Peace Tree Counseling

07/07/2025

Please share these resources 🙏🫶🏼

06/03/2025

Thanks for showing your colors, Hallowell P.D.!! 🏳️‍🌈

Is your city celebrating Pride this month? I would love to hear how you're finding community in your community! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

06/01/2025

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

05/11/2025

02/07/2025

MAKING SPACE FOR THOSE WHO FEEL PUSHED OUT!!! Please share if you feel inclined!

I am a q***r therapist who is opening some appts exclusively for LGBTQ+ individuals. I work with some insurance companies, but not all unfortunately. I would love to become a resource for anyone whose mental health needs TLC.

I have a 90% q***r caseload, and I am always opening my doors for more people who have been closeted. The political climate is making it so hard for people to feel safe, so I want this to be known as a safe space to extend to your network who may need one. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Every person here exists, and is worthy of the appropriate health care they want to have.

Be the change you want to see in the world. There isn't much I can do about the big government as a small person, but we need to band together to keep our humanity strong, and to take care of those who need it. Take care of your neighbors out there 🙏❤️

https://www.peacetreeme.com

Maine-based Licensed Clinical Social Worker helping adults with anxiety, depression, adjustment disorder, ADHD, gender dysphoria, LGBTQIA2S+ related stressors, relationship distress, burnout, divorce, college entry or dropout, and more.

02/02/2025

👀👀👇👇👇👇👇👇👀👀

Wise and important words from sociologist Jennifer Walter about what is happening in this country right now and what to do about it:

1. The flood of 200+ executive orders in Trump's first days exemplifies Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine" – using chaos and crisis to push through radical changes while people are too disoriented to effectively resist. This isn't just politics as usual – it's a strategic exploitation of cognitive limits.

2. Media theorist McLuhan predicted this: When humans face information overload, they become passive and disengaged. The rapid-fire executive orders create a cognitive bottleneck, making it nearly impossible for citizens and media to thoroughly analyze any single policy.

3. Agenda-setting theory explains the strategy: When multiple major policies compete for attention simultaneously, it fragments public discourse. Traditional media can't keep up with the pace, leading to superficial coverage.

The result? Weakened democratic oversight and reduced public engagement.

What now?

1. Set boundaries: Pick 2-3 key issues you deeply care about and focus your attention there. You can't track everything - that's by design. Impact comes from sustained focus, not scattered awareness.

2. Use aggregators & experts: Find trusted analysts who do the heavy lifting of synthesis. Look for those explaining patterns, not just events.

3. Remember: Feeling overwhelmed is the point. When you recognize this, you regain some power. Take breaks. Process. This is a marathon.

4. Practice going slow: Wait 48hrs before reacting to new policies. The urgent clouds the important. Initial reporting often misses context.

5. Build community: Share the cognitive load. Different people track different issues. Network intelligence beats individual overload.

Remember: They want you scattered. Your focus is resistance.

01/16/2025

Here is your gentle reminder from your local therapist to take your meds today!

Chemical imbalances can send us to really precarious places, and sometimes they're preventable. It's some of the quickest self-care you can do for yourself that will set your day up much better for success.

Do you have trouble remembering to take your medication regularly? Here are some tips:
* Set an alarm if you have trouble with remembering.
* Use a weekly pill organizer to help keep track of whether or not you took your medication today. Sometimes we aren't sure if we took it or not, so having this method can help prevent med errors.
* Ask a friend or family member to check in with you about your med hygiene.
* Tell your therapist you're struggling with your medication management. They can support you in getting back on track.

You're worth taking care of this part of yourself 🙌

11/11/2024

Our good ol' pal, trauma....

11/09/2024

Media is a hard place to feel calm these days...

Get outside, leave it all behind, and breathe in the goodness of the Earth rather than the stress.

11/06/2024

It is a big day. Bring kindness and patience with you along your path, wherever you go. People are dealing with more than you know, and most have a dysregulated nervous system that is on alert to protect them. We aren't interacting with regulated people when we leave our house. Most likely, we aren't regulated people either. Be gentle, be kind, be patient, be the light in someone else's dark.
...also, speaking from the mental health perspective still...who designed our lives to have elections right before the holidays anyway? Isn't this time of year hard enough with family trauma, daylight savings, and seasonal depression? Couldn't get enough? Okay, let's mix it up with an election!

Hug each other. Be nice. Be the light in someone else's dark ✨️ 🙏

08/14/2024

"I got so sick of being who I was that I became someone else".

A recent quote from a brilliant mind I know that has had me spinning lately. ^^^^^^^

Question for the audience: What kinds of things do you do intentionally that help you become your newest version of yourself? (Feel free to share in the comments)

Question to ponder, or for the journal pages: What is one thing that you can do today that helps you connect to the version of you that you want to be? Ex: I'm not super social in this phase of my life, but I still want strong friendships. Today I can reach out to a friend I haven't talked to in a while so that connection doesn't get too dusty.

Photo credit: C. Bellmore, Age 7 1/2

08/13/2024

So many of us try to take on more than we are actually designed to handle, and try to take on priorities of older generations.

There was a recent duscussion in my house about "everyone has dust", so why do we try so hard to pretend like we don't have any when people come over? For me, and many of us, it's because that's how we were brought up. We were brought up by a generation that was brought up by a generation (still with me?) that was REALLY concerned about "keeping up with the Jones'". Appearances of the home were really important, as were meeting the expectations of others.

We are in a completely different time. Working is basically required for most of us in order to survive, so the other pieces need our grace. We all have dust, and it seems we are all too busy to keep up with ALL of the demands of life. No matter what, something isn't tended to. We are just trying to keep above water most days - we need to worry about what we need personally more than what others expect of us!!

Give yourself the gift of allowing yourself to leave some of it undone. Ask for help. Accept help when it is offered. Get takeout when you're too busy to cook. Take the day off. Let the mess be.

You're not a failure for doing any of those. You're taking care of yourself and you're doing what everyone wants to do anyway. It's not weakness. It's not fault. It's not humanly possible to do it all and be okay on the other side!! Honor yourself and allow yourself grace and ease in a life that is already stacked against us and hard enough as it is. You are doing a great job ❤️