Puglisi Counseling, LLC

Puglisi Counseling, LLC In-person and Telehealth Mental Health Counseling in Scranton, PA. Offering services including DBT, EMDR, CBT, Anger Management, and more.
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Check out Puglisicounseling.com or give us a call at 570-766-0772 for more information.

Have you ever convinced yourself that a symptom meant something terrible was happening, only to feel relieved for a litt...
06/10/2026

Have you ever convinced yourself that a symptom meant something terrible was happening, only to feel relieved for a little while and then find yourself worrying all over again? 😔

For people living with health anxiety, the fear is very real. It is not attention-seeking, overreacting, or being dramatic. It is an anxiety cycle that can become exhausting and overwhelming.

The cycle often starts with a physical sensation. A quick search online leads to alarming possibilities. Anxiety spikes, reassurance is sought, and relief comes for a short time. Unfortunately, that relief rarely lasts. Before long, the worry returns and the cycle begins again.

What makes health anxiety so difficult is that reassurance feels helpful in the moment. The problem is that it often feeds the anxiety long-term by teaching the nervous system that certainty is required before it can feel safe. Over time, the need for more checking, more searching, and more reassurance grows stronger. 🌱

The good news is that health anxiety is highly treatable. Therapy can help people understand what is driving the fear, reduce reassurance-seeking behaviors, and learn how to tolerate uncertainty without being consumed by it.

You are not dramatic. You are not weak. You are not alone. Most importantly, you do not have to stay stuck in the cycle. 💙

📞 570-766-0772
📧 [email protected]
🌐 PuglisiCounseling.com

06/10/2026

⚠️ The self-care advice people need most is usually the advice they want to hear least.

Most people picture self-care as bubble baths, vacation days, or taking a break. While those things can absolutely be helpful, real self-care is often much less comfortable than people expect. 💙

Sometimes self-care means having the conversation you have been avoiding. Sometimes it means setting a boundary that makes someone unhappy. Sometimes it means asking for help when every part of you wants to handle it alone. It might mean going to bed earlier, putting down your phone, attending therapy, or finally being honest about how overwhelmed you really are.

Many of the things people do to cope with stress provide temporary relief but create bigger problems over time. Avoiding conflict, pretending everything is fine, staying busy to avoid emotions, saying yes when they want to say no, or constantly distracting themselves can feel easier in the moment. Unfortunately, those habits often keep the stress going rather than helping it heal.

Real self-care is not about escaping life. It is about taking care of yourself in ways that help you show up for life more fully. 🌱

If self-care feels difficult sometimes, that does not mean you are failing. It may actually mean you are finally addressing what needs attention. ✨

The healthiest choices are not always the easiest ones, but they are often the ones that create the most lasting change. ❤️

🏳️‍🌈 Few conversations require more courage than telling the people you love who you truly are. The response that follow...
06/09/2026

🏳️‍🌈 Few conversations require more courage than telling the people you love who you truly are. The response that follows often becomes a memory that stays with someone for the rest of their life.

For many people, the hardest part is not understanding who they are. The hardest part is wondering how the people they love will respond when they finally share that part of themselves. Long before the conversation ever happens, there are often months or years spent asking the same question: “Will they still love me when they know?”

The truth is that most parents do not have a perfect script ready for a moment like that. Many are surprised, emotional, confused, relieved, grateful, or some combination of all four. What matters most is not finding the perfect words. What matters is making sure your child leaves that conversation knowing they are still loved.

Years from now, your child probably will not remember every sentence that was said. They will remember whether they felt safe. They will remember whether they felt accepted. They will remember whether home still felt like home. ❤️

As an affirming, LGBTQ+-owned practice, this is something we care deeply about. Over the years, we have worked with individuals who were terrified of losing important relationships, parents who genuinely wanted to do the right thing but were afraid of getting it wrong, and families who discovered that some of their strongest connections were built through honest conversations that initially felt uncomfortable.

