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Monday 10am - 7pm Tuesday 10am - 7pm Wednesday 8:30am - 4pm Thursday 10am - 8pm Friday 10am - 8pm Saturday 12am - 6pm

Family The-ra-pie

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Canada
Montreal, QC
Family The-ra-pie

We offer counseling as well as nutrition coaching. We specialize in addictions, anxiety, relationships, and menopause.

12/20/2025

Why the holidays are harder for some people.

The holidays increase stimulation, expectations, and social exposure.

For someone managing anxiety, depression, trauma, or grief, this combination raises emotional load quickly.

What looks like withdrawal, irritability, or avoidance is often a response to overload.

This holiday season, experience less capacity. That doesn't mean that you care less. It means you are prioritizing your mental health this year.

12/14/2025

What is the vagus nerve?

You have a nerve that runs from your brain all the way down through your neck, chest, and abdomen. It connects to your heart, lungs, stomach, liver, and pancreas. It is the longest nerve in your body. And it plays a major role in how well you digest.

This is your vagus nerve.

It runs the system that handles everything you do not have to think about. Heart rate. Breathing. Swallowing. Digestion. Inflammation. Organ function.

When it comes to digestion, the vagus nerve is what sends signals telling your digestive organs when and how to work. It helps regulate stomach acid, enzymes, gut movement, and coordination between organs.

Here is the catch. This system works best when you are relaxed. When you are stressed, digestion slows down. And when stress becomes chronic or vagal function weakens, you get low enzyme output, sluggish digestion, and gut discomfort.

What can affect the functioning of the vagus nerve?

• Chronic stress and anxiety (the biggest one)
• Smoking
• Excess alcohol
• Poor sleep
• Little movement
• Overworking
• Nutrient deficiencies

What supports it?

• Eating slowly and chewing thoroughly. Aim for 30 to 40 chews per bite.
• Slow, deep breathing before and during meals.
• Cold exposure like cold showers or splashing cold water on your face.
• Using your voice. Singing, humming, chanting, or gargling 15 to 20 minutes before meals.
• Meditation or yoga.
• Regular low to moderate movement.
• Bodywork or massage.

Supporting your vagus nerve supports your digestion. It is that simple.

12/11/2025

Why transitions affect your sleep

You're going through something big. A new job, a move, a divorce, a loss, a new baby, a career shift. During the day, you manage. You push through, handle what needs handling, keep things moving. But at night, your body tells a different story.

You lie awake. Your mind replays conversations, runs through tomorrow's tasks, circles back to worries you thought you had set aside. You finally fall asleep but wake at 3am with your thoughts already racing. The alarm goes off and you feel like you barely rested at all.

This is biology.

Major life changes activate your stress response. Your nervous system perceives transition as threat, even when the change is positive. It doesn't distinguish between danger and uncertainty. It just knows something is different, and it responds by staying on guard.

Your mind stays alert at night because your body thinks it needs to. It's scanning for problems, preparing for what might go wrong, keeping you in a low-level state of vigilance. This is useful if you're actually in danger. It's exhausting when you're just trying to get through a hard season of life.

This disrupts rest in ways that compound over time. Poor sleep makes you more reactive, less patient, and more likely to feel overwhelmed. Which creates more stress. Which makes sleep harder. The cycle feeds itself.

You can support better sleep by adding simple habits that signal safety to your nervous system:
Reduce screens before bed. The light and stimulation keep your brain in alert mode when it needs to wind down.
Stretch for five minutes. Gentle movement releases physical tension you may not even realize you're holding.
Keep your bedroom cool and dark. Your body temperature naturally drops during sleep, and darkness triggers melatonin production.

These steps help your body settle and prepare for rest. They won't fix everything overnight, but they give your system permission to stop scanning for danger and start recovering instead.

12/05/2025

Saturday Q&A:

We are in the final month of the year. This can be a time of healing but can also leave you with a certain heaviness.

Q: What does it mean to bring closure to a year that felt heavy or unfinished?
A: Closure does not require every problem to be solved. It can simply mean acknowledging what you carried, what stretched you, and what you survived. When a year feels unfinished, closure becomes an act of recognition. You are honoring your effort, your resilience, and the ways you kept going even when it was hard.

Q; How can therapy help you release the need to have everything resolved before starting again?
A: Therapy helps you see that new beginnings do not require perfect endings. We explore the pressure you place on yourself, the beliefs that say you must have clarity before you move forward, and the fears that keep you holding your breath. Together, we create space for uncertainty so you can step into the next chapter with steadiness instead of self-criticism.

