acceptance | Embody Therapy EMDR

Shadow Work: Learning to love and accept all of you

“How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also if I am to be whole.” Carl Jung SO, we often talk about using affirmations and cultivating positivity as a daily practice. However, for many of us, it continues to be a struggle to acknowledge our own faults. We all have not so awesome traits and tendencies, we all do because we are human beings. The struggle becomes incredibly difficult to manage when we choose to simply ignore these negative t

Courtney Faunce, LMHC, NCC

Jan 29, 20222 min read

That question — what’s coming up? — is one of the most powerful moments in EMDR.

Because something is coming up.

Old material. Stored memory. The nervous system starting to move what’s been frozen.

And as a neurodivergent-affirming EMDR therapist, watching that happen is — honestly — one of the most incredible things I get to witness. If you know you know.

EMDR works by engaging the brain’s natural processing system. Bilateral stimulation helps the nervous system do what it actually wants to do — integrate, make meaning, release.
For my neurodivergent clients especially, this approach honors how their brain already works — not against it.
Complex trauma. Chronic stress. Nervous system dysregulation. I also have a thing for customizing your BLS to be sensory friendly 🤓

So, your brain already knows how to heal.
It just sometimes needs the right conditions.
I’m so grateful I get to help create them with you.

💬 Have you ever experienced EMDR or been curious about it? Drop your questions below 👇

#EMDR #neurodivergentemdr #capecoralflorida #EMDRTherapist #complextrauma

“I don’t even know what I feel anymore — I just go numb.”

That’s not a personality trait.
That’s a nervous system that learned anger wasn’t safe. Many CPTSD survivors were taught — explicitly or implicitly — that anger would cost them love, safety, or belonging.

So the body learned to skip the fight response and go straight to freeze or fawn.

Now, we actually don’t want to get rid of the anger, we want it to be heard.

Self-defense, strength training, somatic shaking, creative expressions through art, validating your own experiences, telling your story— all valid tools to process anger.

Reclaiming anger as a felt sense — not just a thought — it is a vital part of how the nervous system updates the old wiring.

Follow for more thoughts from a therapist 🦋

Shout out to @healingloudlyco and the Reclaim Your Power self defense event. 🤍

#cptsd #emdr #swflmentalhealth #traumarecovery #reclaimyourpower

This one is for the dog people.

Co-regulation is the process where one nervous system borrows calm from another nervous system nearby. It’s how humans are wired to soothe — not alone, but in connection. Healing means getting that experience now — repeatedly — through safe relationships, including with pets.

Why dogs are powerful co-regulators

→ Just being near your dog improves your 24-hour heart rate variability — a direct marker of vagal tone (Gee et al., 2020)

→ Your dog’s nervous system and yours sync up — high HRV in one is linked to high HRV in the other (Lahtinen et al., 2024)

→ Petting a dog lowers cortisol and raises oxytocin in both human and dog (Beetz et al., 2012)

→ Service dogs significantly reduce PTSD symptoms in veterans (O’Haire & Rodriguez, 2018)

Dogs communicate primarily through ventral vagal cues — slow breath, cute-ness, attuned presence. They don’t ask you to perform or explain. They just are with you. For trauma survivors who learned that human closeness was unsafe, a dog’s nervous system can be a bridge back to feeling safe in connection.

#swflmentalhealth #cptsd #capecoralflorida #dogsofinstagram #emdr

Sure you can do it all, at what cost? Is it really sustainable? Is this 24/7 grind what you want?

We live in a culture that glorifies hustle — but your biology didn’t get the memo. Chronic sympathetic activation (aka constantly running on stress hormones) is linked to burnout, digestive issues, hormonal imbalances, sleep disruption, and a weakened immune system. Especially for those of us with chronic health issues, auto immune disease, ptsd, etc.

Here’s what the research tells us:
→ Your parasympathetic nervous system — the “rest and digest” branch — is where actual recovery happens. Tissue repair, memory consolidation, hormone regulation, immune function… all of it requires you to slow down.

