BARE Counseling

10/28/2026

Hiya everyone!
A little about the person behind BARE Counseling… 🌿

I'm a big believer that understanding ourselves can change everything.

Not because self-awareness magically fixes our problems, but because it's hard to change a pattern when we don't understand why it's there in the first place.

Sometimes the things we criticize ourselves for—the overthinking, the people-pleasing, the need to keep everything together, the patterns we keep finding ourselves in—have a history; one that developed for a reason. And understanding that reason can be the beginning of doing things differently.

That's the kind of work I value in therapy. Not just learning how to manage what's happening on the surface, but making space to explore what's underneath, with curiosity rather than judgment.

And no, you don't have to have everything figured out before you start. You don't even have to know exactly what's wrong.

If you're feeling stuck, navigating a transition, trying to understand yourself better, or simply ready for something to feel different, you don't have to figure it all out alone.

That's what BARE Counseling is here for.

If you've been thinking about trying therapy, consider this your invitation to take a look.

🌿 Learn more or explore getting started at barecounseling.org.

10/09/2026

🧡🔑✨

Some people could be given

10/06/2026

These instance are often overlooked. We explain them using whatever is in the “now” that upset us. But it rarely is that simple.

This is a great example of how I approach working with people to create change. Once we understand what is actually happening, we can work toward healing that wound and explore updated ways to think about and respond to the things that upset us.

Sometimes the reaction feels bigger than the situation because the situation is touching something much older.

A delayed reply may feel like rejection.
A disagreement may feel like abandonment.
Criticism may make you shut down completely.
Distance may make you panic, overthink, chase, or assume you are about to be left.

In that moment, you may not only be responding to what is happening now. You may also be responding to what similar moments meant to you when you were younger.

That does not mean every emotional reaction comes from childhood, and it does not mean you are immature.

It means some wounds can stay sensitive long after the original experience is over.

Healing begins when you learn to notice the difference between what is happening now and what the past taught you to expect.

You can feel triggered without letting the trigger control what you do next. ❤️‍🩹

📚 I Didn’t Choose to Be Born explores how childhood emotional wounds can continue showing up in adulthood, relationships, self-worth, and the way we respond to love.

Available through the link here: https://linktr.ee/traumatorecovery

Thank you for being here

09/29/2026

Maybe not a “silver-lining” person, but rather a “that was rough; what did I learn” person…

not every difficult experience needs a silver lining. sometimes the only thing you need to take from it is a clearer understanding of yourself and what you want moving forward.

09/09/2026

✨Reminder: life is too short to be perfectly curated.

Lately I've been thinking about how much energy we spend trying to look polished — online and off. Carefully editing how we show up so we fit into a neat little box that feels acceptable to everyone around us.

But the magic? It usually happens in the unscripted moments. The spontaneous detours. The creative hobbies with no end goal. The embarrassing playlists. The things that make you laugh too loud and feel genuinely, unself-consciously alive.

Authenticity isn't just about owning your hard parts — it's about reclaiming the light ones too. The weird interests. The bright colors. The version of you that existed before the world told you to be more palatable.

I'm making a conscious effort to bring more whimsy and genuine connection into my own life. Less overthinking, more experiencing. And I think there's something quietly radical about that — especially for those of us who've spent years shrinking, curating, and editing out the good weird stuff.

Stop shrinking. Stop curating. Stop editing out the good weird stuff.

The right people — and the right therapist 😉 — will love you more for it. 🌿

barecounseling.org

09/08/2026

People-pleasing isn't a personality trait. It's a survival adaptation.

For many people, it was born in environments where managing a caregiver's emotions — their moods, their needs, their reactions — was how you stayed safe. How you stayed connected. You learned to read the room before you ever learned to read yourself.

And that skill saved you, helped you, served you. Until it didn't.

Because here's what happens when that pattern outlives the environment it was built for:

You scan every room you walk into. You over-apologize for things that aren't your fault. You say yes before you've even checked in with yourself — and sometimes you don't realize you didn't want to say it. You rush to fix, comfort, and anticipate... as a parent, a partner, a friend... and call it love.

Some people feel a low hum of panic when someone around them is upset. Others feel nothing at all. The pattern runs so automatically there's no signal, no warning, just the behavior.

And underneath all of it, slowly, quietly, you lose yourself. Your voice. Your needs. Your sense of what you actually want. Your emotional stability becomes contingent on everyone else's — which means you're never really okay unless they are.

