Branch Counseling, Rebekah Sorkin MA LCSW

07/11/2025

Fearful-Avoidant (sometimes called Disorganized) attachment develops in the context of early relational trauma when the people meant to offer safety were also unpredictable sources of fear, harm or abuse.

You may have grown up longing for closeness and fearing it at the same time, reaching out while pulling back, trying to stay connected and protected in the very same moment. A painful, disorienting and destabilizing dance that kept your nervous system on edge when safety and danger were hard to tell apart.

And while those patterns can make trust feel complicated, they also hold quiet strengths: intuitive truth-seeking, deep empathy, emotional courage, and the ability to sit with complexity and contradiction.

As protective patterns begin to soften in the presence of steady, caring relationships, it becomes easier to sense the difference between what’s familiar vs. what’s truly safe. With gentleness, you can begin to explore new kinds of connection that offer love without confusion, closeness without harm, and a safety that invites you to stay not out of survival, but by choice.

07/08/2025

Avoidant attachment often forms in relationships where emotional closeness felt unpredictable, intrusive, or out of reach. You may have learned to rely on yourself, to stay a step back, and to manage your feelings quietly.

Over time, distance became a way to protect what was tender. And while that space can sometimes make connection feel harder to trust, it also holds real strengths: steadiness, self-awareness, discernment, and the ability to stay calm in moments of intensity.

In the context of safe and dependable relationships, these strengths can begin to stretch, making room for more flexibility, more curiosity, and more trust. As you lean into more secure patterns, you may find yourself reaching out a little more, staying present a little longer, and experiencing connection as a healing invitation, rather than an overwhelming demand.

07/03/2025

Anxious attachment develops in relationships where closeness was inconsistent or hard to trust. You may have learned to stay especially alert, reaching out quickly, trying to fix things, and holding on when connection felt shaky or even hurtful. And even though those patterns can feel exhausting, they also hold quiet strengths, like emotional courage, attunement, persistence, and a deep capacity for care.

When you start to meet those instincts with compassion, they can become tools for healing.
You can still care deeply and have boundaries.
You can still want closeness and practice trust.

You can move toward more secure patterns in your relationships and still keep the parts of you that feel deeply and love wholeheartedly.

07/01/2025

We hear a lot about what we “need” in order to heal from attachment wounds.
The truth is, the list is short, though not small:
Safety, Attunement, and Repair.

We know we can’t offer or expect those things perfectly every time. We miss cues. We’re tired. We hit the edge of our emotional capacity. That’s just being human. So we enter relationships with the understanding that repair is essential.

What we need isn’t perfection. It’s connection.
And for our brain and nervous system to truly recalibrate, we need that dance of safety, attunement, and repair to happen again and again.

Maybe that starts in one of your relationships with a friend, a partner, a family member. Or maybe it begins in therapy, where your therapist and the work you do together create a space for that dance to unfold, week after week.

And over time, what you get to experience in that space starts to show up elsewhere.
The safety you begin to feel in therapy becomes a felt sense you can carry with you.
The patterns you learn become more familiar and start to take root in your everyday life.
And you get to feel how transformative it is when the work you do in one safe relationship makes space for growth in all the others.

Branch Counseling is here to support you on that journey.

06/11/2025

Hey there! I'm Rebekah.
I work with individuals and couples who are carrying hard things.

Trauma, attachment wounds, relationship struggles, complex identities, and the impacts of high-control religion are some of the things I hold and navigate with my clients.

At the center of my work is a belief in post-traumatic growth ~ the quiet, powerful process of returning to Self and safety in the aftermath of harm. Growth that's relational, embodied, and self-led.

It's work I care about deeply and a responsibility I hold with intention and gratitude.

If you're longing for change, or just looking for a place to be seen and supported, you're welcomed, wanted and celebrated here.

05/15/2025

Relational wounds require relational repair.
That’s why the fit between you and your therapist matters.

A secure therapeutic relationship can begin to gently rewire old patterns of distrust, shame, and fear, offering something new:
→ I’m not too much.
→ I’m not alone.
→ I’m worth showing up for.

Neuroscience and attachment research confirm that consistent attunement from a therapist engages the parasympathetic nervous system, downregulating chronic stress and helps the brain to develop new patterns for managing triggers, emotions, building trust, and feeling safe in relationships.

Prioritizing fit gives you permission to trust your gut. To say, this feels right for me, or this doesn’t.
That listening inward? That’s healing, too.

And if something feels off? Choosing to walk away from a therapist who isn’t the right fit isn’t failure ~ it’s part of reclaiming your right to choose who earns the honor of holding your story. That’s not a detour from the work.
It is the work.

Sometimes the connection clicks right away. Other times, it takes time to build.

But even early on, it’s worth gently noticing:
→ Do I feel safe enough to be honest?
Not without activation, but with enough grounding to begin building trust.
→ Do I feel seen and understood?
Are they present, attuned, and genuinely curious about me?
→ Is there room for messy nuance?
Can I bring uncertainty and ambivalence without being rushed to “fix” anything?
→ How do I feel after?
Do I leave feeling steadier or more scrambled?

Therapeutic outcomes are shaped by relationship. The right fit can make all the difference.

05/06/2025