→ Polyvagal theory (Dr. Stephen Porges) shows us that safety cues in the environment — soft sounds, gentle textures, natural light, slow movement — activate the ventral vagal pathway, which is your body’s most regulated, social, and calm state.

→ Even brief moments in nature lower cortisol and reduce activity in the amygdala (your brain’s threat center). Studies show as little as 20 minutes outside makes a measurable difference.
So no — slowing down isn’t lazy. It’s not indulgent.

It’s not “doing nothing.”
It’s how your body comes home to itself.

I’m reminding myself (and you 🦋) that rest is productive. Standing outside with my plants, feeling the sun, taking a slow exhale — this IS the work.
Your nervous system is always listening. What is it hearing from you today?

Follow for more thoughts from a therapist 🦋

#emdr #swflmentalhealth #traumarecovery #intuitiveeating #calmyourmind

Intuitive Eating Principle #2: Honor Your Hunger
Eating without distraction is a radical act — we are busy, stressed, trying to do the most for others, encouraged to hustle so much that lunch breaks are a luxury. Sometimes it’s deeper - being seen eating can feel like a vulnerability, like everyone’s watching and you’re being judged.

The problem is.

When you consistently ignore your hunger, your body doesn’t just push through. Over time, it downregulates hunger cues — meaning the signals get quieter, harder to detect, and easier to dismiss. That’s not discipline. That’s disconnection. ((People with neurodivergent brains or living with PTSD, overstimulated nervous systems can struggle with internal cues even more.))

Here’s what’s actually happening in your nervous system when you’re hungry:
🧠 Your hypothalamus detects low blood glucose and triggers hunger signaling
⬇️ Ghrelin (your “hunger hormone”) rises, sending alerts through the vagus nerve to your brain
😤 Your sympathetic nervous system begins to activate — hello irritability, restlessness, and difficulty focusing
🩸 Cortisol starts to rise to mobilize energy stores when fuel is low
🫁 Interoception — your body’s ability to sense internal states — is what allows you to feel that hunger at all

The more you honor those cues, the more attuned your interoceptive awareness becomes. The more you override them, the harder it gets to hear your body at all.
Feeding yourself isn’t weakness. It’s nervous system regulation. 🌿

The solution. Honor your hunger.

#emdr #swflmentalhealth #traumarecovery #eatingdisorderecovery

“I just want to throw something really heavy.” (Yes! Me too)

Principle 9 of Intuitive Eating: Joyful Movement 🫁🏃‍♀️

Diet culture turned exercise into punishment — and so many of us are still unlearning that.

But research backs this up: studies show that exercising for appearance or weight loss is linked to higher rates of burnout, exercise avoidance, and disordered eating behaviors — while exercising for how it feels is associated with long-term consistency and improved psychological wellbeing. (Tylka et al., 2014 — Journal of Counseling Psychology)

When movement is tied to shame or compensation, it activates the same stress response as other forms of restriction. Your nervous system knows the difference between punishment and care.
And a 2020 study in Body Image journal found that intuitive eating — including attuned movement — was positively associated with positive body image and negatively associated with disordered eating, regardless of body size.

Movement gets to be something you want to do, not something you owe your body for eating.
Ask yourself: how does this feel? Does it energize you? Ground you? Give you space to think?
That’s your answer.

💬 What kind of movement actually feels good in your body? Drop it below 👇

Follow for more thoughts from a therapist🦋

#capecoral #intuitiveeating #joyfulmovement #emdr

Painting these walls felt like more than a renovation. It felt like keeping a promise.

So much of trauma healing is about finally having what we never had — a space that felt safe. A place where your nervous system wasn’t braced for impact. Where you could breathe without waiting for something to go wrong, a place to not have to mask to fit in, a place that was consistent. Once we step out of survival mode, our nervous system allows us to step into so much more life. We enter into thriving mode and find our purpose.