That is self-abandonment. Even when it looks like love. Feels like generosity. Seems nurturing.

Having needs isn't selfish. Voicing them isn't an attack. And just because someone reacts poorly to your needs doesn't mean your needs were wrong.

Want to learn more about how this might show up for you specifically? 🌿

Free consultations available → barecounseling.org

08/09/2026

Perfect distinctions here ⬇️. Healing isn’t about have LESS emotions, it’s about not giving them the power to choose your response.

Emotional regulation isn't about staying calm all the time. It's about coming back to calm.

Regulated people still get angry, hurt, and overwhelmed. The difference is they don't get permanently hijacked by it. They can feel the storm, take a beat, and choose how to respond instead of spilling it on everyone. It's a skill, not a personality.

Maturity isn't feeling less. It's handling what you feel.

Save this if you're learning this, and follow for more.

08/06/2026

Did you talk yourself out of it again? Did you ignore the same thought for the millionth time? Did you have that annoying, repeated idea that won't seem to leave and you can't figure out why?

These are just a few ways we confuse anxiety and intuition. Because from the inside? They can feel exactly the same.
Same chest tightness. Same circling thoughts. Same question you've talked yourself out of, and back into, and out of again. With no clean answer: is this real, or am I just spiraling?

Here's the kicker...at some point you stopped trusting yourself to know the difference. Between what's real and what's fear. Between your gut and anxiety.

Your body isn't technically lying to you—but sometimes it is working from old information.

So how do you start to tell the difference?

1. Notice the volume and tone of the thought.
Intuition tends to be quieter. More monotone. Sometimes repetitive—like a steady signal that just keeps showing up. Anxiety is louder, more urgent, more insistent. It has an edge to it. Think of tuning a radio—one is a clear, steady frequency. The other is static and noise. Even though they might be playing the same song.

2. Trail the thought back to your body.
Ask yourself: what feeling is behind this thought? Is it fear? Guilt? Excitement? Nervousness? Then follow it—what does your body actually do when you sit with that thought? Where do you feel it? What happens physically?
Your body holds the answer. It just needs to be asked the right questions to give it to you.

Your body has always been trying to tell you something. Therapy helps you learn how to listen. 🌿

Free consultations available → barecounseling.org

07/29/2026

🍀 This is for the person who already knows something needs to change.
Not the person in crisis — the one who's been quietly asking harder questions. The one who circles thoughts like "why do I keep doing this?" or "something has to be different." The one who's willing to look honestly at where they might be contributing to their own patterns — even when that's uncomfortable.
That person? They're exactly who I work best with.
At BARE Counseling, the work moves through three things:
Build Awareness — We identify what's getting in the way. The stuff you came in already knowing, and sometimes finding more things you didn't realize were running the show. We look at all sides of it, including your own role in it. Not to assign blame, but to give you back your power. It was always yours.
Recalibrate — This is where the real work lives. Integrating new ways of reflecting, taking action, and responding. For example, communicating, setting boundaries that actually hold, releasing beliefs that were never yours to carry, and choosing differently — even when the old patterns are loud.
Evolve — This is where you start to see it. New responses where old reactions used to be. Relationships that feel different because you feel different. And the ability to notice when an old belief like "I'm not good enough" shows up — and take a new action anyway.
If you come to session having thought about what we talked about, or tried something new and want to discuss it, or are ready to dig into the deeper side of healing — you're my kind of person.
I'm currently accepting new clients. If you're ready to do the work, I'd love to be part of it.
Free consultations available → barecounseling.org 🌿

07/27/2026

One subtle, but dramatically powerful shift in perspective comes when we stop meeting ourselves with judgement or resignation and start asking ourselves why...

When we experience stress or anxiety (which, if we are being honest, is almost constant at this point), our brains automatically look for ways to adapt. For some of us, this looks like harsh self-judgment. For others, a racing heart, constant overthinking, or a short temper just feels like "normal"—it's simply how we operate, and we don't think twice about it. But here is the catch: whether you are fighting your reactions, judging them, or completely used to them, your system is often reacting to a subconscious feeling of being unsafe. It is running a protective script below your conscious awareness.

Staying on autopilot or judging the reaction keeps you stuck in the cycle. Dr. Dan Siegel notes, "Awareness requires a shift from judgment to curiosity." When you stop asking "Why am I like this?" (or assuming "This is just who I am") and instead ask, "What is my system trying to protect me from right now?", the shift begins.