Sometimes the body is telling the same story the nervous system has been telling for years — just in a different language. I sit with a lot of clients who arrive with two separate files. One holds the medical history: the autoimmune workup, the migraines, the gut issues no one can quite explain, the fatigue that never lifts. The other holds the relational history: the childhood that required constant vigilance, the relationships that feel unsafe even when they're good, the in

Someone you care about says, "Can we talk about us?" and something in you goes quiet. You feel a pull to change the subject, get busy, or need a little space. Later you wonder why connection can feel so good from a distance and so overwhelming up close. Here's the reframe: avoidant attachment isn't a sign that you don't care. It's a sign that, at some point, you learned that needing people wasn't safe — so you got very, very good at needing no one. What avoidant attachment is

You send a text. Twenty minutes pass. Then an hour. Your chest tightens, your mind starts drafting explanations — they're upset with me, I said something wrong, they're pulling away — and before long you've checked your phone more times than you'd like to admit. If that feels familiar, here's a reframe worth sitting with: anxious attachment isn't a sign that you're "too much." It's a sign that, at some point, you learned closeness wasn't guaranteed — and your nervous system g

The toddler who melts down because you cut his sandwich the "wrong way" and the 45-year-old who cannot tolerate their partner having a bad day without making it about them are doing the same thing, developmentally speaking. One of them is right on schedule. The other one got stuck. That's not a moral failing. It's a clue. Egocentrism Is Supposed to Happen Piaget gave us the term, but every parent has lived it: young children genuinely cannot yet hold someone else's internal e

A "good enough" summer is all your kids need!

Practical tips to navigate travel and unexpected experiences as a family with neurodivergent kids.

Nobody puts this in wedding vows. No one stands at the altar and says, "I promise to communicate with you about who is picking up the kids on Thursday, to tell you when I have a work event that runs late, to actually look at the shared calendar, and to see your time as mattering as much as my own." But maybe they should. Because in twenty years of clinical work, some of the most profound disconnection I've witnessed in couples and marriages hasn't come from a lack of love, it

By now you've probably seen it everywhere: Netflix's new true crime documentary Maternal Instinct premiered on June 12 and quickly became one of the most talked-about releases of the summer. The film follows the real case of Taylor Parker, a Texas woman who maintained a faked pregnancy for months and ultimately killed a pregnant woman, Reagan Simmons Hancock, in order to take her unborn baby. It's the kind of story that's almost impossible to look away from. It's also, for a

Talking about Pride with children is part of raising kind humans.

Avoid burn out and simply be present as a family to enjoy summer.

The holidays bring up lots of different feelings for families. Parents and kids experience joy, peace, and happiness while celebrating together — and at the same time, many families notice more stress, chaos, and emotional overwhelm. Below are a few gentle, realistic tips to help your kids and yourself stay regulated this holiday season.