redefine-therapy

Breaking news is breaking us all

Wed, 27 May 2026 15:04:53 GMT

If it bleeds it leads...

Once upon a time, once the evening news was over and the paper was read, we could shut off the world and enjoy life.

Our little handheld computers are feeding us anxiety-provoking headlines 24/7, even on social media apps that are supposed to connect us with friends and family.

When do we get a break from it?

We don’t unless we consciously ensure that we take one. It doesn’t help that once you click the link, the algorithm continues to send you similar headlines (Robertson et al, 2023).

Being exposed to stressful or negative headlines for as little as fifteen minutes a day negatively affects our mental health, triggering a stress response (Bertram et al, 2023). The more you read, the more cycles of stress you experience.

Humans were never equipped to take on the fears and anxieties of the entire planet. For thousands of years, we worried only about our immediate family, village and maybe the surrounding villages within a few days’ travel.

We are primed to find and react to danger; however, our autonomic nervous system does not distinguish between a present physical threat and one that has happened on the other side of the planet. It’s like when your boss calls you and says that they need to talk to you right now, or your mom uses your full name in "that voice", your body reacts the same way that it would react to being chased by a bear!

So, what can you do?

Limit your exposure to negative news.
Switch off news notifications.
Seek out local news channels.
Seek out good news stories like The Good News Network.

And if all else fails, watching cute and funny animal videos will help balance out the stress hormones with a little dopamine infusion. I quite enjoy dancing goats.

Be kind to yourself,

Jennifer

Sources:

Bertram T, Hoffmann Ayala D, Huber M, Brandl F, Starke G, Sorg C and Mulej Bratec S (2023) Human threat circuits: Threats of pain, aggressive conspecific, and predator elicit distinct BOLD activations in the amygdala and hypothalamus. Front. Psychiatry 13:1063238. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1063238

Robertson, C.E., Pröllochs, N., Schwarzenegger, K. et al. Negativity drives online news consumption. Nat Hum Behav 7 , 812–822 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01538-4

Trauma Is Trauma: Understanding Re‑Wounding

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 20:02:41 GMT

Trauma Is Trauma: Understanding Re‑Wounding

Many people have heard the terms “big T” and “little t” trauma. While these labels can sometimes help professionals organize information, they often miss the point. The truth is simple: trauma is trauma, and your experience matters — even if others have dismissed it or you’ve been told it “wasn’t a big deal.” As you wrote, “Trauma is trauma no matter how the incident has unfolded or is experienced.”

When we minimize or deny someone’s experience, we also deny their reality. And that can make healing harder.

�� When Old Wounds Wake Up

You might notice strong emotional reactions in situations that don’t seem to “match” what’s happening. Many people call this being “triggered,” but that word can feel harsh or out of control. I prefer — and you prefer — gentler, more accurate language like re‑wounding or reawakening.

These reactions often happen because something in the present echoes something from the past. Especially early experiences — even ones we didn’t fully understand at the time — can leave deep impressions. When something in our current life touches that old imprint, the wound can reopen.

As your document puts it: “These big feelings not only reinforce that primary early feeling, but it brings the thoughts and feelings related to it, to the surface.”

This isn’t a failure. It’s your nervous system trying to protect you.

�� Why Support Matters

Working through these moments in a compassionate, grounded environment can help you understand what’s happening and begin to heal the original wound — not just the reaction.

Therapy offers space to slow down, make sense of these patterns, and reconnect with the parts of you that learned to survive.

✨ EMDR as a Healing Approach

You mention that you’re trained in EMDR, a powerful trauma‑informed therapy that helps people process and integrate overwhelming experiences. EMDR can be especially helpful for those who feel stuck in old emotional loops or who notice that certain situations bring up reactions that feel “bigger” than the moment.

Women-Centered, Gender-Inclusive Therapy

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 20:06:52 GMT

Care That Sees the Full Picture

Women’s mental health doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s shaped by societal expectations, caregiving roles, body image pressures, trauma, identity, and life transitions — often all at once. Women-centered, gender-inclusive therapy acknowledges these realities while remaining inclusive of diverse gender identities and experiences.

