Rachel Anne Kieran, Psy.D., 4268 Canton Road, Brookhaven, GA (2025)

08/21/2025

🌙 Crafting Retreat: A Return to Yourself 🌙
A summary of our Self-Care Retreat series

Retreat isn’t escape.
It’s reconnection. A sacred boundary. A deliberate pause.
It’s not reserved for the wealthy, thin, neurotypical, or able-bodied.
Retreat is for anyone who needs to come home to themselves.

Throughout this series, we explored:

🪷 What retreat really means — not a destination, but a state of intention
🧭 Questions to guide your retreat — personalized, rooted in your actual needs
🏞️ What a retreat can look like — sensory-friendly, solo or communal, spiritual or simple
🕯️ How to build rhythm & ritual — using sacred structure without pressure
📖 Planning your own retreat — with tools for embodiment, reflection, and rest

At the heart of it all:
You deserve space to breathe.
Not because you’ve earned it, but because you exist.

✨ May your next retreat — whether it’s two hours or a full weekend — be a time of deep tending, sacred listening, and unapologetic rest.

Because rest is resistance.
And your healing is holy.

08/19/2025

Ready to craft your retreat?

Here’s a soft starting point:
🪶 Choose a time — even 2 hours counts
🌾 Name a need: rest, clarity, creativity, connection, release
🕯️ Create a container: pick a space, gather your tools, light a candle
📖 Choose 1 or 2 retreat prompts:
• What am I releasing?
• What wants to be nurtured?
• What do I want to hear from my body, spirit, or inner self?

💬 Tip: build in integration. Retreats don’t have to end with “solutions.” Sometimes the gift is quiet knowing.

🌿 Your retreat doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. It just has to feel like you.

________________________
I am a therapist writing a book about therapy for pagans. I am a co-founder of PATH - Pagan Affirming Therapy & Healthcare, a specialty list of pagan affirming providers.

I am also the owner and director of StorieBrook Therapy Consulting, a therapy practice focused on sexual, gender & relationship diversity, neurodiverse- & pagan-affirming services, and body liberation.

I also train other mental health professionals on ethical & competent care for marginalized populations.

08/18/2025

If you haven't claimed your space for this event on Wednesday, do it now. Or save the date for the next sound journey!

This event is limited to 15 attendees, so claim your space now!
www.storiebrook.com/events/soundjourney

Come experience deep relaxation and reflection as we down-regulate our nervous systems together in a sensory friendly and accessible space
- Sliding Scale pay rates available.
- Neurodiverse friendly location with multiple rooms to choose from.
- Fully accessible location with multiple options for sitting or lying down.

www.storiebrook.com/events/soundjourney

Sound journeys are a space to decompress and tune into yourself more deeply. No previous experience required, just a willingness to witness yourself and be present. Skye uses a mix of ambient instruments and vocals to help you attune to the moment and relax your nervous system.

www.storiebrook.com/events/soundjourney

08/14/2025

If you’re used to caring for everyone else, retreat can feel unnatural. Even selfish.
But here’s the reframe:
Boundaries are sacred. So is your energy.

Ritual can help anchor your retreat:
🔲 A beginning (blessing, breath, lighting a candle)
🔲 A middle (nourishment, reflection, expression)
🔲 A closing (gratitude, intention-setting, grounding)

You deserve rhythms that hold you — not just the world around you.

Let your retreat be a container for rest, not another thing to perform.

________________________
I am a therapist writing a book about therapy for pagans. I am a co-founder of PATH - Pagan Affirming Therapy & Healthcare, a specialty list of pagan affirming providers.

I am also the owner and director of StorieBrook Therapy Consulting, a therapy practice focused on sexual, gender & relationship diversity, neurodiverse- & pagan-affirming services, and body liberation.

I also train other mental health professionals on ethical & competent care for marginalized populations.

08/12/2025

Retreats aren’t always dramatic. They’re not performative.
They’re intentional. And that changes everything.

A retreat can look like:
🛏️ A weekend with your phone off and your favorite books on hand
🧶 A day to craft, journal, or create ritual
🌲 A silent walk in the woods — or an evening bath by candlelight
🎧 A neurodivergent-friendly playlist + a stim-friendly blanket fort
🕯️ A circle of altar items and time spent in meditation or spellwork

It might be solo. It might be shared.
It might be joyful, weepy, chaotic, or slow.