Research shows that environmental cues of safety directly regulate the autonomic nervous system — calming the threat-detection centers in the brain and creating the neurological conditions required for trauma processing to actually happen (Porges, 2003).

In other words — peaceful spaces aren’t a luxury for trauma survivors. They’re a necessity.

Continuing to build Embody has been its own kind of healing for me too. Because somewhere in creating the space, there’s purpose.

Your nervous system deserves a place to rest and find purpose 🦋

📍Embody Therapy & EMDR — Cape Coral, FL

#emdr #capecoral #swflmentalhealth #traumarecovery #nervoussystemregulation

Your nervous system experiences the world differently — and that’s not a flaw.

The word itself is simple:
∙ Neuro = brain/nervous system
∙ Divergent = differing from a standard
So neurodivergent simply means: your brain develops and functions differently from what is considered neurotypical. It’s a descriptive term, not a diagnostic one — and that distinction matters. It was intentionally created to shift the conversation away from deficit-based language (“disorder,” “dysfunction”) toward one of difference and identity.

You might relate if you…
→ Need to know the why behind everything
→ Experience sensory sensitivities (sound, light, texture, crowds)
→ Hyperfocus on things that light you up — and struggle to start things that don’t
→ Feel emotions deeply and intensely
→ Have always felt like you process the world differently than people around you
If any of this resonates, you’re not broken. You’re not too much. You may just be someone whose brain works differently — and there is support that’s actually designed for how you think, feel, and move through the world.

💬 Drop a 🫶🏼 in the comments if this resonates.

🦋Follow for more thoughts from a therapist.
#capecoraltherapists #neurodiverse #swflmentalhealth #emdr #traumarecovery

“I know I’m being bad … I can eat this right now as long as I don’t eat anything else the rest of the day.”

Intuitive Eating principle #1: reject diet culture.

Disordered eating isn’t rare. It might be more common than you think.

We often picture eating disorders as extreme and visible. But disordered eating — restriction, bingeing, obsessive food rules, chronic dieting — exists on a much wider spectrum.

Here’s what the research actually shows:
📊 Eating disorders impact approximately 9% of the US population — and that rate increased nearly 8% from 2013 to 2018. (Harvard, 2020)
📊 22% of children and adolescents worldwide show signs of disordered eating. (JAMA Pediatrics, 2023)
📊 4 out of 10 people have either personally experienced an eating disorder or know someone who has.
📊 Health visits for eating disorders among those under 17 increased by 107% between 2018 and 2022. (Pastore et al., 2023)
📊 Only 10% of people with eating disorders ever receive treatment. (Project HEAL)
📊 Less than 6% of people with eating disorders are medically underweight — meaning most people suffering look “fine” from the outside.

Also stats are much higher for athletes, LGBTQ+, veterans, and how often you use social media.

Disordered eating hides in plain sight. It’s dressed up as discipline, wellness, and willpower. This is why healing our relationship with food can be difficult.

If your relationship with food causes you stress, guilt, or anxiety — that matters. You deserve support.
And remember, f*ck diet culture.

🦋follow for more thoughts from a therapist.

#emdr #capecoralflorida #disorderedeating #intuitiveeating swflmentalhealth

If moving your body has ever felt overwhelming, unsafe, or like something you had to white-knuckle through. Or maybe the idea of moving your body is a solid 8/10 on your SUDS.— this is for you.

For people with complex trauma or PTSD, the gym isn’t just a physical challenge. It’s a nervous system challenge.
Here’s why 👇
When you’ve experienced trauma, your body learns to read certain sensations as danger — even when you’re safe.
Increased heart rate. Labored breathing. Muscle tension. Sweating.

Sound familiar? Those are also what happen during a hard workout.
Your nervous system doesn’t always know the difference. So it responds the same way it did when you weren’t safe — anxiety, dissociation, the urge to flee, or just going completely numb.

