Kristi Pepoon, LICSW, LADC at Shirkshire Counseling, PLC

12/16/2025

🌟Reminder: The Recovery Community Dinner has moved to Wednesday's, starting this month! Same time, same place, just a new day.

12/16/2025

Kristi Pepoon

I’m excited to announce the launch of the Women’s Recovery Group beginning in January. Group therapy is a well-researched and evidence-based approach that offers numerous benefits. Participation can support abstinence, help prevent lapse and relapse, strengthen and rebuild relationships, and foster confidence, trust, and personal growth in a supportive environment.

12/15/2025

I’m excited to announce the launch of the Women’s Recovery Group beginning in January. Group therapy is a well-researched and evidence-based approach that offers numerous benefits. Participation can support abstinence, help prevent lapse and relapse, strengthen and rebuild relationships, and foster confidence, trust, and personal growth in a supportive environment.

12/15/2025

💜

Self-compassion is entirely interdependent with acting responsibly and caringly toward others. Forgiving ourselves clears the way for a loving presence that can appreciate the goodness of others and respond to their hurts and needs. And, in turn, our way of relating to others affects how we regard ourselves and supports our ongoing self-forgiveness.

12/09/2025

It's never too early to start thinking how your holiday celebration can be safe and fun for everyone!

◾️If someone isn't drinking alcohol, don't ask why.
◾️Keep alcohol away from the general group, for everyone's safety.
◾️If you're playing holiday games, keep the alcohol out of it.
◾️If you see someone struggling, ask if they want to go for a walk.
◾️If you think someone needs a safe rise, offer one if you can't find one.
◾️Remember, we're all dealing with something in life, be kind.

12/07/2025

Imagine being as kind to ourselves as we are to others we love…

12/07/2025

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/from-trial-to-triumph/202503/how-to-be-resilient-when-you-are-justice-sensitive

Is your sensitivity to injustice making it difficult for you to function? Try these five strategies.

12/07/2025

Children often save their most intense emotions for their mothers because they see her as the ultimate “safe base” to release stress and be their unfiltered self, trusting her co-regulation (calming presence) to soothe their nervous system after holding it together elsewhere. Their nervous system literally attunes to the mother’s, and showing big emotions is a sign of deep trust, not defiance, indicating they feel secure enough to “fall apart”.

▶️Why this happens (The Science):
📑Safety & Trust: A child’s nervous system recognizes the mother (or primary caregiver) as the person they can fully trust to handle their big feelings without judgment or threat, allowing them to drop their guard.
📑Co-regulation: Mothers help calm a child’s distressed nervous system through mirroring (heartbeat, breath) and soothing. This teaches the child self-regulation.
📑Mirroring the Nervous System: A child’s internal state (heart rate, stress hormones) mirrors the parent’s. A mother’s calm presence is medicine; her anxiety can become the child’s “normal”.
📑The “Safe Field Effect”: When a child sees their mother, their brain gets a signal they’re safe to release pent-up emotions from school or other situations.

▶️What it looks like
📑“Saving the Worst for Last”: They might behave perfectly at school but have meltdowns at home because the tension has to go somewhere.
📑Not Misbehavior, but Release: The tantrum isn’t defiance; it’s the child letting go of stress in the one place they feel secure enough to do so.

▶️How to respond
📑Regulate Yourself First: Your calm is their medicine. Take deep breaths to signal safety.
📑Validate & Connect: Say, “You held a lot in today. It’s okay to let it out now”.
📑Offer Presence, Not Logic: Their logical brain is offline. Offer connection, gentle touch, and calm, not lectures.

Studies also show that when children don’t have this secure attachment to lean on, it negatively rewires the child’s brain.
Read more here: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250612/Unpredictable-caregiving-rewires-the-braine28099s-threat-response.aspx

12/07/2025

12/04/2025

Savor the glimmers in the ordinary moments of the day. It’s not about pretending that bad things don’t happen, it’s about noticing that not only bad things happen.

12/04/2025

This is important

12/04/2025

😂😂😂