Q: What small act of care can remind you that healing continues, even in the quiet seasons of your life?
A: It might be pausing for a moment of stillness. It might be acknowledging one feeling you have been avoiding. It might be offering yourself warmth on a day when you feel worn. Healing often happens in these small, quiet gestures. They remind you that growth is not loud, fast, or dramatic. It is consistent, gentle, and shaped by how you choose to care for yourself.

12/02/2025

Motivational Monday

December can bring pressure to finish strong, hold it all together, or stay cheerful no matter what. But you do not have to perform your way through this season. You are allowed to feel tired. You are allowed to slow down.

Let this be the month you stop pushing and start honoring what you truly need. Small steps count. Quiet progress matters. Keep going. You are doing better than you think.

11/30/2025

This one moment changed everything.

A client once said, “I dread the holidays. Everyone expects joy, but all I feel is pressure.”
Her words reflected what so many experience but rarely admit. The holidays often magnify what feels unhealed: the loneliness, the grief, the tension between who we are and who we think we should be.

It is important to give ourselves permission to be honest about what this season stirs up. You do not have to force joy. You only need to allow truth.

At Family The-ra-pie, we create space for real emotions, not rehearsed ones.

If this season feels heavier than it looks from the outside, send a message and reach out. You deserve to be met with understanding, not expectation.

11/19/2025

Do not be afraid to feel your emotions.

11/14/2025

Try a One-Sentence Journal Prompt

Instead of forcing yourself to write a full journal entry, try this:

“Today I need…”

Let yourself finish the sentence without judgment. This practice builds self-awareness and helps you tune in to your needs, even on hard days.

11/01/2025

November Reflection

November arrives as a gentle invitation.
The pace slows, the air cools, and life begins to whisper for rest and reflection.

This is a natural time to pause and check in with yourself before the year closes.
What emotions are still asking to be felt?
What experiences have shaped your growth?
And what needs your care as you move toward a new season?

You don’t need to have everything figured out.
Sometimes, healing looks like small pauses, quiet awareness, and allowing yourself to simply be.

Let this month be a moment of calm before the world speeds up again.
Make space for warmth, connection, and self-compassion.

🕯️ Take a breath. Reflect. Reset.
You still have time to end the year gently with presence and care.

10/30/2025

As October ends, many of us feel the shift.
The air gets colder, the days get shorter, and something inside begins to turn inward too.

This is the season of letting go.
Of slowing down.
Of noticing what no longer feels right to carry.

Healing often begins in quiet moments like this.
When you stop forcing yourself to move forward and allow yourself to simply be.

You are allowed to rest.
You are allowed to release what has run its course.

10/28/2025

People-Pleasing and Burnout

People-pleasing often starts as a way to keep the peace, but over time it can lead to quiet self-abandonment. When you say yes to avoid tension, your own needs begin to disappear. The cost is usually your energy, your clarity, and your sense of self.

This week, practice choosing yourself gently. Even one small boundary can be an act of healing.

You are allowed to matter in your own life.

10/18/2025

Saturday Q&A: How CBT Helps with Anxiety

Q: What actually happens in the brain and body when I feel anxious?
Anxiety is your body’s natural alarm system. When your brain perceives a threat, whether it is real or imagined, it activates the fight, flight, or freeze response. Your heart rate increases, muscles tense, and your thoughts start to race as your body prepares to protect you.
The problem is that this system can become overactive, responding to everyday stressors as if they were emergencies. That is when anxiety starts to interfere with daily life.

Q: How does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) help?
CBT is one of the most effective, research-based treatments for anxiety. It helps you identify how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected. Many people with anxiety experience automatic negative thoughts which are quick, often unrealistic thoughts that trigger fear or worry.
In CBT, you learn to:
• Recognize these thought patterns
• Evaluate whether they are accurate or helpful
• Replace them with balanced, realistic perspectives

This process reduces the emotional intensity of anxious moments and teaches your brain new, calmer responses.

Q: What skills do clients typically learn in CBT for anxiety?
CBT is highly practical. You will learn tools you can use right away, such as:
• Grounding and breathing techniques to calm physical symptoms
• Cognitive restructuring to challenge anxious thinking
• Exposure exercises to face fears safely and gradually
• Behavioral activation to re-engage with meaningful activities

Over time, these skills retrain the brain to respond to stress in healthier, more balanced ways.

Q: What can I expect from therapy sessions focused on anxiety?
Together, we create a supportive environment to explore what fuels your anxiety. We set small, realistic goals and track your progress between sessions. My role is to guide you with evidence-based strategies and compassionate reflection, helping you move from constant worry to a steadier sense of control and peace.

Address

Montreal, QC

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 7pm
Tuesday	10am - 7pm
Wednesday	8:30am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 8pm
Friday	10am - 8pm
Saturday	12am - 6pm

Telephone

+15149004357

Website

http://www.familytherapie.com/

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