Why affirmations may not be helpful to you (yet) if you’ve experienced trauma, and three neutral phrases you might use for now before starting therapy to reestablish safety and trust in the world/yourself.

Ten things to do instead of self harming or hurting yourself. If you are in need of help immediately, visit the resources page for hotlines, war lines, and text support.

This is a non-exhaustive list of areas where therapy can support your mental health and wellbeing as a doctoral student and throughout your PhD journey. Since the PhD world can be mystifying to many who have not experienced it, you may find it helpful to see a therapist who has been through the academic system as a doctoral student too - who you don’t have to explain all the particularities and ins-and-outs of the PhD journey to.

Therapy for therapists-in-training? You can use your clinical knowledge to evaluate who might be a good fit, but then it useful to spend time exploring the potential fit for you as a whole person!

Yes - therapy can be for anyone and everyone who wants it! Even if you are aware from your home country (although there is one immigration consideration explored).

It is important to understand what stonewalling is, how it shows up, who it can show up with, and where you can go for support!

Grieving is incredibly human of you, and there is NO requirement for grief related to having met someone or not.

Some completely normal questions and experiences to want space to process through in therapy as high school graduation nears.

Of course you’re not the same since the start of a pandemic.

It is so human of you, since the COVID-19 pandemic started, to have more to grieve, to feel resentment or frustration, to be confused and uncertain, to have new sensory desires (less noise, more soft textures, desire to eat food from the earth, want to be in smaller groups), to understate a new level of being informed about public health.

Setting foot back on your college campus after being away studying abroad can bring up a lot of feelings. And the people you may be used to going to for support may suddenly not understand you, or may minimize your emotions, or even tease you for wanting to keep talking about it. Therapy, with a therapist who gets it, may be the space you need to process, unpack, and dive into all the ups-and-downs of studying abroad and the impact on your life.

A list of trauma books that might be missing from your training as a therapist / mental health professional

The meaning and choice behind naming my therapy practice The Orchard!