Broken Wings - Therapy & Counseling

Broken Wings - Therapy & Counseling In-person and online therapy and counseling throughout Florida.
-Outpatient programs
-EMDR
- Kids and adults
brokenwings.org

Adolescents are increasingly using AI for emotional conversations, not only homework. Yesterday’s back-to-school coverag...
08/19/2026

Adolescents are increasingly using AI for emotional conversations, not only homework. Yesterday’s back-to-school coverage specifically highlighted teens asking AI about school anxiety, friendships and family conflict; today’s teen-focused ChatGPT experience has pushed the issue further into the news cycle for a reason. It's pushing kids the wrong way.

“Don't start with: ‘Why are you talking to AI?’”

Switch:

“Try: ‘What kinds of things do you ask it?’”

The point shouldn't be “AI is evil.” The stronger clinical message is that AI can provide information or a place to begin expressing something, but it does not know the child, observe behavioral changes, assess them like a clinician, or replace trusted human relationships. Current research and reporting are raising particular concerns about emotional overreliance among vulnerable adolescents.

If your teen is talking to a chatbot because talking to a person feels too hard, that may be the conversation worth having.

We can help!

Let us help you with in-person and online therapy throughout Florida.

📞 (321) 701-3064
🌐 www.brokenwings.org

08/18/2026

🧠✨ “More, more, more!” Ever notice your child’s brain seems to get stuck there?

Games. Videos. Snacks. New toys. Winning. Notifications.

Dopamine is one of the brain’s chemical messengers involved in motivation, learning, reward, attention, and helping us decide what is worth doing again.

For kids, we can explain it simply:

💙 “Dopamine helps your brain feel motivated and excited about things you want to do.”

But when a child keeps chasing the next exciting thing and has trouble stopping, switching activities, or tolerating boredom, that can be a good moment to practice a reset.

Kintsugi’s reminder:

PAUSE. BREATHE. RESET. 🦋

Try stepping away from the screen or activity, taking a few slow breaths, moving the body, getting outside, drawing, building something, or simply allowing a little quiet time.

The goal isn’t to eliminate dopamine—we need dopamine. The goal is helping kids learn that their brains don’t need constant stimulation every second of the day.

And if transitions, impulsivity, emotional regulation, screen battles, or attention are becoming a daily struggle, therapy can help children and parents build tools that work for their family. 💜

📞 (321) 701-3064
🌐 www.brokenwings.org

📍 Lake Nona | Orlando | Lakeland | Melbourne & More with online therapy throughout Florida

💙 Bradenton: finding the right therapist shouldn’t mean choosing between quality care and using your insurance.At Broken...
08/18/2026

💙 Bradenton: finding the right therapist shouldn’t mean choosing between quality care and using your insurance.

At Broken Wings Counseling and Therapy Center, we provide therapy for children, teens, adults, couples, and families—and we accept most major insurance plans.

Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, PTSD, relationship stress, parenting challenges, ADHD, or simply feeling overwhelmed, you don’t have to keep carrying it alone.

We also offer trauma-focused approaches, including EMDR when clinically appropriate, and counseling that can respect and incorporate your faith if that is important to you.

The hardest part is often making the first call.

Let us help you take the next step.

📞 (321) 701-3064
🌐 www.brokenwings.org

📍 Bradenton, Florida

Attention Lakeland Parents: Therapy for Kids Is Here! 💙Back-to-school season can bring big emotions—anxiety, meltdowns, ...
08/17/2026

Attention Lakeland Parents: Therapy for Kids Is Here! 💙

Back-to-school season can bring big emotions—anxiety, meltdowns, trouble sleeping, school refusal, friendship struggles, ADHD challenges, or simply feeling overwhelmed by new routines.

Sometimes kids don’t have the words to say, “I’m struggling.” Their behavior says it for them.

At Broken Wings, we help children and families work through emotional, behavioral, social, and school-related challenges in a safe and supportive environment.

If your child seems more anxious, irritable, withdrawn, overwhelmed, or just not like themselves lately, you don’t have to wait for things to get worse.

Support. Grow. Thrive. 🦋

📞 (321) 701-3064
🌐 www.brokenwings.org

📍 Lakeland, Florida

Maybe you weren't “fine.”Maybe you just became very good at looking fine and like the rest.And if you're finally questio...
08/14/2026

Maybe you weren't “fine.”Maybe you just became very good at looking fine and like the rest.

And if you're finally questioning ADHD, autism, or another neurodevelopmental difference as an adult, we can help you begin making sense of the patterns you've carried for years.

