Amy Kersten, LCSW

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Waynesville, MO
Amy Kersten, LCSW

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Welcome to New Horizons Therapy — a space for healing, growth, and connection. I’m Amy, a licensed clinical social worker.

Whether you're navigating trauma, anxiety, perinatal experiences, or life transitions, you don’t have to go through it alone.

10/19/2026

When you notice yourself struggling, try these four steps:

🌿 1. Pause. Take a breath and notice what’s happening inside you. What thoughts, feelings, or urges are showing up?

🌿 2. Name it. Notice what’s pulling you away from the life you want to live. Is it fear, perfectionism, self-doubt, or the urge to keep everyone happy?

🌿 3. Check your direction. Ask yourself, “If I follow this urge, will it move me toward or away from the person I want to be?”

🌿 4. Take one small step. Choose an action that reflects your values, even if the uncomfortable feelings are still there.

Maybe that means setting a boundary, asking for help, speaking up, or doing something imperfectly instead of avoiding it altogether.

You don't have to wait until you feel less anxious or more confident to make a different choice.

The goal isn't to get rid of uncomfortable thoughts and feelings. It's to make room for them while choosing actions that move you toward the life you want to live.

💭 What's one small choice you can make today that moves you toward what matters to you?

10/13/2026

Sometimes, making decisions that are good for you means making choices that others may not understand or agree with.

You are allowed to prioritize your needs, your well-being, and what feels right for you. You can care about others and still make decisions that honor yourself.

Not everyone will understand your boundaries, your choices, or the changes you need to make. And that's okay.

You don't have to convince everyone that your decisions are right for you. You don't have to explain yourself until others agree.

Sometimes, choosing yourself comes with guilt, sadness, or uncertainty. That doesn't necessarily mean you're making the wrong decision. It may simply mean you're navigating change, letting go of expectations, or learning to do things differently.

You can make room for the discomfort while still moving toward what matters to you.

You are allowed to make choices that support your well-being, even when others don't understand. 💛

10/07/2026

When your mind won’t stop…

Rumination and anxious thoughts can make it feel like you need to figure everything out before you can move forward.

But what if the goal isn’t to stop the thoughts?

In ACT, we practice changing our relationship with our thoughts rather than trying to control them.

A few things you can try:

🌿 Notice the thought.
Instead of getting pulled into “What if something goes wrong?”, try:
“I’m noticing my mind is telling me something might go wrong.”

🌿 Make space for uncertainty.
You don’t have to have every answer before taking the next step.

🌿 Come back to the present.
Ask yourself: “What is happening right now?” rather than getting lost in what might happen later.

🌿 Choose your next step.
Instead of asking, “How do I get rid of this anxiety?” ask, “What matters to me right now, and what small action can I take?”

🌿 Let thoughts be thoughts.
A thought can feel incredibly real without being a fact or a prediction of what will happen.

You don’t have to win the argument with your mind.

Sometimes, healing looks like noticing the thought, making room for the discomfort, and choosing to move toward the life you want anyway. 🤍

09/28/2026

Pregnancy, postpartum, and early parenthood can be a beautiful time—but they can also be really difficult.

There can be so much pressure to feel happy, grateful, and excited while you’re also experiencing exhaustion, anxiety, overwhelm, grief, or uncertainty.

You may be adjusting to changes in your body, your identity, your relationships, your expectations, and your sense of who you are.

And sometimes, the experience doesn’t look anything like you imagined it would.

If you’re struggling, it doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. You don’t have to pretend everything is okay just because this is supposed to be a happy time.

You deserve support, compassion, and a space where you can be honest about how you’re really feeling. 🤍

You don’t have to navigate this season alone.

09/15/2026

Acceptance doesn’t mean you have to like what’s happening.
It doesn’t mean pretending things aren’t hard or pushing away the sadness, grief, or uncertainty.

Acceptance can mean making room for what is here—even when it’s uncomfortable—while still noticing the moments that bring you joy.

You can be struggling and still laugh.
You can feel grief and still enjoy your morning coffee.
You can be overwhelmed and still have moments of connection.
You can be hurting and still experience something beautiful.

Life doesn’t have to feel completely okay for you to experience something good.

Sometimes healing is learning that difficult feelings and joyful moments can exist side by side.

You don’t have to wait until everything is better to let yourself experience the moments that matter. 🤍

09/10/2026

PTSD symptoms can impact so many areas of your life.

