Sisu Psychotherapy and Wellness

10/28/2025

As a result of the recent threat to pause SNAP benefits, even more families in our community will struggle to meet one of the most fundamental human needs: food.

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, our basic needs like food, water, and shelter must be met before we can focus on emotional well-being, growth, or healing. When people face food insecurity, it can deeply impact mental health, increasing stress, anxiety, and hopelessness.

In previous roles, I have seen firsthand the importance of SNAP along with other community programs. There are so many families out there who work hard, do whatever they need to do and STILL cannot make ends meet.

This month, we will be collecting non-perishable food donations to support our local food pantries. Every can, box and bag helps nourish both body and mind.

Please reach out if you would like to donate so we can arrange a pick-up or drop off. For anyone who comes to the barn, there will be a box to put your donations.
Monetary donations or grocery gift cards are also welcome.
However, we ask: Please do not drop off without scheduling with us first so we can protect client's privacy!

Together, we can help meet these basic needs and remind our neighbors that they are not alone. While we may not be able to eradicate world hunger, we can help make sure someone's kids don't go to bed hungry tonight.
🤍🌿

Send a message to learn more

10/17/2025

What a beautiful fall morning!🍂🍁

10/15/2025

Rudy says it’s that timeee!🎃

My long-time clients know what this means😎 For those that don’t, it’s time to paint pumpkins! Every year in October, we change things up a bit and all of my in-person clients are invited to paint a pumpkin during their session if they’d like. It’s always so much fun to see what everyone creates and sometimes the horses get involved too! Stay tuned for all the master pieces in the upcoming weeks🥳

10/01/2025

🌿Chase Update!🌿

Chase has been with us for 6 weeks today! He has quickly become a client favorite around here. It has been such a fun journey to watch him adjust to domestic life and it’s safe to say, I don’t think he minds it much😂

Chase spent about 4 weeks in quarantine to make sure that he was not carrying any illness that he may have acquired during his travels here from North Dakota that he could pass onto the other horses. During that time, we allowed him time to settle while also started teaching him skills he will need in order to be part of our herd including haltering and leading.

After that, he spent 1 week in a separate field that is adjacent to the other horses so they could get to know each other safely over the fence. Last Monday he was introduced into the herd with Dually and Rudy which deemed to be uneventful. Dually and Rudy have a close relationship so now Chase is figuring out where he fits in.

Chase had minimal handling before arriving however, was still very curious and friendly with people, making things a bit easier. It was also a big factor as to why he was chosen to join us in the first place.

Since arriving, he has learned:
- to be haltered and lead
- to be brushed with different kinds of brushes
- about staying in a stall (his favorite)
- to wear a fly mask
- how to eat out of a hay net
- how to walk through gates
- how to eat feed that is not hay or grass
- that humans need more space than other horses

He is such a smart, curious, gentle, intuitive, brave guy. He is the first to greet clients out in the field and is also learning how to ask for scratches. I have already gotten amazing feedback from clients about what spending time with him does for their nervous system. While it is always his choice to interact with them, he has chosen to 100% of the time so far.

We are so glad to have him here! Stay tuned for more updates on his progress as he continues to settle into our world and find what magic he has to offer us!
🌿🤍

*any client identities are protected*

09/26/2025

What a gorgeous rainbow over the farm this evening!

“Rainbows exist to prove that beautiful things can happen even after a bad storm” - Roger Lee
🌈🤍

09/23/2025

This weekend, Sarah Lambert of Lambert Equine and I had the joy of hosting Child & Family Resources Inc for an Equine-Assisted Learning team building event for some of their staff.

Together, we explored communication, trust, and relationship building- not just with one another, but also with our equine partners.

Through activities like guiding a horse as a team, practicing nonverbal communication, and reflecting on the wisdom of the herd, participants discovered new ways to:
✨ Strengthen communication
✨ Build collaboration
✨ Deepen awareness of themselves and others

It was incredible to witness how the horses reflected the group’s process, offering honest feedback and gentle reminders about presence, patience, and connection.

A huge thank you to Child and Family Resources for the important work you do, and to each provider who showed up with openness and courage. Your commitment to children, families, and each other shines brightly.
🤍🌿

09/22/2025

Last week, I had a session with a client who is also a therapist. We were discussing the helplessness that they felt about the current state of our country. They shared that avoidance had been their main coping skill because being uninformed made them feel safer however, it also made them feel just that: uninformed.

From that, they identified the root of their avoidance which included feelings of guilt and shame. Ultimately, to them, it felt like it's too big for them to influence.

This conversation made me think: How many other people are feeling like this right now? Helpless, hopeless, angry, sad.

What we came up with was spreading kindness. Do 1 kind thing for someone a day that is out of the ordinary.
Help the older person at the store with their bags
Give someone a compliment about their appearance or character
Pay for the person's order behind you in line at Starbucks
Let someone cut you in line

These micro-gestures have a macro impact. They are a way that we can make a difference in our immediate world. Imagine the reach this would have if even 25% of people engaged in this practice.

