Therapy is not an easy thing to participate in. Seeking out and committing to therapy requires vulnerability, and vulnerability feels dangerous to the nervous system. When we open up, we risk rejection, shame, exposure, and loss of control. Humans are wired to protect themselves from pain, not walk toward it. I talk about this premise in my TEDx Talk “Circumventing Emotional Avoidance.” So, when a person sits down in therapy and faces themselves, that act is not a weak one, but rather an act of bravery.

It takes extraordinary courage to sit across from someone, let your guard drop, and say, “Here is where I hurt.”—to take risk, speak vulnerably, and ask for help.

As therapists, we witness that moment every day. We don’t take it for granted. We feel honored and deeply blessed that we are trusted with parts of the self and elements of people’s lives that are personal, private, and cherished.

Whether healing trauma, healing grief, healing self-abandonment, or healing nervous systems wired for survival, it is a privilege to walk beside you.

Thank you.

Thank you for letting me witness you. Thank you for trusting me with your thoughts, emotions, and circumstances you’ve never said out loud; memories you’ve repressed, acted out on, or defended against; patterns you’ve been ashamed to admit; and longings you’ve been afraid to name. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for staying, even when your mind and body resisted. And thank you for doing the profoundly difficult, beautiful work of healing.

I am honored to sit with........

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