Masking (or camouflaging) is when someone hides, suppresses, compensates for, or consciously manages traits in order to meet social expectations.

It can look like:

• Rehearsing conversations before you have them
• Copying other people's expressions or behavior
• Forcing eye contact because you learned you “should”
• Suppressing repetitive movements or self-soothing behaviors
• Pretending sensory environments don't bother you
• Overpreparing so nobody notices executive-function struggles
• Studying social rules instead of intuitively understanding them
• Holding everything together in public and collapsing afterward

Research on masking is strongest in autism, although camouflaging behaviors have also been observed among adults with ADHD.

Research also suggests neurodivergent girls may camouflage more than neurotypical peers, and camouflaging can make autistic traits less visible. However, masking isn't the only reason people, particularly women, receive diagnoses later; gender stereotypes and limitations in traditional assessment approaches can also contribute.

For some adults, late recognition brings a completely different interpretation of their past:

“Maybe I wasn't lazy.”
“Maybe I wasn't too sensitive.”
“Maybe there was a reason socializing exhausted me.”
“Maybe I spent years trying to function in ways that didn't fit my brain.”

Recognizing neurodivergence isn't about putting yourself into a box.

Sometimes it is about finally having the right language to understand what has been difficult, what you need, and what helps you function well.

You deserve support that understands the person underneath the mask.

📞 (321) 701-3064
🌐 www.brokenwings.org

📍 Lake Nona | Orlando | Lakeland | Melbourne & More with online therapy throughout Florida

If you're constantly fighting over the tablet, gaming, YouTube, or the phone, you are right, not alone, and we've got yo...
08/13/2026

If you're constantly fighting over the tablet, gaming, YouTube, or the phone, you are right, not alone, and we've got you.

First, an important correction:

Screens aren't simply “damaging your child's brain.”

Digital media is more complicated than that.

In its updated 2026 guidance, the American Academy of Pediatrics emphasizes looking beyond one universal number of screen-time hours. Parents should consider the individual child, the content they're consuming, why they're using it, what screen use is crowding out, and family communication around media.

The question becomes:

What is the screen replacing?

😴 Sleep?
🏃 Movement?
📚 Homework?
🗣️ Family conversation?
🧩 Creative play?
👫 In-person connection?

Certain digital features—especially designs encouraging endless engagement—can interfere with sleep, and inadequate sleep can affect mood, attention, learning and school performance.

AAP's current recommendations include protecting sleep by avoiding screens during the hour before bedtime and keeping devices out of bedrooms when possible.

Instead of only saying:

“Put the phone down!”

Try asking:

“What are you getting from being online right now?”

Connection? Escape? Entertainment? Comfort? Avoidance? Belonging?

Sometimes the screen is the problem.

Sometimes the screen is where another problem is showing up.

Therapy can help children, teens, and parents address anxiety, emotional regulation, family conflict, ADHD-related challenges, social difficulties, and unhealthy coping patterns.

📞 (321) 701-3064
🌐 www.brokenwings.org

📍 Lake Nona | Orlando | Lakeland | Melbourne & More with online therapy throughout Florida

08/12/2026

Your brain knows the trauma is over.
So why does your body still react like it’s happening?
A sound. A smell. A place. A facial expression...

And suddenly your heart is racing, your body tenses, or you feel like you are right back there.

We can help. EMDR is an evidence-based trauma therapy designed to reduce the distress connected to traumatic memories. It is recommended as a trauma-focused treatment for PTSD.

🧠 So what is happening neurologically?

During EMDR, you briefly bring a distressing memory to mind while also engaging in a back-and-forth stimulus—often guided eye movements, alternating taps, or sounds.

One leading explanation involves working memory.

Your brain has limited working-memory capacity. Holding a vivid traumatic memory in mind while simultaneously performing another attention-demanding task may make that memory less vivid and emotionally intense when it is recalled again. Research supports this working-memory explanation, although scientists are still studying exactly why EMDR works.

That means EMDR does not erase the memory.

The goal is for you to remember what happened without your nervous system responding with the same level of distress.

You may remember:

“It happened.”

without your entire body screaming:

“It’s happening again.”

At Broken Wings, our therapists can help you determine whether trauma-focused therapy such as EMDR may be appropriate for you.

📞 (321) 701-3064
🌐 www.brokenwings.org

📍 Lake Nona | Orlando | Lakeland | Melbourne & More with online therapy throughout Florida

Irritable over little things?Always on edge.Exhausted but unable to relax.Startled easily.Shutting down during conflict....
08/11/2026

Irritable over little things?
Always on edge.
Exhausted but unable to relax.
Startled easily.
Shutting down during conflict.

