Illuminate Counseling Creative Arts Therapy, PLLC

10/22/2025

Our brains don’t like the unknown. Instead, they use past data to fill in the blanks. That information can be true…or not. This is why it’s important to ask if your thoughts are actually based on the truth!

10/18/2025

09/26/2025

Being afraid to do something doesn’t always mean it’s a red flag and you should run. You get to decide which emotions to act on, and a lot of the time you’re just going to have to do it scared

09/16/2025

If you or someone you know is looking for couples counseling, Maria has openings immediately.

I currently have 5 slots available for clients looking to make change in their relationships and life! Availability in person daytime and evenings.
Call 315-760-5897

09/14/2025

Really liked this when I happened across it.

09/12/2025

Therapy, when done well should allow you to build a relationship with your therapist and have a deep trust so you can practice difficult emotions and conversations. Your therapist should challenge you to help you grow so you will eventually challenge yourself. Every thought you have is not true, every feeling is not valid and every opinion is not infallible. If a therapist only agrees with you and makes you feel good, then there is no growth, no challenge. Build your capacity for difficult emotions and conversations so you have the ability to hold space and empathy for those who don’t agree with you. That is the mental strength we should be striving for!

09/10/2025

I have space for 7 new clients. Day time and evening hours available for adults and children! Call, text, or email!

09/09/2025

https://omny.fm/shows/95x/marty-chats-with-therapist-nicole-lawrence-about-mental-health?in_playlist=podcast

If you're interested in learning a little bit more about my therapy style, you can listen to an interview I did on 95x a few months back!

Check out The Morning Mess on demand 95X

08/30/2025

Great presentation today with Bruce at the Baldwinsville Public Library! It was nice to meet some new people and talk about building mental strength!! If you missed today, we’ll be hosting another presentation this fall.

08/18/2025

Trying something new is brave. Even if it doesn’t go the way you had hoped, it’s still a win to try!

08/01/2025

When someone keeps coming to mind, I make a point to reach out to them. Usually I get “I was just thinking of you”. So if you keep thinking of someone, maybe a quick “Hi”?

07/29/2025

Today’s lesson in expectation versus reality:
My kids and I went to the thrift store this morning and we found baseball gloves! I thought “oh, this will be so fun to play catch”. And we had a great time playing in the yard. After about 20 minutes of catch I threw the ball and my daughter missed the catch and it hit her in the face. She took a break and within 2 minutes my son missed a catch and it hit him in the mouth (we played using a tennis ball).
So the expectations were that we would play catch and have a Hallmark movie moment. The reality is that both kids caught a ball in the face.
We laughed about it after because there’s no sense in blaming people over an accident, and humor can take the sting out of an unfortunate situation.
But I think I speak for us all when I say: we did not see that reality coming 🫠