Dana Hall LCPC

09/07/2026

Did you know naming your emotions out loud can help your brain regulate?

It's called affect labeling when we identify and label an emotional experience. What happens in the brain is regions involved in language and regulation, including areas of the prefrontal cortex become more engaged while activity associated with emotional reactivity, including the amygdala may decrease.

In other words, instead of only being inside the emotion your brain begins to observe and organize the emotion.
Try it:
I notice I’m feeling ______ right now.

That tiny phrase creates some psychological distance between you and the feeling.

You are not anxiety.
You are noticing anxiety.

You are not anger.
You are experiencing anger.

Naming an emotion doesn’t make it disappear and that isn’t the goal. The goal is to help your nervous regulate so you have choice instead of reactivity.

09/02/2026

INSTEAD OF SAYING “CALM DOWN”… TRY THIS.
When someone is anxious, overwhelmed, or emotionally activated, “calm down” usually isn’t very calming.
In fact, it can sound like:
“You’re overreacting.”
“Your feelings are too much.”
“Stop feeling this way.”
“Fix yourself.”
When the nervous system senses danger, the brain’s alarm system can take over. In that moment, the person may KNOW logically that they are safe, but their body hasn’t gotten the message yet.

They don’t necessarily need someone to convince them that everything is fine. They may need help distinguishing:

“This feels uncomfortable" from “I am actually in danger.”
Instead of “calm down,” try:
“I’m here with you.”
“I can see that this is really hard right now.”
“You don’t have to figure everything out this second.”
“What would help you feel a little safer right now?”
“Do you want me to listen, help you problem-solve, or just stay with you?”
“Let’s focus on what we know is true right now.”
“We can take this one piece at a time.”
“You’re allowed to feel overwhelmed. We don’t have to solve everything while you’re feeling this activated.”

Sometimes the most regulating thing we can offer another person isn’t advice. It’s our steady presence. You don't have to fix someone's feelings to support them. Sometimes the message their nervous system needs most is simply:
“You’re not alone. I’m here. We can figure out the next step together.”

08/30/2026

Therapists & Mental Health Professionals: Continuing Education Resource

If you’re looking to expand your clinical skills, deepen your knowledge, or grab some CE hours, I’m sharing my PESI partner link for trainings and professional education.

PESI has trainings across a wide range of clinical topics, including trauma, anxiety, grief, couples work, neurodiversity, EMDR, CBT, DBT, ethics, and more.

Browse trainings here:
https://my.pesi.partners/6GZTL2P/37ZLXN3/

I’m always looking for trainings that give clinicians tools we can actually bring into the therapy room, not just another certificate to add to the pile. 🧠✨

08/05/2026

Mental health is not entertainment.

I'm grateful to those who contacted authorities regarding Perez Hilton's livestream. For many people, watching something like that can be deeply triggering.

If you are struggling, please know this: you are not alone. Help is available. If you are in immediate danger or think you may act on thoughts of harming yourself, call 911 or contact the Su***de & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988

As a therapist, I want you to know that healing is possible. I see it every day. There is hope, even if you can't feel it right now, but you have to reach out and let someone help. You don't have to carry this alone.
Sending healing to Perez and his family. ❤️

08/04/2026

08/01/2026

Sometimes the bravest thing you'll do today won't look brave at all.

It might look like...
💛 Making the doctor's appointment.
💛 Going to therapy.
💛 Walking into the gym for the first time.
💛 Setting a boundary.
💛 Asking for help.
💛 Going to a social event when anxiety says, "Stay home."
💛 Starting over after a setback.
💛 Simply getting out of bed.

We often think courage feels confident. The truth? Courage usually feels scared. I love the phrase "Big Brave." To me, it's the kind of bravery that shows up when life asks you to do something unfamiliar, uncomfortable, or incredibly hard, and you choose to take the next step anyway.

Sometimes "Big Brave" is especially needed when your body, your past experiences, your anxiety, your depression, or your circumstances make that next step feel ten times harder than it might for someone else. We rarely know what someone had to overcome just to walk through the door.

Mental health isn't about becoming fearless. It's about teaching your nervous system that you can survive discomfort, that healing is often messy, and that courage is a skill built one small choice at a time.

So today, if you're doing something hard, even if no one else notices, I hope you'll give yourself credit.

That's Big Brave.

And if you've run out of Big Brave today...

You can borrow a little of mine until you find your own. 💚

07/25/2026

Maybe you grew up learning:

“Don’t upset anyone.”
“Keep the peace.”
“Be the responsible one.”
“Your needs come last.”
“Don’t cry.”
“Handle it yourself.”
“Love means keeping people happy.”
“Mistakes aren’t safe.”
“Rest has to be earned.”

No one may have ever actually sat you down and taught you these rules. You learned them through experiences, relationships, expectations, and what seemed necessary to maintain connection or safety.

Then we become adults, and sometimes we keep following the same rules long after the environment that created them has changed. This is where **reparenting** can become powerful. Reparenting is learning to offer your adult self some of what your younger self may have needed: compassion, protection, reassurance, boundaries, permission to have needs, and the freedom to make mistakes.