It might help the world, and you, not feel so heavy.
🤍🌿

Send a message to learn more

09/11/2025

Remembering and honoring all those who lost their lives on this day 24 years ago❤️🇺🇸

09/03/2025

🌿 There’s a new guy in town!🌿

Meet Chase!❤️
For anyone who has been to the barn in the past 2 weeks, you may have seen him. He’s hanging out up in the round pen quarantining to make sure he is healthy before we introduce him to his new herd mates.

‼️if you come to the barn and are waiting for your session to start, please do not touch him due to him being quarantined‼️

Chase is a 3 year old Nokota gelding from The Nokota Horse Conservancy® in North Dakota. His breed has a rich history that I will share at a later date but briefly, they are direct descendants of Native American Chief Sitting Bull’s war ponies! If you’re interested in learning more about them now, you can visit their page or their website https://www.nokotahorse.org

He is semi-feral. What does that mean? It means that while he does have some experience with humans, he has not been domesticated. He spent his life living with his herd on hundreds of fenced in acres. They receive emergency medical care as needed, hay in the winter and are looked after by a herd manager however, they live as horses are designed to: living in herds outside walking miles a day in search of grass and water.

Our world is very new to him and he has been taking it all in stride. He is a very friendly guy and loves people so I am confident he will enjoy his work at SPW. He has a lot to learn so it will be some time before he will be handled by clients but he is always up for saying hello and getting scratches.

We are excited to have him and see what kind of wisdom he will offer to those who meet him!
🌿🤍

08/01/2025

🌿Holding Space for the AND🌿

While I know that it is Friday, let’s pretend for a second that it’s still Thursday. I know, I know. Who wants to do that because most of us look forward to Friday’s but humor me just this once. I want to talk about this week’s theme since it’s a big one and Theme Friday just doesn’t have the same ring.

Thank you 😊
This week, I spoke with a lot of clients who were struggling to make sense of their conflicting emotions: feeling grateful but also being angry, experiencing joy while also feeling sad. I hear a lot of “I don’t know which one is the right thing to feel” thinking that it needs to be one or the other.

Here’s the thing: there are no right or wrong feelings. Period.
You feel what you feel and whatever that is, is absolutely valid.
What we do when we feel any particular feeling is where things can get a little tricky.

So why is this so hard for us to hold space for two opposing emotions at the same time? Well, a big part of it is how our nervous system works. It is designed to keep us SAFE, not happy.
But when we feel safe, we can experience happiness.

So when we have two emotions coming up, it feels threatening to our nervous system because it doesn’t know which one it should give it’s attention to. The one we give attention to is the one that is going to grow and what we are prepping to take action over.

Guess which one usually wins?
The one that is the most uncomfortable.

Another reason is because our brain processes in layers. When we feel safe, all parts of our brain are firing. The more distressed we become, the more sections shut down and the first to go offline is our prefrontal cortex which is responsible for logical thinking. Our limbic system tends to stay active the longest which is our emotional center and responsible for fight/flight/freeze/fawn. So, since we lose our ability to critically think, our brain will choose to focus on the emotion that is the most threatening so it can work to eradicate the stress: enter Anxiety.
Ever heard of her?

Now that you have a better understanding of what is happening, what can you do?
Something I’ve been offering and practicing with clients this week utilizing CBT is utilizing “and”.

That sounds something like:
“A part of me feels stressed and another part of me is also excited about this experience”
“This feels hard and I am proud of how far I’ve come”
“I am sad because I miss them and also feel relieved I don’t have the challenges of the relationship”
Both things can be true for you at the same time.

Practicing reframing to using “and” and also identifying that a part of you feels x and a part of you feels y can be helpful instead of looking at you as a whole.

Give this some thought on where you might be struggling to hold space for more than one emotion and give this a try to see how it feels.
It may feel challenging and you can do hard things.
🤍

07/18/2025

🌿The Push-Pull of Visibility 🌿

This week, a theme was evident among quite a few of my sessions: wanting to feel seen but when we are seen, feeling uncomfortable about it. They expressed a desire for people to truly know them but then, were afraid to be authentically themselves.

Some of those thoughts might sound like:
✨ "I want you to notice me, but please don’t look too closely."
✨ "I want to share, but I’m afraid of what you’ll think."
✨ "I crave belonging, but I hide the parts of me I’m most ashamed of."

This inner conflict is more common than we often realize. It’s the product of past experiences, protective parts of ourselves, and a nervous system that’s learned to be cautious.

Healing doesn’t mean choosing one side of the dichotomy - it means holding space for both truths:
You deserve to be seen gently, safely, and fully
And it’s okay to be scared of that, too

Therapy can be the place where you practice being seen — slowly, and on your terms.

If this resonates with you, know you're not the only one navigating this tender space. And you're already doing the work by noticing it.
🤍

06/23/2025

🚨Equine sessions are canceled for the next 3 days

All sessions will be held in my office or virtually. It is unsafe for both horses and humans to be outside and/or working with the extreme heat for the duration of a session.

The horses are all inside with plenty of hay standing in front of their fans. They will be hosed down and provided fresh, cool water with added electrolytes throughout the day.

Make sure you stay cool and hydrated too!😎💦