Katie Graziano, LPC

04/16/2026

04/12/2026

For some people, coloring is a great self care and mindfulness tool. This April we will be sharing coloring pages. Feel free to print, share, and display your masterpiece. 🎨

Thank you to RVCC: Recognize Violence, Change Culture for the coloring pages.

If you need support or resources as a survivor of sexual assault, domestic violence, human trafficking and/or stalking, please call WRC's free and confidential 24 hour hotline, available to all survivors in multiple languages.
Lackawanna County: 570-346-4671
Susquehanna County: 570-278-1800
www.wrcnepa.org

04/01/2026

04/01/2026

03/17/2026

When we grow up in childhood trauma, there are many things that leave us way too open to the world.

Between the parentification, the constant holding of space for unsafe adults, the crossed boundaries, and the need to manage an abusive parent just to survive—we were trained to be so available and accessible.

But behind all of that is the neglect and the missing parenting.

We never had a safe adult in our lives telling us the truth:

You don’t have to feel for everyone.
You are enough even if you aren’t being liked.
You don’t have to scan the room to see who needs help or connection.
The gate keeps you safe.

You can close your gate because you are enough just as you are. You don’t have to make eye contact with people who are only looking for their next resource. Eye contact doesn’t mean real contact.

You have the power to close your gate, and you don’t have to give that up just because someone is standing at the threshold.

Does it feel mean to you or perhaps a missed opportunity? That might be your inner child still thinking contact and connection can exist with anyone willing.

Leave a comment about why you might struggle to close that gate. What set you up to be so open?

Subscribe to my news letter for more or check out my trauma recovery membership -link in bio

03/16/2026

.e.l.e.n.m.a.r.i.e

03/13/2026

You don't have bad reactions. You have a nervous system doing its job.
That's the thing nobody tells you when you're in the middle of a spiral, a freeze, or a complete shutdown.

You're wired for survival and your body is following a very old set of instructions.
Polyvagal Theory gives us a map for understanding why we respond the way we do. It's called the autonomic ladder, and most of us move up and down it every single day without realizing it.

🟢 Safe & Social is where you feel like yourself. Calm, connected, able to think. This is where healing actually happens — in therapy, in relationships, in quiet moments of rest.

🟠 Fight or Flight kicks in when your system detects a threat. Doesn't matter if it's a real danger or a tone of voice that sounds like one you heard years ago. Your body responds the same way. Adrenaline. Tension. The urge to run or push back.

🔵 Freeze happens when fighting or fleeing doesn't feel like an option. You go blank. You lose your words. You can't move. People call this "shutting down" in an argument but it's actually your nervous system hitting pause to protect you.

🟣 Shutdown is the deepest state. Full disconnect. Numbness. The lights are on but nobody's home. This isn't laziness or avoidance. This is your system doing the most it can when it's been overwhelmed for too long.

Here's what changes everything:
When you know which state you're in, you stop judging yourself for being there.
Instead of "what is wrong with me," you start asking "what does my nervous system need right now?"

That's the shift. That's the work.

Which state do you find yourself in most often? Drop it in the comments — you might be surprised how many people are right there with you.

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03/09/2026

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