Mental Health Blog and News
Gratitude Without the Pressure: A Realistic Approach for Thanksgiving Month
Gratitude Without the Pressure: A Realistic Approach for Thanksgiving Month
Every November, the message is everywhere: be thankful. Write it on a card, say it at the table, post it online. For many people, that feels warm and meaningful. For others, it can feel like one more thing they are supposed to feel and aren't.
Using Your Insurance for Therapy: What to Know
Using Your Insurance for Therapy: What to Know
Starting therapy is a big step. Figuring out your benefits shouldn’t make it harder. At Journeys Therapy Center, we want the insurance side to feel simple, clear and free of surprises, so you can focus on what matters: your well-being.
Election Stress: 5 Ways to Cope
Election Stress: 5 Ways to Cope
Feeling on edge about the election? Five gentle ways to manage stress and news overload. | Journeys Therapy Center
Time Change and Seasonal Affective Disorder: Tips That Help
Why the Time Change Affects Your Mood (and What Helps)
On Sunday, November 1, clocks "fall back" an hour. An extra hour of sleep sounds like a gift, yet many people feel off for days or weeks afterward. If you've ever felt groggy, irritable, or low when the time changes, you're not imagining it.
Here's why the time change and mood are connected, and what you can do to feel steadier.
Halloween Anxiety in Kids: Tips
Why Halloween Can Feel Scary for Kids
Young children are still learning the difference between pretend and real. A friendly neighbor in a mask can look like a stranger to a four-year-old. Older kids may worry about being embarrassed, left out, or overwhelmed by crowds and noise.
The fall routine shift can add stress too. Darker evenings, school events, and a busy calendar all change the rhythm kids rely on.
ACT Therapy with Dr. Diana Storey
We’re pleased to announce that Dr. Diana Storey, psychologist, has completed training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT can help you make room for painful thoughts and feelings without letting them determine every choice you make.
Kayla Storey-Silva, LPC, is Now Accepting Aetna Insurance
We have good news for anyone looking for affordable, compassionate counseling. Kayla Storey-Silva, M.S., Licensed Professional Counselor, is now accepting Aetna insurance. If you have Aetna, you can start therapy with Kayla and use your mental health benefits.
Journeys Takes 2nd Place at Argyle PD’s Trunk or Treat!
Journeys Therapy Center took home 2nd place in People’s Choice at the 6th Annual Argyle Police Department Trunk or Treat!
Our Inside Out crew loved meeting so many families, admiring your costumes, and sharing a little joy with our community. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and voted for us!
Have You Actually Processed This Summer?
Summer has a way of ending before you've caught up with it. One day you're making plans for June, and the next you're buying school supplies or noticing the sun setting a little earlier, wondering where the last few months went. You lived through it, sure. But did you actually process it? Or did you just survive it?
Burnout vs Stress: Why "Just Rest More "Doesn't Fix Everything
Burnout vs Stress: Why “Just Rest More” doesn’t fix everything. If you have ever pushed through a hard season, rested when it was finally over, and still woken up feeling just as empty, you already know something that a lot of advice out there misses. Stress and burnout are not the same thing. And treating them the same way is probably why you are still exhausted.
Why Do I Shut Down in Conflict?
Why do I shut down in conflict? You're mid-conversation. Voices are rising, even just a little. And suddenly, you're gone. Not physically, but somewhere behind your own eyes. Your words dry up. Your mind goes blank. You nod, or you don't, but either way, you're not really there anymore.
Emotional Check-In Questions: A Simple Practice for Coming Back to Yourself
Emotional Check-In Questions: A Simple Practice for Coming Back to Yourself. Some days we forget to ask ourselves the questions we'd ask anyone else we love. We check in on our friends, our partners, our family members, but when it comes to our own emotional state, we default to autopilot. "I'm fine" becomes the answer before we've even paused to consider whether it's true.
Inner Child Work: A Simple Explanation
Nobody tells you that the "too sensitive" kid grows up into the adult who apologizes for having needs. If you have spent any time in therapy circles or self-help corners of the internet, you have probably heard the term "inner child work." It can sound abstract, even a little woo-woo, but the concept is actually pretty grounded and practical once you break it down.
5 Grounding Techniques That Actually Work (For When Anxiety Takes Over)
Anxiety has a way of pulling you out of the present moment and into a spiral of "what ifs." Your heart races, your thoughts speed up, and suddenly you're anywhere but here. The good news? Your body has a built-in off switch; you just need to know how to flip it.
Shame Doesn't Protect You, It Controls You
Most of us carry shame we never chose and never questioned. It arrived quietly, through the things people said, the ways we were raised, the messages embedded in the institutions and cultures we grew up inside. And at some point, it stopped needing anyone else to enforce it. We took over. This is what makes shame so effective, and so worth understanding.
Why Do I Feel Like I'm "Too Much"?
You've been told you're too much your whole life. Too emotional. Too sensitive. Too needy. Too intense. Too loud. Too everything. And somewhere along the way, you believed it. But here's what nobody told you: "too much" was never actually about you.
Anxiety vs. Intuition: How to Tell the Difference (And Why It Matters)
Your gut is always talking. The trick is learning who's speaking. If you've ever had a nagging feeling you couldn't shake, one you couldn't quite explain, you know how confusing it can be to figure out where it's coming from. Is this my intuition telling me something important? Or is it just my anxiety running the show again?
The 6 Stages of Outgrowing Yourself (And Why Every Single One Matters)
Nobody talks about how disorienting personal growth actually feels in the middle of it. We celebrate the glow-up, the transformation, the "new me" energy, but we skip over the messy, uncomfortable, identity-shaking process that actually gets you there.
Signs You Might Be a People Pleaser
If you've ever said "it's fine!" through gritted teeth, or felt a flicker of panic at the thought of disappointing someone, you already know how convincing people pleasing can be. From the outside, it looks like kindness. It looks like being easygoing, low-maintenance, the one who never causes a problem. But underneath, it's often something else entirely: a habit of putting everyone else's comfort ahead of your own, until resentment or burnout forces you to notice.
Why Do I Keep Ending Up in the Same Patterns?
You've noticed it. Maybe it's the relationships that all seem to follow the same painful arc. Maybe it's the job conflicts that feel oddly identical no matter where you work. Maybe it's the way you shrink yourself in certain situations, or the way you keep choosing people who can't quite meet you. You've asked yourself: Why does this keep happening to me?