In the past several weeks since the 2024 presidential election, I’ve felt myself as well as held space for feelings of frustration, division, anger, and worries about safety, rights, and personal freedoms. These issues can create a perfect storm of anxiety, grief, and fear. I’ve noticed myself moving from hopeful, to numb, to powerless especially when it seems like the problems are so big and out of our control. And then there’s confidence in our ability to make a better future peeking through as I engage with my community. It’s an interesting time to be a therapist.

Job loss can really mess with our sense of self. This blog will discuss why job loss is so impactful, how job loss connects back to identity, and approaches to help you re-engage with your emotional and relational self after losing a job. In our present American culture, our job is a standard place for measuring value and worth.

Loss is extraordinarily painful and real. There is no pain quite like that of losing someone you love. It’s a pain you cannot know until you do, and then you can’t un-know it, no matter how badly you might want to. In western culture, the depth of pain one feels in loss is also uncomfortable and unwelcome—people just don’t want to think about it. It’s unyielding weight is very quickly considered impolite, and our cultural push toward collective denial can be so painful for those in the midst of a loss who can no longer deny its existence.

We humans are emotional beings and understanding that emotions are part of the toolset that we use to navigate the experiences of a fully engaged life is hugely important. When we have trained for a lifetime to avoid “bad” emotions we can end up divorced from this key element of our humanity. Read on for tips from a marriage & family therapist on how to start reconnecting with your emotions.

Caitlin speaks candidly about how “being too much” is a myth! She works primarily with folx who are socialized as female and present as female, and she can bank on the fact that at some point in their work together, clients will tell her that they have a fear of being “too much”. So, here’s why you are never too much.

Our therapist, Anna Kim, is hearing more and more these days about Bad Feelings. Maybe it’s the seasonal change, the darker evenings, or the anticipation of the upcoming holiday season. As we settle back down into routines and take stock of another summer, it’s normal to feel a pull toward reassessment, an acknowledgement of the time that has passed, toward loss. Whatever the cause, it’s coming up a lot and there’s a need to advocate for the feelings we like to push off and label negative. Read on why "good" or "bad" feelings don't exist.

One of the most significant trials of living with (not fighting against) chronic illness is encountering, processing, and then re-encountering loss over and over again. Having chronic illness also means encountering uncertainty and tolerating not knowing what will happen…Every. Single. Day. Read more from Kaitlin on managing grief and disappointment as a spoonie.

When everything is a disaster, it’s easy to figure out what you should talk about in therapy. Conflict, sadness, anxiety, relationship problems, friendship problems, parent stuff, body image, identity, etc. etc. Pleeeenty of content for a 50 minute session. It's those moments when things are actually going well, when just before your session you think: “What am I going to talk about today?” Click here for 5 topics to explore when it feels like things are going well and you’ve got nothing to talk about.

Surprise! Therapists are humans and also go to therapy! Gaby Teresa shares her recent breakthroughs in her own therapy experiences as a queer, Latina woman and therapist. Click here to learn more about how women are forced to stay silent and how to move forward in your own healing journey. Because mira, we’ve got to stop silencing women. Especially BIPOC women.