The Neighborhood Counseling Center

09/01/2025

🌿 Ever wonder what it's like inside your Neighborhood Counseling Center? Here's our waiting area!

🌿 One thing we love about our space is how cozy it is, and we hope you feel at home from the moment you step inside.

🌿 Wanna learn more about how we can help? Reach out to admin@nccatlanta.com to find out.

09/01/2025

🌿 Ever wonder what it's like inside your Neighborhood Counseling Center? Here's our waiting area.

🌿 One thing we love about our space is how cozy it is, and we hope you feel at home from the minute you step inside.

🌿 Curious how we can support you? Reach out to us at admin@nccatlanta.com to find out.

08/26/2025

🌿 Ryan joined our community in June, and we could not be happier to have him here!

🌿 Ryan shares: "In a world where judgement, shame, and fear are easily found, I work to create a rapport with my clients where all their parts are welcomed so they can experience Compassion, Clarity, and Connection in our work together and in their lives."

🌿 Reach out to Ryan directly at ryan@sagehavencounseling.com to find out he can support you!

08/25/2025

✨ We’re growing! ✨

Meet Katelyn Ortego, the newest therapist on our team. Her warmth and wisdom make her a wonderful fit for NCC. 💛

She’s especially passionate about supporting parents, couples, and anyone navigating grief, perfectionism, or cross-cultural experiences.

👉 Reach out to Katelyn at katelyno@nccatlanta.com for a free 15-minute consultation!

08/05/2025

Opportunity!

Our newest therapist, Katelyn Ortego wants to talk with you - and your people - about mental health. She's available to come speak with your group (at work, PTA, faith community, etc.) about mental health topics for free. Want some no-bullsh*t info from a nice human? She's your person. Feel free to reach out to her at katelyno@nccatlanta.com.

07/24/2025

One of our favorite things about our office (besides being almost next door to Evergreen) is the view we have from our 2nd floor windows down to Hosea Williams Dr. Things we've seen over the years: someone riding a horse in the bike lane, SoulShine Schools pushing cribs full of babies onto the sidewalk for fire drills, the glow up of Urban Pie Atlanta, massive thunderstorms, the rare snow flurry, families biking and walking to school, gazillions of dogs getting walked, and the crepe myrtle trees at the Kirkwood library being pruned (or crepe murdered, depending on your perspective.)

We are not made to live in isolation. Loneliness is the worst. Today we're grateful that our windows and sweet spot in Kirkwood help us feel connected to so many of you. 🌷🌈🩷

07/09/2025

What are you grateful for today? Research shows that practicing gratitude is one of best things we can do for our emotional health. And it is a "practice" - something we can get better at even when its hard to see straight with all the dumpster fires.

Today we want to name our big gratitude for our neighbors downstairs at Dom Beijos. They have been patient and kind even through the noise and hassle of contractors helping us expand our space. They have hauled furniture boxes up our stairs and texted us to let us know when deliveries have arrived. Melissa and Justin and Jake (and everyone else there): we so appreciate you -- and not just because of your amazing help with wine pairings! We couldn't ask for better neighbors.

07/01/2025

We're excited to welcome Katelyn Ortego to our team in Kirkwood! She's an awesome therapist and human who is especially excited to work with new and expecting parents, adults in transition, and people managing relationship challenges. Find out more about her here:

https://theneighborhoodcounselingcenter.com/katelyn-ortego-apc-ncc-ms/

Home THE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNSELING CENTERa home for mindfulness and wellbeing in intown Atlanta You are welcome here. No matter the difficult moments that bring you to counseling—no matter how depressed, anxious, grief-stricken, confused, ashamed, rageful, uncertain, sad, or fearful you are—we are...

09/17/2021

Hmmm... it's been a long while since we posted. Whoops! But please know:

1. We're still here, working every day to be our best therapist selves and provide our best support to our amazing clients.

2. We want you to know you are NOT CRAZY and that this time is - and continues to be - really, really hard. It's not just you. Hang in there.

3. Also, if you're a parent - we feel for you. Here's hoping this article speaks a bit to your experience.

Every decision for not-yet-vaccinated kids feels like an unsolvable equation.

09/28/2020

Y'all, we just LOVE these tips for staying sane (or getting more sane) even as COVID continues and election time approaches. Hope these are useful to you!

Do some work now to optimize your comfort and wellbeing for the second wave, and second lockdown.

08/03/2020

The parable of the second arrow is a well-known Buddhist story about dealing with our emotional pain more skilfully (compassionately). The story goes as follows: The Buddha once asked a student, "If a person is struck by an arrow, is it painful?” The student replied, “It is”. The Buddha then said, “If the person is struck by a second arrow, is it even more painful?” The student replied again, “It is”. The Buddha then went on to explain, “In life, we can’t always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. This second arrow is optional”.
The first arrow is any situation in life that causes or triggers emotional pain.
Common examples of the second arrow—our reaction to the pain caused by the trigger situation—include:
“Why am I so sensitive? Other people would not be upset by this. What’s wrong with me?”
“I’m so stupid. Why do I get myself into this situation? It’s all my fault”.
“Why am I getting upset by something so minor?”
“I’m weak. Getting bothered by this situation is ridiculous”.
“There’s something wrong with me, that’s why I get upset so easily”.
“Why doesn’t this situation affect other people so strongly?”.
“I’m too sensitive!”.
“I’m so bad at life”.
It’s clear when we look at common examples of the ‘second arrow’ how our reactions to our initial emotions can actually amplify our pain. Often, the way we react to our emotion pain is rooted in the way other people reacted to our emotions when we were younger, and the way a society views emotional expression more broadly.
Becoming aware of the way we shoot the second arrow allows us to change this pattern of reacting. In its place we can create a space to begin to practice respect, self-compassion, and a nurturing attitude toward our pain.
For great resources on self-compassion and radical acceptance, check out the teachings of Tara Brach and Kristen Neff.

05/11/2020

Please stop feeling guilty for feeling crappy right now. Right now is HARD, even if you have a safe home and relatively stable money situation. "A friend of mine compared [COVID] to entering a marathon and finding out midrace that they’re moving the finish line back a few miles — again, and again, and again."

As quarantine drags on, two journalists have an honest conversation about the hard-to-ignore rising levels of stress.