However it looks — the question is:
Does it reconnect you with yourself?

________________________
I am a therapist writing a book about therapy for pagans. I am a co-founder of PATH - Pagan Affirming Therapy & Healthcare, a specialty list of pagan affirming providers.

I am also the owner and director of StorieBrook Therapy Consulting, a therapy practice focused on sexual, gender & relationship diversity, neurodiverse- & pagan-affirming services, and body liberation.

I also train other mental health professionals on ethical & competent care for marginalized populations.

08/10/2025

So looking forward to Wednesday, August 20th! Having attended one of Skye's events before, I know this is going to fill my soul (and my cup) up again! Come join us. or plan ahead to make the next one.

This event is limited to 15 attendees, so claim your space now!
www.storiebrook.com/events/soundjourney

Come experience deep relaxation and reflection as we down-regulate our nervous systems together in a sensory friendly and accessible space
- Sliding Scale pay rates available.
- Neurodiverse friendly location with multiple rooms to choose from.
- Fully accessible location with multiple options for sitting or lying down.

www.storiebrook.com/events/soundjourney

Sound journeys are a space to decompress and tune into yourself more deeply. No previous experience required, just a willingness to witness yourself and be present. Skye uses a mix of ambient instruments and vocals to help you attune to the moment and relax your nervous system.

www.storiebrook.com/events/soundjourney

08/07/2025

Not every retreat is built the same.
Some people crave silence. Others crave singing.
Some need movement. Others need stillness.

To craft your retreat, start here:

✨ What parts of me feel most depleted?
✨ What has been calling for attention, but keeps getting drowned out?
✨ When do I feel most like myself — or closest to something sacred?

Then ask:
🌿 What needs to be left behind for a while?
🌿 What do I want to be surrounded by — sound, scent, texture, space?
🌿 What would it mean to retreat without shame?

Your retreat is yours. Let it honor your truth.

________________________
I am a therapist writing a book about therapy for pagans. I am a co-founder of PATH - Pagan Affirming Therapy & Healthcare, a specialty list of pagan affirming providers.

I am also the owner and director of StorieBrook Therapy Consulting, a therapy practice focused on sexual, gender & relationship diversity, neurodiverse- & pagan-affirming services, and body liberation.

I also train other mental health professionals on ethical & competent care for marginalized populations.

08/05/2025

BIG exciting news (for me anyway) - I'm on retreat this week. For me that means lots of water and sunshine, time to read quietly, sleep extra, and lots of reflection and stretching (mental, physical and emotional). This got me thinking about how we can all create our own retreats, because what works for me is not what you need. So here comes a 5 part guide, on creating your own retreat time, which I will post in full again once it is complete! Wellness is Work, Self-Care is a Revolutionary Act
________________________

A retreat isn’t always a cabin in the woods.
It doesn’t have to be a spa, a plane ticket, or an Instagram aesthetic.

🌿 A retreat is any time you intentionally withdraw from daily noise to return to yourself.
It is a sacred pause. A boundary. A softening.
It can be spiritual, practical, or both.

Sometimes it’s days. Sometimes it’s an afternoon.
But the essence remains:
✨ Time apart, for deeper connection.

You don’t need permission. You don’t need to earn it.
You’re allowed to step away and tend to yourself.

________________________
I am a therapist writing a book about therapy for pagans. I am a co-founder of PATH - Pagan Affirming Therapy & Healthcare, a specialty list of pagan affirming providers.

I am also the owner and director of StorieBrook Therapy Consulting, a therapy practice focused on sexual, gender & relationship diversity, neurodiverse- & pagan-affirming services, and body liberation.

I also train other mental health professionals on ethical & competent care for marginalized populations.

08/01/2025

I am so excited to share this experience in our space on Wednesday, August 20th! Having attended one of Skye's events before, I know this is going to fill my soul (and my cup) up again! Come join us.

This event is limited to 15 attendees, so claim your space now!
www.storiebrook.com/events/soundjourney

Come experience deep relaxation and reflection as we down-regulate our nervous systems together in a sensory friendly and accessible space
- Sliding Scale pay rates available.
- Neurodiverse friendly location with multiple rooms to choose from.
- Fully accessible location with multiple options for sitting or lying down.

www.storiebrook.com/events/soundjourney

Sound journeys are a space to decompress and tune into yourself more deeply. No previous experience required, just a willingness to witness yourself and be present. Skye uses a mix of ambient instruments and vocals to help you attune to the moment and relax your nervous system.

www.storiebrook.com/events/soundjourney

07/31/2025

Andrea Gibson, (they/m), 1975-2025

Farewell, tender warrior.