One of the things we often remind parents is that they do not need to have everything figured out today. They do not need a perfect understanding of every term, identity, or experience. Their child is not asking them to be an expert. More often than not, they are simply hoping the people they love will stay connected while everyone learns and grows together. 🌱

We are proud to provide a safe, affirming space for individuals, parents, and families throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania. If your family is navigating questions, emotions, uncertainty, or simply looking for support, we would be honored to walk alongside you through that journey.

📞 570-766-0772
📧 [email protected]
🌐 PuglisiCounseling.com

Have you ever walked away from a conversation feeling lonely even though the other person was sitting right in front of ...
06/09/2026

Have you ever walked away from a conversation feeling lonely even though the other person was sitting right in front of you? Sometimes emotional unavailability is not obvious. It is not always someone being cruel, distant, or intentionally hurtful. Often, it shows up as a lack of emotional connection, a reluctance to go deeper, or an inability to be present when vulnerability is needed most. 💭

In relationships, it can feel like every conversation stays on the surface. In families, it may look like physical needs being met while emotional needs go unseen. In friendships, everything feels great until life gets difficult and support is needed. Even in the workplace, emotional unavailability can create environments where feedback, empathy, and meaningful connection are missing. 🌿

One of the hardest parts about emotional unavailability is that it can leave people questioning themselves. They wonder if they are asking for too much, being too sensitive, or expecting something unreasonable. The reality is that wanting emotional connection, understanding, and support is a normal human need. ❤️

Recognizing these patterns is not about blaming others. It is about understanding relationship dynamics, identifying what is healthy, and learning how to build stronger connections moving forward. Awareness is often the first step toward change and healing. ✨

If these patterns feel familiar, therapy can help you understand where they come from, how they impact your relationships, and what healthier connection can look like.

📞 570-766-0772
📧 [email protected]
🌐 PuglisiCounseling.com

06/07/2026

You got out of bed. You went to work. You answered the texts, paid the bills, took care of everyone else, and did everything you were supposed to do.

Yet somewhere along the way, life stopped feeling like life.

Depression is not always obvious. Sometimes it hides behind productivity, responsibility, and a smile that convinces everyone you’re okay. While others see someone holding it all together, you feel exhausted, disconnected, and emotionally numb.

If you’ve been wondering why nothing feels meaningful anymore, why you’re constantly drained, or why you’re surviving instead of living, it may be more than stress.

At Puglisi Counseling, we help people throughout Scranton and the surrounding communities who look fine on the outside but are struggling on the inside. You do not have to keep carrying that weight alone.

📍 Scranton, PA
📞 Call or Text: 570-766-0772

The hardest part is pretending you’re okay. The bravest part is deciding you don’t have to anymore. 💙

Most parents do not wake up one day and decide they want conflict with their co-parent. Most of the time, the conflict b...
06/05/2026

Most parents do not wake up one day and decide they want conflict with their co-parent. Most of the time, the conflict builds slowly through dozens of conversations that start with a simple issue and somehow end with both people feeling frustrated, misunderstood, and exhausted.

A pickup time changes. A school issue comes up. A question gets asked. Before long, the conversation is no longer about the child. It becomes about old arguments, hurt feelings, and unresolved history.

That is exactly why the BIFF Method is so effective. It gives parents a simple framework for communicating in a way that reduces conflict and keeps the focus where it belongs.

🔹 B – Brief: Keep your message short and focused. Long explanations often create more opportunities for disagreement and misunderstanding.

🔹 I – Informative: Stick to facts, logistics, and information that needs to be communicated. Leave out accusations, assumptions, and emotional reactions.

🔹 F – Friendly: A neutral and respectful tone can go a long way toward preventing unnecessary escalation, even when the relationship itself is difficult.

🔹 F – Firm: Say what needs to be said clearly and confidently without overexplaining, defending yourself, or getting pulled into an argument.

Many parents find that once they stop responding to the emotion in a message and start responding only to the information that matters, communication becomes far more productive. The goal is not to win. The goal is not to prove who is right. The goal is to create a healthier environment for the child.