This is why so many trauma survivors avoid exercise, push through it feeling disconnected, or collapse after — not because you’re weak… not because you lack discipline….

but because the nervous system is doing exactly what it learned to do. Keep you safe from perceived danger.

What helps?
✦ Slow, intentional movement
✦ Co-regulation — having a safe person present (hi, coach 👋)
✦ Titrating intensity — small doses of activation over time
✦ Tracking sensation without judgment
Healing happens in the body, not just in the mind. EMDR and somatic work help rewire these patterns — but so does showing up, going slow, and letting someone cheer you on.
✦ Even turning up the music to activate mirror neurons to get going.

You don’t have to earn safety in your body. You get to practice it.

🦋Follow for more thoughts from a therapist. @courtneylmhc

#emdr #traumainformedcare #movementmedicine #nervoussystemregulation #capecoralflorida

Shoutout to
@athleticrecoveryservices
@sharkbite.fit

Calling all wellness professionals 🌱@gatherandgrowswfl

Gather & Grow is an interdisciplinary networking space designed to bring together therapists, coaches, movement specialists, nutritionists, and more.

Because when we collaborate, our clients receive better, more integrated care.

✨ Come connect
✨ Share what you do
✨ Build meaningful referral relationships

All are welcome.

TXT RSVP to Courtney 239-285-5883

Grief isn’t always loud.

Sometimes it’s quiet mornings.
A slow sip of coffee.
A moment where everything feels still…
and your body doesn’t know what to do with it.

After loss, the nervous system can stay in survival mode—
bracing, scanning, holding.

Even in peaceful moments.

EMDR doesn’t erase grief.
It helps your system process what feels stuck.

So the memories can soften.
So your body doesn’t have to stay on guard.
So stillness doesn’t feel so heavy.

☕ Some days, healing looks like this:
Sitting. Breathing. Letting it be what it is.

We can sit with grief and honor the feeling—
when the body finally feels safe enough.

#Grief #EMDR #trauma #capecoralfl #mentalhealth

Find the kind of therapist that meets your needs. Someone to call you out on your b*llsh*t and or someone who lays it down gently… or some combination of the two.

#capecoralflorida #ftmyerstherapist #swflmentalhealth #emdr #therapist

“I don’t want to do EMDR today, can we just talk?”

Sometimes it’s not about trauma reprocessing. Sometimes we need to be heard, seen, and validated. I can’t be more pro EMDR, I wish I was in a position to have the training in graduate school before going into private practice. And still, there’s something so profoundly human to share space with someone who will not judge you not even a little bit.

There’s nuance and an evidence based foundation of how talk therapy is proven to be beneficial. I believe it’s about what’s best for the individual and their particular season of life. EMDR shifted my life, like real hard left turn. And lately, sharing space to dump, emote, and be challenged with very pointed questions is what’s creating huge shifts of healing.

Embody Therapy is not one size fits all, neither are you. 🦋

#swflmentalhealth #capecoralflorida #swflwellness #traumarecovery #mentalhealth

“I think I’m afraid that if I slow down, I’ll never get back up again.”

Neurodivergent nervous systems don’t need fixing —
they need freedom to tend to their nervous system with safety, pacing, and permission to move differently. Mediation, sitting down for too long, or stillness can feel like pulling teeth- the opposite of the goal. But then overworking, being constantly on, never really being present for too long is also not the goal.

For example, for one person, cooking a beautiful dinner is calm, brings peace, creates flow. But for others, it’s another task that requires too many decisions and feels exhausting. Neither is wrong or better, just different.

Regulating your specific nervous system is never ever one size fits all. Plus, what you need to feel balance will change over the lifespan. And that’s okay.

What makes you feel balanced? Listen to your body without judgement. If you can’t be compassionate, what’s the neutral statement? Build a support system that doesn’t make you feel weird about it either.

Follow for more thoughts from this therapist🪴

#adhdinwomen #adhdburnout #asdburnout #capecoralflorida neurodivergence

“I’m too anxious to eat, I usually just skip breakfast and eat when I have to.”