They can affect your relationships, your sleep, your ability to concentrate, your emotions, your sense of safety, and how you see yourself and the world around you.

You may find yourself avoiding things, feeling constantly on edge, struggling with memories of what happened, or reacting in ways you don’t always understand.

But here’s something important to remember:

PTSD is not who you are.

It is a response to what you have experienced. These symptoms may have helped you survive or cope with something overwhelming, but they do not define your identity.

And PTSD is treatable.

Healing doesn’t mean forgetting what happened or pretending it didn’t affect you. It can mean learning to feel safer in your body, making sense of what happened, changing the beliefs that keep you stuck, and reconnecting with the life you want to live.

You are more than what happened to you.
You are more than your symptoms.
There is a path toward healing.

09/09/2026

Good enough.

For someone who struggles with perfectionism, those words can feel really uncomfortable.

What if I could have done more?
What if I made a mistake?
What if someone is disappointed in me?
What if it isn’t good enough?

Perfectionism can keep us focused on getting everything just right instead of being present for the life we’re actually living.

Sometimes the question isn’t, “Did I do this perfectly?”

Maybe it’s, “Is this enough for today?”
“Does this move me toward what matters to me?”
“Can I let this be good enough and move on?”

You don’t have to wait until the doubt goes away. You don’t have to feel completely confident before taking the next step.

You can notice the “not good enough” thoughts, make room for the discomfort, and still choose what matters to you.

Because life doesn’t have to be perfect to be meaningful.

Sometimes, good enough is exactly where we need to be.

09/04/2026

You never really know what someone is carrying.

Someone can smile, go to work, take care of their family, answer texts, and show up for everyone else—while quietly struggling inside.

Mental health struggles aren't always visible.

Sometimes they look like:
• Overthinking everything you said
• Feeling exhausted even after resting
• Smiling when you want to cry
• Constantly worrying about letting people down
• Going through the motions while feeling disconnected
• Being there for everyone else while having nothing left for yourself

Just because someone looks like they’re doing okay doesn’t mean they feel okay.

And if this is you, you don't have to keep carrying it alone.

Your struggle is real, even when no one else can see it. Asking for support isn't a sign of weakness. It’s a way of taking care of yourself.

You deserve support, space, and a place where you don't have to pretend you're okay.

08/27/2026

When Anger Shows Up in Trauma Healing

Sometimes anger shows up when we begin doing trauma work.

You may feel angry about what happened.
Angry that no one protected you.
Angry at yourself for staying, freezing, or not knowing what to do.
Angry about the ways trauma changed you.

And that anger can feel uncomfortable—especially if you learned that anger was something to suppress, hide, or avoid.

But anger is not necessarily a sign that you are doing therapy “wrong.”

Sometimes anger is a part of healing. It can be your nervous system recognizing that something happened that was not okay. It can help you identify boundaries, unmet needs, injustice, and the places where you deserved better.

You don't have to judge your anger or act on every feeling it brings.

In trauma work, we can learn to make space for anger, understand what it is communicating, and choose how we want to respond.

Healing doesn't always feel peaceful.

Sometimes healing means finally allowing yourself to feel the things you weren't safe enough to feel before.

08/25/2026

Keeping the Peace at the Expense of Yourself

Sometimes keeping the peace means putting everyone else’s comfort ahead of your own.

You might:
• Say yes when you really want to say no
• Avoid difficult conversations
• Apologize for having needs
• Take responsibility for other people’s emotions
• Stay quiet when something hurts
• Go along with things to avoid conflict
• Constantly ask yourself, “How can I keep everyone happy?”

This can be part of the fawn response—a trauma response where we try to create safety by pleasing, appeasing, or accommodating others.

Maybe you learned that being agreeable kept you safe.
Maybe conflict felt overwhelming or unpredictable.
Maybe you became really good at noticing what everyone else needed while losing touch with what you needed.

But keeping the peace at the expense of yourself can leave you feeling exhausted, resentful, disconnected, or invisible.

Healing isn’t about becoming uncaring or selfish. It’s about learning that you don’t have to abandon yourself to maintain connection with someone else.

You can care about someone and still have boundaries.
You can disappoint someone and still be a good person.
You can say no without explaining yourself over and over.

You deserve relationships where there is room for your needs, feelings, and voice, too. 🤍

Address

Waynesville, MO
65583

Telephone

(573)5287421

Website

http://kerstenlcsw.com/

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