Creekside Counseling + Wellness

07/22/2025

07/21/2025

07/18/2025

Therapist Self-Care: A Gentle Way to Close the Day

The work I, and my colleagues do, holds so much—stories, grief, breakthroughs, uncertainty, hope.

By the end of the day, my nervous system needs care just as much as the clients I support. One of the kindest ways I’ve learned to transition out of therapist mode is with slow bilateral stimulation—I use the Dharma Dr. tabs with the meditation options on their app.

The pairing is simple but powerful:
✨ The tabs vibrate, alternating slowly in each hand, in sync with the meditation
🌀 The audio offers guided grounding, gentle rhythm, or stillness
🌿 My body softens. My mind quiets.

As an EMDR therapist, we use bilateral stimulation to support our clients healing journey, whether faster for reprocessing distressing events or difficult emotions or slow for building internal resources.

The same slow bilateral give me a way to gently close the day.

We are so proud to partner with Dharma Dr. to provide these tabs to our clients, whether individual or group. If you are interested in learning more, ask your therapist!

07/17/2025

Sometimes it’s not that we don’t want to be kind to ourselves, it’s that we don’t believe we deserve it.

Negative beliefs are often the echoes of early wounds, shaped by past experiences and carried quietly into the present.

This is where EMDR can be transformative, helping you reprocess the roots of these beliefs and create space for something truer. While mindfulness can help you notice those moments of self-rejection with more awareness and compassion.

Healing happens one belief at a time, with both wings open, mindfulness and compassion.

07/14/2025

Unfolding the Wings of Acceptance

Tara Brach reminds us that true self-acceptance rests on two wings: the wing of clear seeing (mindfulness) and the wing of compassion. But what happens when these wings feel hard to open?

For many of us, shame shows up right at the edge of self-acceptance. You may know the value of mindfulness or kindness toward yourself, but feel blocked,tuck in old patterns or self-critical loops. This is often where the past becomes present. Deeply held beliefs like “I’m not enough” or “I don’t deserve care” resurface, making acceptance feel out of reach.

You’re not alone. This is where support matters.

Caroline Vogel’s upcoming Mindfulness Group (starting in August) offers a grounded, gentle space to explore and strengthen both wings, presence and compassion, within a community.

At Creekside, we also offer EMDR Therapy to help shift those deeper, negative beliefs that hijack the present moment. Together, these practices help you come home to yourself, softly, steadily, and with support.

🌿 Learn more or reach out to join the group or start EMDR at
www.creeksidecounseling-wellness.com

07/12/2025

It's Self-Care Saturday!! Self-compassion is good self-care, it is treating ourselves with kindness when we need it the most.

💥 Let’s bust a myth:
Self-compassion is not the same as letting yourself off the hook.

In fact, research shows the opposite, self-compassion helps us take more responsibility, not less. Why? Because when we treat ourselves with kindness instead of criticism, we’re more likely to face challenges honestly and grow from them.

As Dr. Kristen Neff puts it:
"Self-compassion is one of the most powerful sources of strength, coping, and resilience we have."

It’s not weakness, it’s brave, grounded accountability.

07/11/2025

🌿 The July Newsletter is live!

If you have not signed up to receive the newsletter, you can sign up through the website at www.creeksidecounseling-wellness.com. No spam, we promise!! You do not want to miss out.