Catalina Fortich Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

01/16/2026

This mental health tip could be the reason why why are stuck in your relationships, in your healing and growth.

01/06/2026

What relational patterns did you have to unlearn from your own upbringing in order to have healthier adult relationships?
I will start…
I had to learn to repair. That talking about what hurt me or how I hurt you is a relational skill and necessary to have a healthy relationship and not an admission of fault. We all are capable of hurting others. Not all of us learned how to take accept that with grace and maturity.
Your turn in the comments 👇🏼

12/23/2025

Emotions are NOT the enemy. They never were. It still baffles me 10 years in this field, and 100s of clients later how scared, confused and avoidant we are of emotions.
The biggest shock is that there are still therapy models when they overly focus on coping skills and positive thinking can inadvertently perpetuate this idea that emotions are to be “managed away”.
Yes, let’s learn to self-soothe, let’s learn to communicate assertively AND let’s also normalize emotions and feeling as a way to understand ourselves and others in a deeper sense.

12/02/2025

11/25/2025

It’s hard to hold truths others don’t see.
Sometimes it feels like you have an advantage point — like you understand something others can’t. But the moment you become too sure of your truth, you risk ending up right where everyone else is.

Stay humble. Stay open.
The point isn’t to be certain — it’s to stay willing to see from new perspectives. That’s the only way we ever get closer to what “truth” really is.

Don’t forget to

11/05/2025

10/16/2025

Yesterday I heard new song Raíces (which means Roots) and this phrase just stuck with me. As a family and couples therapist that works with a lot of attachment trauma, estrangement in families and just basic heartbreak, I can say that it is so important that we understand that when we are raising a child, we are cultivating their self esteem, and essentially the relationships they will have in the future with others and YOU.
There is no child that doesn’t want a relationship with their parent. Ultimately what they don’t want it the rejection, control, heartache, anger or shame that comes with an unhealthy connection.

Even with our best intentions, let’s not forget that we can cause harm.
For example:
• A parent who constantly corrects their child’s behavior may think they’re teaching discipline — but the child may instead learn fear or self-doubt.
• A parent who pushes for high achievement out of love might unknowingly plant anxiety or a feeling of never being “enough.”
• A parent who avoids hard conversations to keep peace might plant emotional distance instead of safety.
Just like this is your child’s first time in their world, learning to navigate it. It’s is also your first time. It’s OK and necessary to ask for help, learn and make changes where necessary.
There is no shame in that!

10/10/2025

This post is to say 1. I am almost back and ready to get back to all my clients after a 5 days of trainings in Oxford with with some if psychology’s most notable leaders on trauma transformation and 2) I was in Sigmund Freuds actual home and private practice in Vienna, Austria and I wanted to share my excitement with you all! The birthplace of my profession and what a journey it has been!
Grateful to have taken this time away, and grateful to be back to you all soon!

09/29/2025

Day 2 of the Masters Conference in and all I can say is what an experience! Getting to meet the people that I have learned so much from and admire in this field of psychology is truly an honor.

We share a common language and career, but most importantly we share a deep desire to help our clients heal from the unspeakable, and “find peace” in what is possible as so brilliantly said today in his session on Parental . Can’t wait for tomorrow!

09/10/2025

This one was a hard and heavy one to make. I don’t think people understand how important it is to heal ourselves to have healthier relationships, raise healthier kids, establish healthier homes and ultimately have healthier communities, government, leaders, etc!
The violence we see is a direct result of the trauma that exists in this world.
Violence is an amalgamation of hate…an inevitable consequence of not knowing how to deal with the pain and suffering. Spoiler alert…hate does not fix hate. More self-loathing does not fix self loathing!
We need to change things around. Are we that far gone that we can’t see it?

09/09/2025

Breaking deeply imbedded patterns and beliefs isn’t easy…but so worth it!
What patterns are you working to address change in your relationships?!

07/31/2025

Parents may work very hard to shield their child from the harms of the world, but they can often neglect to protect them from the greatest harm of all.