good understanding of mental health/mental illness. But if I look back on it all, I learnt that I had a good understanding of how to identify a bunch of symptoms and cluster them together and give it a diagnosis. That I also had a good understanding that there is a psychiatric medication that typically come with a host of side effects for pretty much everything mental health related, though generally don’t provide the therapeutic effect they claim or are thought or expected to have. I also learnt that mainstream psychology and psychiatry while understands a lot, does not really understand much at all about mental health and the underlying causes of why mental health issues exist, and how to treat these effectively.
My frustrations with mainstream psychology & psychiatry and everlasting querying and curious mind had me start questioning a lot of things. Questions included:
• How can I shift people’s negative thoughts and beliefs easier and quicker than typical CBT techniques?
• What is actually is the subconscious mind and what really is going on at the level of the subconscious mind?
• Why do people seem to be stuck in trauma (e.g., PTSD), continually reliving the past, and is there an easier and quicker way to shift this trauma?
• What is “consciousness”? What does it actually mean?
• What is Energy and how is everything connected, rather than being separate?
Whilst my former academic training had been useful in its own right, this sort of questioning was basically the beginning of where I’ve really come to learn everything that I know now about psychology, mental health, and consciousness and how to apply all of this knowledge and direct experience to help not only myself through my own layers of stuff, but to also help people, help humanity in far quicker and easier ways than what mainstream psychology could offer me. If I were to explain everything I’ve come to learn, understand and directly experience to date, I would need to write a book about it. However, to keep it short, I’ve come to realise that our minds are incredibly powerful and this includes our own consciousness, which means our awareness. I’ve come to realise that you just cannot see what you cannot see, until your own consciousness is ready to see it, and when it’s ready, it will show that to you. I’ve also come to realise that with our subconscious mind, our consciousness, we are incredibly powerful at being able to heal ourselves mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Everything is energy thus everything is connected, for separateness is an illusion. I think these points are really important to understand when for most of us, we have been so programmed into the perspective that we are victims to our own suffering because we are powerless to heal ourselves. Whilst the healing journey is no quick feat that happens at the flick of a light switch, it is a very possible and real journey to be experienced as we work through the layers one by one. These layers are of our emotional, mental, physical, energetic, and spiritual bodies because we are not just a physical being like we may look. We are so much more than that.
If you decide to start any one of our wellbeing courses, you may notice the content of the courses will be influenced by my learnings and understandings from this much broader perspective of mental health and consciousness. This broader perspective can be a lot to take in, so most courses will have this perspective kept simplified and easy to understand. However, in time to come, we will be offering courses that go a bit more in-depth with a little more complexity with regards to the consciousness element to mental health and wellbeing for those that are ready for that level of understanding and treatment.
Through these courses in MindFit Lab, our aim is to be a stepping stone in your journey to working through and overcoming any mind wellbeing difficulties you may be struggling with, as well as to enhance any level of healthy mental wellbeing you’re already experiencing.
One thing I have come to understand and appreciate through my own journeys into the field of inner work is that whatever inner work that we do on ourselves, we are not only healing ourselves, but we are also helping to heal humanity. This is really important as we are at a time right now where there is so many people walking around carrying so much emotional suffering and trauma, more than what most people would be aware of. As someone whom is an “Empath” (someone that is sensitive to and can feel the suffering of those around them), knowing that you are here at MindFit Lab and either already doing, or contemplating doing any bit of inner work on yourself to help yourself live a happier and more fulfilled life and free yourself from whatever you have been carrying around for, probably too long, makes me feel so happy and with so much gratitude. As the stigma around mental health starts to release more and more, hopefully the journey inward to heal thyself will become more and more common. There is so much love, beauty and happiness to be experienced in life, and I am so excited for this journey you are on!
In good health & vitality,
Ashley Gilmour
Founder, CEO of MindFit Lab