It can sound like:
“I don't have to keep everyone happy to be loved.”
“Someone being disappointed in me doesn't automatically mean I've done something wrong.”
“I can say no without writing a five-paragraph explanation.”
“Rest isn't something I have to earn.”
“I am allowed to ask for help.”
“I can make a mistake without turning it into a judgment about who I am.”

Reparenting isn't about blaming our parents or rewriting history. It's about becoming curious about what we learned, recognizing what no longer serves us, and intentionally choosing what we want to carry forward. Sometimes healing begins with asking:

"Is this actually what I believe, or is this an old rule I learned when I was trying to feel safe, loved, or accepted?"

You are allowed to appreciate what helped you survive one chapter of your life **and still decide that you don't need to live by those same rules in the next one.**

07/25/2026

Language Matters. Pronouns Matter. Being Seen Matters.

Our words are about more than grammar, they communicate whether another person feels seen, respected, and accepted. For someone who uses **they/them pronouns**, consistently hearing the correct pronouns can be a meaningful form of affirmation and support. You don't have to completely understand another person's experience to respect how they ask to be addressed. And gender-neutral pronouns aren't as complicated as they may initially sound. We already use the singular “they” naturally:
*“Someone left their phone. I hope they come back for it.”*
When talking about a specific person who uses they/them pronouns, it works the same way:
*“Sam is coming over later. They said they would arrive around six. I saved them some dinner because they said it was their favorite.”*
They = he/she
Them = him/her
Their = his/her
And if you make a mistake? Correct yourself and keep going. *“She told me, sorry, they told me, they're coming tomorrow.”*

No lengthy apology is necessary. Learning new language takes repetition, particularly when you've used different language for someone for many years. What matters is the willingness to practice. Being an ally doesn't require knowing everything or never making a mistake. It means being willing to **listen, learn, correct yourself, and keep trying.**

In general, try using more inclusive language in public settings and when addressing groups. :) It makes a big difference in a lot of people's lives. :)

**Language matters. Identity matters. Mental health matters. Sometimes respect begins with something as simple as using the words someone has asked us to use.**

07/25/2026

There’s a reason for this. Our brains are designed to respond quickly to perceived emotional threats, sometimes before the frontal regions responsible for reasoning, perspective, impulse control, and problem-solving are fully engaged. Our emotional and threat-detection systems can sound the alarm first, preparing us to protect ourselves. From an evolutionary perspective, this rapid response helped us recognize and react to danger before we had time to carefully think it through.

That’s why anger can sometimes show up first. The fear, hurt, rejection, shame, sadness, or overwhelm underneath it may take more time, and processing, to recognize.

This is where slowing down matters. When we regulate the nervous system, name what we’re feeling, and begin making sense of what happened, we create an opportunity for the frontal regions of the brain to become more engaged. Instead of simply reacting, we become better able to reflect, gain perspective, and choose our response.

And that’s one of the reasons therapy can help. Therapy creates space between **emotion and action**. Over time, we practice moving from *“This is what I feel, so I have to react”* toward *“This is what I feel. What is it telling me, and how do I want to respond?”*
Sometimes anger isn’t the whole story.

**Sometimes it’s simply the first part of the story we were able to hear.**

07/14/2026

Feeling stuck... yeah... that makes sense.

Our emotional lives are a lot like the seasons. When you're in the middle of winter, it's easy to forget what summer feels like.
Not because summer isn't real...
But because your brain can only gather evidence from the season you're currently living in.

When we're depressed, it can feel like we'll always feel this heavy.
When anxiety takes over, it can convince us that life will always feel uncertain.
When we're grieving, it can seem impossible to imagine laughing without guilt.
When we're overwhelmed, we start believing chaos is simply who we are.
Our brains are remarkably good at making the current emotional state feel permanent. Psychologists call this emotional reasoning, when we begin to believe that because we feel something, it must be true.

"I feel hopeless, so there must not be hope."
"I feel unsafe, so I must be in danger."
"I feel alone, so no one understands."

But emotions aren't facts, they're experiences. And like weather, they change. Something else happens in winter. Even if the calendar says it's March, it doesn't automatically feel like spring outside. (You can tell I'm from Chicago.) :)

Healing works the same way. Sometimes your life has objectively changed:
You've left the unhealthy relationship.
You've started therapy.
You've built healthier boundaries.
You're safer than you've ever been.

Yet your nervous system is still dressed for winter. Trauma, anxiety, depression, and grief don't always update as quickly as our circumstances do. Your brain and body need repeated experiences of safety before they begin to trust that the season has changed.

That's why healing isn't about pretending it's sunny. It's about noticing the first warm breeze.
The first genuine laugh.
The first peaceful morning.
The first moment your shoulders relax.
The first time you realize you handled something differently than you would have six months ago.

Those moments are psychological "spring." Don't dismiss them because they aren't summer yet. Healing rarely arrives all at once. It comes one degree warmer at a time. So if you're in an emotional winter today, remember this:

Seasons were never meant to last forever. Neither are emotional states. Keep looking for the small signs that your internal climate is changing. Sometimes growth isn't loud, it begins quietly, beneath the surface, long before anyone else can see it.