Intuitive Eating Principle 5 out of 10.
Discover the Satisfaction Factor: Enjoy the experience of eating. When you eat what you really want in an inviting environment, you feel satisfied and content. Pretty simple stuff. Eating where is comfy, with people who make you laugh, free to enjoy. Your body responses best when it isn’t stressed or in fight or flight. Digestion is good, memories are made, and we have positive associations with food. Even if we only have a couples minutes to spare, how can you make the experience enjoyable?

#intuitiveeatingofficial #capecoralflorida #food #disorderedeating #swflmentalhealth

Looking for somewhere to start?

“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are” - The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown

Anything Brené Brown is a great author to start your therapeutic journey of healing your SELF relationship. If reading some of her insights about shame, generational trauma and vulnerability over perfection kind of makes you uncomfortable, it might be a sign to talk to someone.

#swflmentalhealth #capecoralflorida #emdr #brenebrown #authentic

“Logically, I know everything’s fine. But my body is freaking out like my world is over.”

Our nervous systems adapt to survive through:
• hypervigilance
• muscle tension
• shallow breathing
• scanning for threat

Over time, “nothing happening” can still feel like something is about to. That’s an amygdala that learned to fire fast. That part of you is trying to over protect. The saying, where there is smoke, there is fire… well CPTSD means that’s literally anything looks like smoke at any given moment.

One necessary element of effectively treating your nervous system is movement. In this example, it’s picking it up and putting it down: strength training.

It’s about:
controlled activation
breath under load
feet grounded
intensity with an end point (you’re okay)

Here’s where the healing happens:

When you intentionally activate your body
and then safely return to baseline,
you’re giving your brain corrective experience.

The amygdala learns:
Activation ≠ catastrophe.
Elevated heart rate ≠ danger.
Intensity can resolve.
I can trust myself to know the difference between threat and safety.

Over time, this repetition strengthens new neural pathways.
Not by erasing trauma —
but by updating threat responses.
(Haha kinda like EMDR 😉, AIP model am I right?)

The body learns:
Activation isn’t danger.
Effort isn’t threat.
I can rise… and I can settle.

For complex trauma, that cycle matters.

Questions? Reach out. Let’s talk 🫶🏼

#complexptsdrecovery #emdr #movementheals #traumarecovery #capecoralflorida

“You’re always going to be the expert of your own life.”

My role is to help create the conditions where your inner clarity can grow again.

If you’re anywhere in Florida and looking for EMDR, Intuitive Eating therapy, I offer secure online sessions as well as in-person care.

Here when you’re ready.

#swflmentalhealth #emdr #intuitiveeating #capecoralflorida #therapist

You’re invited to the 3rd Annual SWFL Whole Health Fair on Sat. March 7 from 12-3pm 💚

💚 18 Raffle prizes!
💚 11 local wellness vendors!
💚 Special Guest speakers!

This is a FREE community event where you can meet wellness professionals, businesses, and resources that help you improve your health in a holistic way. We are focused on educating the community on physical and mental health.

You will get to look forward to

🌿Raffle prizes from local wellness groups and local business such as Key West Express, Hertz Arena, Bones Coffee and more!

🌿Presentations about improving your whole well-being by local licensed practitioners!

🌿Holistic health vendor tables

🌿Living Vine Food Truck
🌿Flaur House Sourdough
🌿Coffee Cart by Miles Away Coffee Co.

All of the proceeds from this event go to All Abilities Play, which is a local nonprofit with a mission to build an all inclusive and adaptive playground in Cape Coral.

Please feel free to share and spread the word. We hope to see you there!

Follow for more info: @whole_health_collective

#capecoralflorida #swflwellness #healthfair #swflmentalhealth holistichealthyliving

“I had chocolate the other day without shaming myself.”

For bodies that learned survival first,
joy is part of healing. This means, we are allowed to like things, to enjoy food, to have fun being in own our imperfect skin, without shame or punishment.