Understanding the Context Matters

Mental health challenges are often deeply connected to lived experience. Expectations around productivity, relationships, appearance, and emotional labor can take a toll — especially when layered with trauma, marginalization, or systemic barriers.

This approach recognizes that distress doesn’t come from personal failure, but from navigating complex systems and expectations.

Inclusive, Intersectional Care

While grounded in women’s mental health, this therapy approach embraces gender diversity and intersectionality. Care is informed by the understanding that gender identity, culture, race, sexuality, and ability all shape how people experience mental health.

Your identity is not something to work around — it’s something to be respected and centered.

A Space Where Your Voice Matters

Women-centered, gender-inclusive therapy creates space for your experiences to be taken seriously. It’s a collaborative, compassionate process where your voice leads and your care is shaped around what you need, not what you’re expected to be.

Neurodiversity-Friendly Therapy

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 20:05:02 GMT

A Space Where You Don’t Have to Mask

For many autistic and neurodivergent people, therapy has felt exhausting rather than supportive. Traditional therapy spaces often expect clients to communicate, process emotions, and engage in ways that don’t account for neurodivergent needs.

Neurodiversity-friendly therapy starts from a different place.

Neurodiversity Is Not a Deficit

Neurodiversity recognizes that differences in thinking, communication, sensory processing, and social interaction are a natural and valuable part of human experience — not problems to be corrected. In neurodiversity-affirming therapy, the goal isn’t to make you appear more “typical.” The goal is to help you feel understood, regulated, and supported in ways that respect who you are.

Therapy That Adapts to You

Neurodiversity-friendly care tailors therapy to your communication style, sensory needs, boundaries, and preferences. That might mean:

Allowing for different ways of expressing thoughts and emotions
Moving at a pace that feels safe
Being mindful of sensory sensitivities
Respecting your need for structure, clarity, or predictability

There is no pressure to mask, perform, or explain yourself.

Centering Safety and Autonomy

Therapy should be a place where you don’t have to constantly translate yourself. A neurodiversity-affirming approach centers autonomy, consent, and collaboration — ensuring that your needs guide the process.

Support looks different for everyone, and therapy works best when it honors that.

ADHD Is More Than Trouble Focusing

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 20:03:30 GMT

Here’s What ADHD-Informed Therapy Really Supports

When people think about ADHD, focus is usually the first thing that comes to mind. Difficulty concentrating, procrastination, or distraction often dominate the conversation. But ADHD is much more than that — and living with it can impact nearly every part of daily life.

ADHD can affect emotional regulation, self-esteem, relationships, motivation, organization, and even how you experience rest. Many people with ADHD grow up internalizing the message that they’re “lazy,” “too much,” or “not trying hard enough,” when in reality, their brain simply works differently.

What Does ADHD-Informed Therapy Mean?

ADHD-informed therapy starts with understanding that your brain isn’t broken — it’s wired differently. Instead of trying to force you into systems that don’t work, therapy adapts to how you function best. Sessions are flexible and collaborative. That might mean adjusting structure, pacing, or tools to support attention, memory, and emotional regulation. It also means focusing on strengths, not just challenges.

Moving Away From Shame

Many people with ADHD carry years of shame from being misunderstood or unsupported. ADHD-informed care actively works to reduce that shame. Therapy isn’t about “fixing” you — it’s about helping you build strategies that feel realistic, sustainable, and aligned with your life. Whether you’re formally diagnosed, self-identifying, or just beginning to explore ADHD, support should feel validating, not judgmental.

You Deserve Support That Fits

ADHD-informed therapy creates space to understand yourself more compassionately, develop tools that actually work, and feel supported in navigating work, relationships, and daily life — without pressure to be someone you’re not.

Redefine your past to change your future

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 22:46:24 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

I realize it sounds like a hokey title, but in reality this is what therapy is all about. Looking at our experiences that have shaped who we are in this moment. Good and bad. They all matter. Seeing how these experiences drive our behavior, our relationships and our experiences is important when we want change.

When people come to therapy, it is usually because they want to change something about themselves or they have feelings burbling around inside them that they cannot identify and need help pulling them out and examining them.