Stress & Relationships
Stress
The social and societal expectations of women can leave many feeling burnt out these days. Whether you are considering a career shift or wondering why you are constantly feeling drained, therapy can help you take steps towards managing mental health symptoms and disrupting stress cycles in your life.
Often times, our bodies are communicating messages of distress before we begin listening and responding to them. Disrupting these stress cycles in therapy involves attuning to our bodies, challenging the expectations set by ourselves and others, and identifying patterns of behavior that may be exacerbating the issue.
Relationships
Many women are socialized to suppress their needs and put others first. While this lifestyle of service can be fulfilling in some ways, it can also lead to dynamics of people-pleasing and resentment. It can even make it difficult to know what you want sometimes (we all remember the Notebook, right?). I work with women to become more familiar with their wants, hopes, and needs to help them live more authentic lives. Using Narrative Therapy, we will examine how unhelpful messaging, family dynamics, and attachment patterns play a role in our relationships. We will also discuss practical tools for unlearning codependency, setting boundaries, and practicing self-compassion in difficult moments. Whether you are navigating a breakup or processing family and friend changes, therapy can help you understand how to determine your “next right thing at the next right time” (Doyle, 2020).
Doyle, G. (2020). Untamed. The Dial Press.