Many of us with relational trauma learned that: my needs are a problem for others therefore, I must take up as little as possible, I need to be perfect. Food rules and achieving a certain image became a means of coping, approval, and survival. The partnering of EMDR and Intuitive Eating is deeply meaningful (and evidenced based) way to begin healing your relationship with movement, food, and with your self.

Healing looks like rebuilding safety around eating —
one joyful moment at a time.

#emdr #capecoralflorida #intuitiveeating #joyfulmovement #nervousystemregulation

“All my best friends are neurospicy.”

Neurodivergent nervous systems aren’t broken — they’re highly sensitive, adaptive, and shaped by lived experience. Honestly, it can be such a paradox to admire someone else’s uniqueness while completely invalidating your own as “too much”.

Many of us learned to survive through masking, bracing, or disconnecting from our bodies. Over time, that can look like substance abuse, burnout, shutdown, anxiety, disordered eating, or lack of sense of self.

This is where nervous system care comes in. Finding ways to work with your brain versus forcing “normal”. Self compassion, consistent rest, movement, nutrition, expressing creatively, and being with community are all great ways.

Regulation starts with the body:

Sometimes that looks like EMDR.
Sometimes it’s stillness.
Sometimes is sensory preferences.
Sometimes it’s movement like this.

Regulation happens when your system learns:
“I’m here.”
“I have agency.”
“I’m safe enough right now.”

Healing isn’t linear.
It’s relational.
It’s embodied.

🎵 Two Weeks — Grizzly Bear

Save this for when you need the reminder 🫶🏼

#neurodivergenthealing #nervousystemregulation #complextrauma #swflmentalhealth #movementasmedicine

“I just want to be someone that doesn’t need so much help.”

The thing is, healing isn’t about becoming someone different. It’s not about not needing help, but learning that it’s safe to accept help. It’s about becoming safe enough to be yourself during every season of life.

EMDR works because your nervous system already knows how to heal — Through bilateral stimulation (eye movements, taps, or tones), EMDR helps your brain reprocess experiences that were stored during moments of overwhelm. Instead of staying “stuck” in the body as present-day threat, those memories begin to integrate as something that happened — not something that’s still happening.

When this happens, emotional intensity decreases.
Body sensations soften. Beliefs shift from “I’m not safe.” to “I am free to choose what’s best for me.”

Healing isn’t about forcing change or figuring it out alone. It’s about creating safety…Until your nervous system finds peace.
@courtneylmhc 🦋

#embodytherapy #emdr #somatictherapy #capecoralflorida

“I just want to scream and no one seems to give a f*ck”

One major barrier my clients healing from complex relational trauma experience is that their family doesn’t have the capacity or willingness to acknowledge that, yes that shit did happen.

It looks like constant toxic positivity, gaslighting, dismissing their very real emotions, and refusal to take any accountability.

Yea, I’d be mad too.

It’s a very human experience to have hyper-vigilance after experiencing all kinds of levels of abuse. That’s where nervous system treatments are absolutely needed. Somatic therapies, movement, breath work, creativity, massage, EMDR, sleep hygiene are all tools that keep us from essentially burning it all down.

So let’s not confuse what your body is actually saying:
“I need relief.”
“I need space.”
“I need support.”

Not:
“Destroy your life.”

Interested? Reach out to a trauma focused healer, find a supportive community, or maybe just start with not being so hard on yourself.

“Oh, I’m too scared to try that.”

Repressing fear isn’t sustainable. Avoiding everything in the life that scares us, isn’t sustainable. Becoming reliable to yourself in moments of fear is the goal. So often we run away from challenges because we are afraid. Afraid to fail, judgement of others, fear of loss, just purely the sensation of fear in the body. Yes, avoiding scary things is inherently biological. However, when we continuously avoid everything, we might actually be limiting our very own potential.

When we face challenges with steadiness instead of self-criticism, the nervous system learns something new:
I can be scared and still supported. This is how tolerance for challenge grows — not through force, but through presence. It comes when we breathe, slow down, stay connected, ask for help, say yes even when it’s scary.

