Category: General Ideas

By Melisa De Seguirant, LPC, LMFT ~ Nov 2024 Managing Trauma & Triggers Most of us are familiar with the basic trauma responses… fight, flight, fawn, freeze. But what is trauma? How do we navigate our own trauma responses? Can trauma be healed?  Scroll for some ideas to get you started, then continue the post… Read more

By Melisa De Seguirant, LPC, LMFT ~ Oct 2024 Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder Up here in the PNW things are starting to feel colder and darker, making way for seasonal depression AKA seasonal affective disorder. What is seasonal affective disorder? Does everyone get it? How can you manage it?   What makes seasonal affective disorder different… Read more

By Melisa De Seguirant, LPC, LMFT ~ Oct 2024 Navigating Conflict Successfully Are you comfortable managing conflict in your relationships? Conflict happens! How do we work with it? What happens if we habitually try to avoid it? What skills are important to effectively resolving conflict when it occurs? What happens when conflict is ongoing? How has… Read more

By Melisa De Seguirant, LPC, LMFT ~ Oct 2024 Practicing Active Listening What is the impact of active listening? When people feel heard and understood, their defenses lower. When defenses are lowered, space for effective communication is created.  Curious to know more? Read on! Listening to understand… Oftentimes, especially when excited or when navigating conflict,… Read more

By Melisa De Seguirant, LPC, LMFT ~ Aug 2024 Overcoming Setbacks in Life & Relationships How ridiculous would it be if every time a baby fell while learning how to walk we threw our hands up in the air and said, “Well that’s it! I guess they are never going to get it. Might as… Read more

By Melisa De Seguirant, LPC, LMFT ~ Aug 2024 Managing Your Cognitive Distortions The principles from cognitive psychology continue to be a backbone in establishing mental wellness. Our patterns of thinking have a great deal of impact on how we feel.  Have you heard of cognitive distortions? Are you aware of which ones you fall… Read more

By Melisa De Seguirant, LPC, LMFT ~ Aug 2024 Addressing Rumination & Overthinking Inside Out 2 recently became the highest grossing animated film … Tell me we’re all anxious without telling me we’re all anxious. …seems like a good time to talk about rumination!  Oftentimes when we are stuck in an anxiety spiral, the overthinking… Read more

By Melisa De Seguirant, LPC, LMFT ~ July 2024 Exercising Boundaries with Social Media We love a conversation about boundaries in the context of human relationships, but what about our boundaries in our relationship with social media? Let’s talk about harm reduction. In psychotherapy (specifically addictions counseling), harm reduction is the terminology used to describe… Read more