Teen Mom‘s Ashley Jones is grappling with her anxiety in the wake of estranged husband Bar Smith’s arrest on felony kidnapping charges for allegedly holding her hostage in her Las Vegas home.
In a PopCulture.com exclusive sneak peek of Thursday’s all-new episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, Ashley looks for a solution as she admits the “trauma” from the attack is something that’s stuck with her.
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The preview kicks off with Ashley checking in on mom Tea, who left Las Vegas for a six-week cruise ship job that’s left her daughter feeling a bit unbalanced. After hanging up the phone with Tea, promising to see her when she gets home, Ashley sets to setting up her new security system in her absence.
“My anxiety is worse than itโs ever been, so I got a new security camera system,” she says, recalling the moment she entered her home to find an angry Bar had broken in. “Walking in your house and having someone sitting in your house, itโs just frightening.โ
Between Bar’s criminal court case and her mom being gone, Ashley said she feels her anxiety has been “taking a toll on my day-to-day life,” prompting her to reach out to friends “as possible to widen my support system.”
Hitting up a pottery studio with her friend Nisha, Ashley says it’s “life” that makes her want to dive into her artistic side recently, joking when asked about her inspiration, “Can trauma be inspiration?” She continues, “Since Iโm not in school, I just need to fill my time with enriching activities. As much as a mental break I need, Iโm floating in space, like I have no structure. But I will be back in the full swing of nursing school in a few weeks.โ
Ashley’s pending divorce is also contributing to her anxiety, as she tells Nisha, “I basically have to wait until next month to go to court, but I don’t see anything thatโs gonna stop the divorce.”

Nisha then asks how Ashley feels she’s “holding up mentally,” wondering, “Do you feel like youโre taking steps to make sure that youโre OK in that department too?โ Ashley answers bluntly, “No,” but says she’s open to some kind of therapy when Nisha presses the issue.
“Iโve been in therapy but Iโm looking outside the โsit on my couch and talkโ [approach],” Ashley explains, adding that she wants “something less medicine-based, more holistic.” Nisha chimes in, “Something outside of the box, like out of the norm. I think thatโs something cool to look into.”
Ashley admits that she’s in a place to “try anything to quiet some of the noise,” pointing out that the “pressure” of dealing with her own mental health issues while being a single mom to daughter Holly is weighing on her. “Failureโs not an option,” Nisha points out, as Ashley agrees, “Yeah.”
Teen Mom: The Next Chapterย airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.