This is simply an Andrea Gibson appreciation post. While they will be missed, those of us inspired by their work will carry on the fierce loving, because Andrea wanted that more than anything. Thank you AG ❤.

To read more of Andrea's work, listen to them read or speak, or be inspired by their story, check out some of the links below:

https://andreagibson.substack.com/p/17-ways-to-open-your-heart?r=8e3sk
https://andreagibson.org/
https://andreagibson.substack.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0kQRe2ipXDXB_Lh8PwouBw
________________________

I am a therapist writing a book about therapy for pagans. I am a co-founder of PATH - Pagan Affirming Therapy & Healthcare, a specialty list of pagan affirming providers.

I am also the owner and director of StorieBrook Therapy Consulting, a therapy practice focused on sexual, gender & relationship diversity, neurodiverse- & pagan-affirming services, and body liberation.

I also train other mental health professionals on ethical & competent care for marginalized populations.

07/29/2025

Lammas Gratitude Practice
Honoring what has grown, even if it came through struggle.

Lammas is the first harvest — a sacred pause to notice what has ripened in your life.
But let’s be clear:
Gratitude isn’t about toxic positivity. It’s about witnessing what is real.

This season, try asking:
🌿 What have I tended — even when I was exhausted?
🌿 What inner truth has taken root, despite the storm?
🌿 What am I carrying into this harvest that the world said I couldn’t grow?

Gratitude doesn’t mean ignoring pain.
It means saying: “Even here, something sacred grew.”

🖊️ Journaling Prompt:
What am I grateful for that required my resilience?
What part of my journey this year deserves recognition, even if it’s unfinished?

Because you didn’t have to bloom perfectly to be worth celebrating.

Blessed Lammas.
May you gather what is yours with joy and gentleness.

________________________
I am a therapist writing a book about therapy for pagans. I am a co-founder of PATH - Pagan Affirming Therapy & Healthcare, a specialty list of pagan affirming providers.

I am also the owner and director of StorieBrook Therapy Consulting, a therapy practice focused on sexual, gender & relationship diversity, neurodiverse- & pagan-affirming services, and body liberation.

I also train other mental health professionals on ethical & competent care for marginalized populations.

07/22/2025

On burnout, overwhelm & why stress management is not optional!

Why? Because today I almost blew up the office.....

Not intentionally, of course.
I was pouring tea into two mugs - one ceramic, and one a rechargeable mug that would heat slowly. Before turning away to another task, I put the ceramic mug in the microwave to heat...or so I thought!

Next thing I heard was the microwave door banging as the rechargeable mug exploded across the office kitchen!

So what does this have to do with burnout & stress management ?
Surprisingly, everything!
I KNOW that one my my telltale signs that I am doing too much is making minor oversights like this.
This is common among neurodiverse folx!

If I don’t stop, make some additional time for rest and recuperative activities, and engage in things that regulate my system, it is likely that more of these (and worse) errors will occur. I will get in fender benders, mail things to the wrong places, leave attachments off e-mails (more than usual), lose things in my house, forget essential tasks, and more.

So what do I do now?
**Yes, I put out the smoldering remains of my beloved rechargeable mug!

The answer here is different for each person.

In my case I need to simplify the tasks I am working on, do just one category of work at a time.

I also need to take a day off from the work I find overstimulating (anything with lots of talking, audio or lights), and spend time in quiet reading, writing and getting enough sleep.

I need to check back in on my regular self-care - am I sleeping well, eating regularly, moving away from my desk occasionally?

How can we make these processes more sustainable?

Why stress management is not optional!

Your nervous system is likely different from mine.

Regardless, we all deserve to find the activities that rejuvenate these systems and help them find their most sustainable balance! So that we can keep doing the work we are passionate about (and not blow up!).

What are the activities that best help you breathe deep? Sleep well? Sit still after? Smile more? Feel seen?

Crafting your personal self care plan is an ongoing journey, and absolutely essential in an overwhelming world!

Rachel Anne Kieran, Psy.D.

08/21/2025

08/19/2025

08/18/2025

08/14/2025

08/12/2025

08/10/2025

08/07/2025

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