Anyway, I’m over here slowly learning to fall. What fear are you facing these days?

Shout out @centralrockfortmyers

“This place is so peaceful.”

Someone told me this week that sometimes when you feel there’s nothing you can do, focus on doing good where you can. Reflecting on this, I’m proud to be surrounded by good-doers and grateful to provide a measure of peace for people.

That was always the goal when building a practice over the years. A peaceful inclusive place for both clinicians, their clients, and supportive loved ones who wait.

✅Plants
✅Art
✅Candles
✅Lending library
✅Blankets
✅Water dispenser
✅Break room
✅Really cool bathroom
✅Community and resource board
✅ADA Accesiblility

With that, two questions:
What else would make your experience doing a hard thing like therapy more comfortable?
Big or small, how do you find ways to have positive impact in the world?
@courtneylmhc

I love my time lifting.

As a trauma-focused therapist, one thing that lifting weights has shown me is that the mind body connection means checking in instead of pushing through. It’s taking time to actually drop into your body and listen in order to heal.

When someone experiences trauma this mind body connection is essentially severed, disconnected, or conditioned to feel unsafe. Being able to move (whether it be lifting, yoga, pilates, xyz) provides a safe container to heal that connection again. We relearn that our internal sensations are messengers and we are safe here.

Of course, healing is not linear and it’s not one size fits all. Find your safe space and find people who genuinely want the best for you long term.

💪🏼shoutout @sharkbite.fit

1st Mental Health Meet Up of 2026 ✅

What has been quietly inspiring you personally and professionally? Turns out a common theme was, we quietly inspire each other in one way or another. I hope we have lots more opportunities to build up our wellness community to better serve our clients. Growing together > apart.

Thanks to all who joined in today, don’t forget to RSVP for the following months! Shoutout:

@allaboutthev_
@pieperjoel
@jadeandsageholistictherapy
@healingloudlyco
@sessionswithsarra
@becoming.jill
@ritualwellnessspace
@thepolishedpsyche
@chelseascomak
@viabrioadvising
@saltandsage.wellness
@wholebodyenergyreset
@bethmillercounseling
@fl_therapist_sarah
@dr.jiana_lanza
@brahmavidya_chiropractic
@athleticrecoveryservices
@allabilitiesplay
@whole_health_collective
@courtneylmhc

Holy shitoke that’s an amazing line up 😍

#ftmyersflorida

#swflmentalhealth #mentalhealth #community capecoralflorida

“It’s like I know what I need to do, I just can’t figure out how to actually do it.”

Cognitive flexibility is being able to adapt our thinking patterns per new or changing situations in an efficient way. Sometimes “what has always worked” needs to be reevaluated. Being able to pivot and change course when needed is an adaptive skill. Say a person keeps avoiding things, procrastinating, choosing the same distractions over and over. Instead, they know they need to do xyz to help themselves. When clients can sift through the critical, judgey, let’s say asshole inner voice, we can have an honest talk and what is the reality of the situation. I’d say that’s progress, closer to action than before.

Where in life have you needed to be cognitively flexible in the past? What helped you?
What things do you find yourself stuck on in this moment in life?
How can we look at it with neutrality not judgement?

Somatic therapies such as chiro, breathwork, yoga, massage, and EMDR all address the nervous system in a way that creates more ability to utilize cognitive flexibility. Research and my own observations of myself and my clients, says that it’s not always an intellectual issue, it’s a mind and body connection issue.

Thank you to all our guests from our 2025 Mental Health Meet Up! We have one more meeting this year December 3rd. We look forward to connecting at our future meet ups next year!

Lindsey & Courtney

.pro-gallery-wix-wrapper {display: block !important;} .pro-gallery-wix-wrapper .gallery-item-container {opacity: 1 !important; display: block !important;}

Shadow Work: Learning to love and accept all of you

​

Follow us on Instagram