The Saving Seed: Growing a Financially Healthy Family Tree

by Liz Mangelsdorf

“We must give to others and the world.  It is not ours to own and we must leave a positive impression as we pass by on our journey.”

Local entrepreneur, mother and community leader takes her passion to the presses.  Ashley Parks, CFP®, has released her new book: The Saving Seed: Growing a Financially Healthy Family Tree to help families and communities uncover what financial roots they have and how to model positive financial behaviors with their children.

Ashley is actively involved in her community and feels deeply that we are all products of our surroundings.  We all have a personal root system that has been developing throughout our lives.  Ashley’s career has offered her amazing insight into the personal lives of individuals that she comes in contact with on a daily basis.  That insight, along with her own personal journey, spurred her to put her passion on paper.  The stories and personal experiences over her career motivated her to write a book geared towards helping families gain not only personal well-being, but financial well-being too.  The Saving Seed is Ashley’s gift to others.  Her philosophy on life is one of becoming self and becoming greater than our temporal world suggests.  “What can we do that will positively impact others and allow us to grow?”

Vann Counseling and Associates

Lori Vann’s philosophy is that quality mental health care should not be a luxury item and that it should be available to those who need & seek it.  The counselors in her office, who are under her direct supervision, are able to provide lower cost, affordable counseling.  Since they do case consults on a weekly basis with Ms. Vann, it is like having two counselors for the price of one.  Her interns come from diverse backgrounds and the following languages are available: English, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Malay, and Gujurati.

Based upon her almost 15 years of counseling experience and several years of being a professor of psychology, Ms. Vann emphasizes the mind-body connection.  She has found that you cannot separate mental health from physical health and vice versa, therefore mental health care is just as important as physical health care.  The counselors in her practice assist clients in understanding how stress affects the mind, and thus may contribute to mental health issues and possible physical ailments while also assisting clients in identifying healthy vs. unhealthy coping skills.  One focus of treatment is assessing for possible boundary issues, whether in personal or professional life.  Ms. Vann has found that difficulties in boundary setting appear to be correlated with contributing to mental health concerns.