Courage Counseling, Priscilla Elliott, MA, LPC

01/09/2025

Fidgeting with a purpose. I hand crochet scarves while in meetings. It helps me focus and keeps my hands busy. When the cold weather happens, I put them in my front seat to pass them out to homeless people.

Fidgeting can feel empty sometimes without a goal or a purpose beyond myself. I love making these. They are far from perfect, but they are warm and plush and will help someone.

11/14/2024

Not . Even . You .

11/05/2024

Glimmers balance out triggers to help us with resilience. This is the tree outside of my office, smiling at me in the most goofy way. Nature is a great source of glimmers when I slow down to looks for them. There is limitless things to worry about right now, AND this tree is smiling at me.

10/30/2024

Nail biters are welcome on our BFRB group and 1:1 spots are available too!

10/24/2024

In adulthood, I am actively working on increasing my own interoception (sense of my inner body)…on listening to my body and what it needs.

More often than not, I used to ignore my body telling me that it is hungry. Or telling me that it needs to go to the bathroom. Or telling me that it needs to move around and not sit still any longer.

I didn’t usually think of it in those terms. I didn’t usually think to myself, “I’m not allowed to go to the bathroom,” or, “I don’t need to move, I need to sit still.” Instead, I would think things like, “If I could just pay attention for two seconds I could finish writing this report. I can get up and take a break when I’m *done*. I’m not allowed to until I’m done. What is wrong with me? Why am I like this? Ughhhh. Maybe I should bribe myself with a snack. Maybe I should punish myself by turning off my music.”

It took—and still takes—time, and conscious effort, to change those internal messages back to ones of listening to my body. To remind myself, “Maybe if I stand up and stretch, it will help my brain wake back up.” “If I am struggling to focus, then beating myself up about it will not solve whatever underlying problem is here.” “I’m listening, body, what are you saying?”

I wonder how my journey would have been different if I had learned these messages from childhood.

I didn’t even have a drastically terrible childhood or anything. I just learned to ignore my inconvenient body for the sake of sitting still and doing school well. I did school beautifully for a long time. I was one of the kids who could suppress what I needed in order to please adults. There are lots of kids who can’t.

(If you're interested, see the comments for links to further reading. ❤ )

[Image description: A white background with soft green watercolor wash on it. There is black text overlay which reads: “We talk about ‘teaching kids to listen to their bodies’. Often kids are inherently good at listening to their bodies. It’s just that when they do it in inconvenient ways, we call it ‘behavior’.” It has my handle, , written on it as well. End description.]

10/15/2024

I am accepting new clients for individual and group therapy for BFRBs. It's hard to believe I've been helping my BFRB humans for 13 years now.

Here's some behavior replacement tips to keep in mind this Summer. 😎☀️

Visit our website for more resources and ways to get connected at bfrb.org. 💙💚💜

10/07/2024

There may be more right about what you think is so wrong with you. You aren't alone.

I have a few favorite spiels that have come from on-the-spot attempts to explain complex concepts in simple and non-shaming ways using humor and metaphors.   “Floaties on the Bus” is my favorite to help my clients understand their unique … Floaties on the Bus: How Survival Styles Work Read Mo...

10/04/2024

exists as a part of a whole human and. I wrote this a decade ago. If I wrote it now I'd include the role of ADHD and High Masking Autism. Most of the hundreds of BFRB cases I've supported as a therapist have BFRB + something that gets tangled in. We have to honor and understand the other parts as well as the BFRB.

The Role of Trauma in Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors Here is what I see over and over again in my counseling practice. Someone comes in for their skin picking or hair pulling problem (trichotillomania), collectively known as Body Focused Repetitive … The Role of Trauma in Trichotillomania, Skin...

10/03/2024

exists as a part of a whole human and. I wrote this a decade ago. If I wrote it now I'd include the role of ADHD and High Masking Autism. Most of the hundreds of BFRB cases I've supported as a therapist have BFRB + something that gets tangled in. We have to honor and understand the other parts as well as the BFRB.



Edited for correct link

https://courage-counseling.com/role-trauma-trichotillomania-skin-picking-disorder-body-focused-repetitive-behaviors/

I am not a “smoke and mirrors” therapist. I like to understand and help my client understand what is happening in their brain, bodies, and relationships both psychologically and physiologically. We start with simplified versions of the nervous system anatomy … Your Nervous System- Trauma, Anxi...

10/03/2024

Research shows that practicing loving-kindness increases our self-compassion levels. 🌱✨

The traditional way to cultivate loving-kindness is through a specific meditation in which phrases of goodwill are repeated for various people—starting with yourself and then extending to others. In the Mindful Self-Compassion program, we begin with a loved one and then bring those feelings inward. This simple shift helps overcome the difficulty many of us feel when trying to offer kindness to ourselves.

💛 Ready to try it? 👉 Check out the guided Loving-Kindness Meditation: https://vist.ly/3mhq6b2