Healthy co-parenting does not require friendship. It does not require agreement on everything. What it does require is communication that protects children from adult conflict and allows both parents to focus on what matters most: raising healthy, secure kids. 🌱💙

📞 570-766-0772
📧 [email protected]
🌐 PuglisiCounseling.com

Most people think anger is the problem. In reality, anger is often the last thing that happens before the damage is done...
06/04/2026

Most people think anger is the problem. In reality, anger is often the last thing that happens before the damage is done.

By the time someone is yelling, slamming a door, sending the text they regret, or saying something they cannot take back, the cycle has usually been building for a while. The anger did not come out of nowhere. It moved through a predictable pattern that often started with a trigger most people barely noticed.

What makes anger so difficult is that it can feel sudden when it is actually building beneath the surface. A stressful interaction, feeling disrespected, a criticism, or an old wound getting touched can quickly activate the nervous system. As emotions intensify, thinking narrows, reactions become stronger, and eventually rational decision making starts taking a back seat.

The good news is that anger management is not about learning how to suppress anger. It is about learning how to recognize the cycle earlier. The sooner someone can identify the trigger and escalation stages, the more choices they have about how they respond.

Many people spend years trying to control anger at the crisis stage when the real work happens much earlier. That is where therapy can make a significant difference. Instead of focusing only on what happened after the explosion, therapy helps people understand what happened before it. 🌱

Anger does not have to control your relationships, your career, or the way you feel about yourself. The first step toward changing the cycle is understanding it. 💡

📞 570-766-0772
📧 [email protected]
🌐 PuglisiCounseling.com

One of the biggest misconceptions about art therapy is that it is only for people who are artistic.The truth is that som...
06/03/2026

One of the biggest misconceptions about art therapy is that it is only for people who are artistic.

The truth is that some of the people who benefit most from art therapy are the ones who insist they cannot draw, paint, or create anything worth hanging on a wall. That is because art therapy is not about making something beautiful. It is about expressing something that can be difficult to put into words.

Sometimes emotions, experiences, and memories do not come out through conversation alone. Art provides another way to explore what is happening internally and can often reveal things that someone may not even realize they are carrying.

The goal is not to create great art. The goal is to create understanding, insight, healing, and growth. 🎨

You do not need talent. You do not need experience. You just need a willingness to explore the process. ✨

📞 570-766-0772
📧 [email protected]
🌐 PuglisiCounseling.com

One of the biggest misconceptions about family reunification is that it happens the moment a parent and child are back i...
06/02/2026

One of the biggest misconceptions about family reunification is that it happens the moment a parent and child are back in the same room. In reality, reunification is not a single event. It is a process that unfolds over time, often requiring patience, consistency, and a willingness to move at the child’s pace. 🩵

When a child has experienced separation, their primary concern is rarely whether someone says they love them. The deeper question is whether they feel safe. Safety is the foundation that allows trust to grow, and trust is rebuilt through repeated experiences, not through one conversation, one apology, or one emotional moment.

Many parents enter reunification hoping to get back to where things were before. While that desire is understandable, the goal is often not to recreate the past. The goal is to build a healthier relationship moving forward. That requires accountability without pressure, consistency over time, and an understanding that children may need space to process complicated feelings about what they have experienced.

One of the most difficult parts of reunification is accepting that repair cannot be rushed. Children need the freedom to respond in their own way and at their own pace. Attempts to force closeness too quickly can unintentionally damage the very trust that everyone is working so hard to rebuild.

The encouraging reality is that repair is possible. Families heal every day. The strongest reunifications are built on safety, reliability, patience, and support, creating a foundation that allows trust and connection to grow naturally over time. 🌱💛

📞 570-766-0772
📧 [email protected]
🌐 PuglisiCounseling.com

Address

201 Lackawanna Avenue
Scranton, PA
18503

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm

Telephone

+15707660772

Website

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