Leticia Ferraro, LMHC

05/26/2026

♥️

05/26/2026

The best…he reminds me of being in the Landmark Forum all over again.

05/24/2026

05/24/2026

Trust is one of the first things we learn in childhood.

Long before we enter romantic relationships, friendships, or business partnerships, we are learning whether the world feels emotionally safe through our primary caregivers and early attachment experiences.

Some people grow up believing trust is freely given until someone breaks it.
Others grow up believing trust must constantly be earned, proven, and protected.

Neither mindset develops out of nowhere.
They are often shaped by inconsistency, abandonment, betrayal, criticism, emotional safety… or the lack of it.

The problem is that when fear becomes the foundation, relationships can suffer.
When someone is constantly searching for signs that they’ll be hurt, lied to, rejected, or abandoned, it can create control, suspicion, anxiety, defensiveness, hypervigilance, or emotional distance.

And the truth is…
Healthy relationships, families, friendships, teams, and communities are all built on trust.

Without trust:
• communication breaks down
• intimacy struggles to grow
• people feel unsafe to be themselves
• connection turns into protection and survival

Trust doesn’t mean ignoring red flags or abandoning boundaries.
But it does mean recognizing that unresolved fear from childhood can quietly shape how we love, connect, lead, and receive love from others.

Healing attachment wounds matters.
Not just for relationships with others… but for the relationship we have with ourselves.

05/24/2026

The 3 P’s: Pause. Pray. Proceed.

When emotions are high, fear is loud, or life feels uncertain…
most of us want to react immediately.
We want answers now.
Control now.
Relief now.

But healing has taught me that some of the greatest mistakes are made in moments we refused to pause.

So today, before the text…
before the argument…
before the impulsive decision…
before letting fear lead…

Try the 3 P’s:

Pause — Give yourself a moment to breathe instead of react.
Pray — Invite God, wisdom, clarity, and peace into the situation.
Proceed — Move forward intentionally, not emotionally.

This simple process has saved relationships, protected my peace, and helped me respond in ways I can actually be proud of later.

You don’t have to have all the answers immediately.
Sometimes the strongest thing you can do is slow down long enough to hear what truly matters.

Pause. Pray. Proceed.
It works when nothing else does. ✨

05/19/2026

🙏🏼

For those of you that know, this is my daughter, Madi.

For those of that don’t know, this is my daughter, Madi.

For those of you that know, you know.

For those of you that don’t know, she is an addict.

I have been on this journey with her since she was 14 years old. She will celebrate her 20th birthday in 37 days. Which is ironic because I was 20 when I had her. We are 6 years and 3 rehabs in. Read on.

Did you know that addiction is classified in the DSM-5? It’s a mental illness that lives in the brain stem: the same brain stem that serves a critical role in regulating certain involuntary actions of the body, including heartbeat and breathing. Pause on that. Addicts feel that they need their drug of choice (DOC) the same way they feel they need to breathe. Pause on that.

Did you know that our society treats addiction as a moral issue and pawns it off on law enforcement to “control”? The average stay in jail is 14 days or less. Where addicts are left to detox alone…outside of medical supervision.
Did you know the detox process can be violent and result in death if not monitored by medical professionals?
The addict is then released at the time their serotonin levels are at their lowest, leading to a high rate of relapse. It’s a pun to say this is criminal. It takes an average of 14-16 months of sobriety for an addict’s brain to balance serotonin levels to that of a neuro-typical brain. Did you know that? Did you know that most insurances will only pay for

05/14/2026

The best! Congratulations Brené Brown! 🙏🏼✨🫶🏼♥️

Yesterday marked my 30-year sobriety birthday, and I wanted to celebrate by sharing one gratitude for each decade.

1. My sobriety will always be the most important thing I do, because it allows me to fully love—and be loved by—the people who matter most in my life. I’m grateful for it every single day, even when it feels like a street fight.

2. Five years ago, a woman approached me in an airport and thanked me for writing about sobriety as a superpower. She said it helped her get sober. I’m grateful for all the people whose words helped me along the way. Before boarding her flight, she asked if I’d accept a gift from a stranger. I said yes. She handed me her first AA chip. I carry it in my purse every day. We were never strangers.

3. My favorite line from the AA Big Book reads: “That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we have been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.”

Understanding and keeping in fit spiritual condition has been a decades-long challenge for me. I wrote about it in the final chapter of Strong Ground and I thought I’d share that full chapter with you today as a “thank you.” To read, go to the home page of brenebrown.com.

Today I am sober af and I am grateful. ❤️

05/12/2026

Cognitive dissonance is uncomfortable for a reason.
It’s the tension we feel when our current behavior no longer matches who we want to become.

It’s the space between:

* where we are and where we want to go
* what we say we value and what we tolerate
* what feels familiar and what would actually heal us

Growth often feels uncomfortable before it feels freeing.
Why? Because the mind wants safety, even when the heart is asking for change.

Sometimes cognitive dissonance looks like:

* staying in relationships that no longer align
* repeating patterns we promised we’d stop
* knowing better but struggling to do better
* outgrowing old beliefs while still feeling attached to them

But discomfort is not always a sign that something is wrong.
Sometimes it’s evidence that transformation is happening.

Healing requires honesty.
And honesty can feel painful before it feels peaceful.

Therapy helps us close the gap between who we are today and who we are becoming.
You don’t have to stay stuck between the two versions of yourself forever.

“Growth begins the moment your comfort zone no longer agrees with your soul.”

MentalHealthAwareness L-evate Therpay Healing Transformation EmotionalWellness

05/10/2026

Some of us were blessed with mothers who taught us how to love, trust, and feel safe in this world.
Others had mothers who were doing the best they could while carrying wounds of their own.

Mother’s Day can bring gratitude, joy, grief, longing, healing… or all of it at once.

No matter what your relationship with your mother looks like, today is a reminder that nurturing matters. The way we love, protect, encourage, and show up for one another has the power to shape lives.

To the mothers…
To the women who stepped into mothering roles…
To the women healing from motherhood wounds…
To the women longing to become mothers…
And to the women learning to re-mother themselves with compassion and grace…

You are seen. 🤍

Happy Mother’s Day.
— L-evate Therapy | Rise Above It

05/09/2026

One thing I’ve learned over time is that making a proper apology or amends isn’t just about saying “I’m sorry.”

Apologizing can be easy.
But making amends means taking the time to notice how your behavior or words impacted another person… and deciding what you’re going to do differently so it doesn’t happen again.

An apology without action or correction isn’t really an apology at all.
It may relieve guilt for the person who made the mistake, but it still leaves the hurt person without resolution.

Real accountability sounds like:
“I see how I hurt you.”
“I understand why it hurt.”
“And I’m willing to change the behavior moving forward.”

A proper amends also means not becoming defensive when someone shares their pain.
It means understanding that forgiveness may not happen immediately, and that the person who was hurt gets to have their own feelings and timeline.

Sometimes amends are not proven in one conversation, but through consistency over time.
Through changed behavior.
Through becoming safer, kinder, more aware, and more intentional.

Because making amends is not about convincing someone to move on.
It’s about becoming someone healthier moving forward.

A true amends centers healing for the impacted person, not just relief for the person who caused the harm.
And sometimes the most meaningful amends is respecting boundaries and quietly changing patterns without needing recognition for it.

Let’s be better at making proper amends.
Our relationships are worth it.

And more importantly…
You are worth it. ♥️