When your brain perceives threat or intense stress, the body can activate physiological defense responses designed to protect you. The sympathetic nervous system plays a major role in the familiar fight-or-flight response, while freezing can also occur as part of defensive responding.

We can help you understand what your body may be trying to communicate.

Sometimes people describe being chronically stuck in these patterns as living in “survival mode.” That phrase is useful everyday language, but it is not itself a mental-health diagnosis.

Survival mode can feel like:

FIGHT: irritability, anger, defensiveness
FLIGHT: staying busy, avoiding, constantly worrying
FREEZE: shutting down, feeling stuck, difficulty thinking
HIGH ALERT: scanning for problems even when you want to relax

The goal of nervous-system regulation isn't to be calm all the time.

It is developing the ability to notice activation, respond to it, and return toward a manageable state instead of remaining overwhelmed.

Slower breathing and other relaxation practices can help activate the body's relaxation response and may reduce stress for some people.

Therapy can also help you understand what triggers your responses, what your body has learned to protect you from, and which coping skills actually work for you.

You don't have to spend every day bracing for the next thing.

📞 (321) 701-3064
🌐 www.brokenwings.org

📍 Lake Nona | Orlando | Lakeland | Melbourne & More with online therapy throughout Florida

08/10/2026

You don't want another meeting.
Another email.
Another responsibility.
Another person needing something from you.

Burnout and depression can look similar, but they are not the same thing, and they can also happen together.We can help you figure out what is underneath the exhaustion.

The World Health Organization defines BURNOUT specifically as an occupational phenomenon caused by chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. Its key features include exhaustion, increased distance or cynicism toward work, and reduced professional effectiveness.

Burnout may sound like:
“I can't keep doing this job.”
“I dread Monday.”
“I have nothing left for work.”

Depression may sound more like:
“I don't enjoy anything anymore.”
“Everything feels heavy.”
“I feel hopeless.”
“I don't feel like myself anywhere.”

DEPRESSION can affect work, relationships, sleep, appetite, energy, concentration, motivation, and the ability to experience pleasure. Persistent depressed mood or loss of interest is central to major depression, along with other symptoms lasting at least two weeks.

And here's the important part:

You don't have to diagnose yourself before asking for help.

If rest, a vacation, or changing your workload isn't making you feel like yourself again,or the sadness, emptiness, hopelessness or loss of interest is spreading into the rest of your life, talk with a mental-health professional.

CALL US!
📞 (321) 701-3064
🌐 www.brokenwings.org

📍 Lake Nona | Orlando | Lakeland | Melbourne & More with online therapy throughout Florida

💙 Summer Is Over… How Is Your Relationship Doing?You survived the vacations, family visits, kids being home, disrupted r...
08/07/2026

💙 Summer Is Over… How Is Your Relationship Doing?

You survived the vacations, family visits, kids being home, disrupted routines, extra expenses, and trying to make summer “fun.”

Now school is starting again, and suddenly you and your partner may realize:

We haven’t really connected in months.

Summer can put couples under unusual pressure. More time together doesn’t automatically mean more quality time. Add parenting demands, travel, finances, different expectations, and very little private time, and small frustrations can become recurring arguments.

Then back-to-school brings another adjustment:

• Morning chaos
• Homework and activities
• Who handles pickups and appointments?
• Different parenting styles
• Work schedules
• Financial pressure
• Less couple time
• Exhaustion by the end of the day

Sometimes the argument isn’t really about who forgot the school form.

It’s about feeling unheard, unsupported, overwhelmed, or disconnected.

That’s where couples therapy can help.

You do not have to wait until your marriage is falling apart.

Therapy can help you:

💙 Communicate before frustration becomes resentment
💙 Divide responsibilities more fairly
💙 Navigate parenting differences
💙 Reconnect emotionally and physically
💙 Learn how to disagree without hurting each other
💙 Make your relationship a priority again

Think of back-to-school as a reset for your relationship too.

The kids are returning to their routines.
Maybe it’s time for the two of you to return to each other.

📞 (321) 701-3064
🌐 www.brokenwings.org

📍 Lake Nona | Orlando | Lakeland | Melbourne | Bradenton & More with online therapy throughout Florida

Address

Orlando, FL
32822

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 8pm
Tuesday 9am - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 8pm
Thursday 9am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 3pm

Telephone

+13217013064

Website

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