Jessika Fruchter, LMFT

12/22/2025

This dark months ask us to retreat, to tend. Maybe that’s not possible on a large scale, but we can claim moments.

Today, Day 3 of Yule, I’m exploring home and hearth. The theme of home and belonging has been huge this year. Is home a building? A city? Our body? Maybe it’s not a vessel but a feeling.

🕯️ Ritual:
Tidy one small area in your physical space.

Make tea. Drink it without multitasking.

✍️ Journal:
How do I perceive home? What helps me feel held right now?

12/21/2025

Today we reflect on ancestry.

Midlife has a way of bringing us back to the question of lineage. What do we carry? What do we heal? And what ends with us?

Remember that just as we may grapple with patterns of intergenerational trauma, we also carry intergenerational wisdom and resilience.

🕯️ Ritual:
Light a candle for those who came before you. Speak their names—or simply thank them.

✍️ Journal:
What wisdom lives in me because of my ancestors?
What patterns stop here?

12/21/2025

Catch me here as we move mindfully through 12 days of Yule reflection and easeful celebration. Blessed solstice everyone 🙏

12/21/2025

Join me in honoring the 12 days of Yule.

Today is the Winter solstice, the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere. This day says: let the dark finish its work.

Tonight, I’m honoring the Winter Solstice by creating an ice altar—placing what is unfinished, unresolved, or unnamed into stillness rather than meaning-making.

🕯️ Ritual:
Place a bowl of water outside (or in the freezer) with leaves, stones, or herbs. Let it freeze overnight. You can add small candles if you like.

✍️ Journal:
What wants to be laid down rather than released?

12/20/2025

Everyone is talking about slowing down this time of year. I’m talking about not rushing the light.

I’ve been honoring the Winter Solstice since I was a teenager, but this year hits different.

Instead of forcing clarity or meaning, I’m choosing to let the dark finish its work. I wrote about this shift—and about using the 12 Days of Yule as a container for integration rather than reinvention—on the blog.

Over the next 12 days, I’ll be sharing daily themes, along with concrete ritual practices and journal prompts, for anyone who wants a quieter, more honest way to close the year.

This isn’t about resolutions or resets.
It’s about staying with what’s still forming.

🕯️ Read the essay via the link in my bio.
✨ And if this speaks to you, you’re welcome to walk these days with me.

12/20/2025

The 12 Days of Yule marks a liminal corridor between what has ended and what has not yet begun. What I love about this framework is that it mirrors something I see again and again in midlife and perimenopause: the need for integration rather than reinvention ...

Each day carries its own subtle theme of ancestry, stillness, shadow, intuition, creativity, commitment. But none of them ask us to hustle toward clarity. Instead, they invite us to listen. To tend the hearth. To rest. To let something slowly take shape beneath the surface.

This feels especially important in a culture that treats January 1st like a starting gun.

Traditionally, the 12 Days of Yule span the time between the solstice and the New Year (or a day before/after). This marks a liminal corridor between what has ended and what has not yet begun. What I love about this framework is that it mirrors something I see again and again in midlife and perimeno

12/19/2025

I’ve been spending a good amount of time on trails and in my garden, soaking in the wonder and beauty after such a chaotic year. I thought l’d share some pics as we head into the weekend. Wishing you all a blessed winter solstice ❄️🌲

12/04/2025

Really grateful to see continued coverage of menopause and midlife in mainstream media. Thank you — for commissioning this piece and continuing to expand the conversations around women’s health and equity.

As a psychotherapist who works with women navigating perimenopause every day, it means so much to see these stories told with accuracy and urgency. We need more of this 🙌

12/04/2025

Ya'll, in my opinion it's time for some new holiday traditions. If you're someone who grapples with this season - you're in good company - and this blog post is for you!

Pretty much everyone who blogs is writing about the holidays in one way or another right now. And therapists are filling the Web with how-to-get-through-the-holiday-season posts. As a therapist for women in California, I’m here doing the same, and it's for good reason. For better or worse the holi...

11/14/2025

Hey everyone! Last call to join me Friday, 11/21, for a master class in perimenopausal mental health. This is a holistic, comprehensive training that explores the perimenopause experience through the lenses of mind, body and spirit. We’ll also talk screening for perimenopause (spoiler - there is no blood test), and how to support clients in accessing appropriate support for physical wellness and longevity.
Grab your spot for this very important conversation. Feel free to DM with any questions.

Join us as we talk all things perimenopause and learn concrete tools help our clients navigate this important (albeit bumpy) transition.

10/03/2025

Gen X and Elder millennial women are knee deep in midlife and realizing the struggles they’ve carried for decades may have a name: ADHD. New blog post on what it means and how we can move forward with confidence.

Why are so many women diagnosed with ADHD later in life and how can we best support ourselves? Jessika Fruchter, LMFT, explains how we got here and how we can move forward confidently with the specialized mental health care women deserve.

08/19/2025

As if midlife weren’t vulnerable enough, the wellness industry has found new ways to prey on women’s insecurities about aging and fears about their long-term health. Everywhere you turn, someone is selling a remedy — often for a problem that may not even exist ...

I’ll be real—this cultural fixation on weight gain and body composition during perimenopause has me deeply fired up. As if this phase of life weren’t vulnerable enough, the wellness industry has outdone itself in preying on women’s insecurities about aging and fears about long-term health. S...