Willow Oak Counseling

08/21/2025

Your childhood trauma did not make you stronger.
It made you a people pleaser.
It made it impossible for you to give up on people.
It made you exhaustingly empathetic.
It made you constantly feel responsible for problems you didn’t create.
It made you feel everything in extremes.

But here’s what you need to know:
Your trauma does not define your worth.
You are not broken, you adapted to survive.
And now, you are allowed to unlearn the patterns that once kept you safe.
You are allowed to set boundaries, to rest, to say no, to choose you.
You don’t have to carry what was never yours to hold.
Your sensitivity is not a flaw, it’s evidence of your depth, your humanity.

You are not too much.
You are not too needy.
You are someone who loved hard in a world that didn’t always love you back.

And that? That makes you brave.
You’re allowed to rewrite the story.
You’re allowed to heal loud.
And you’re allowed to take up space, just as you are.

09/16/2024

Sept. 15-21 is Child Passenger Safety Week. Cars are the most common form of transportation but also they are the leading cause of death for children. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2022, a total of 756 children died in passenger vehicles and more than 120,000 were injured. Many of these deaths and injuries are a result of children being in the wrong type of car seat or not restrained.

Make sure that your children are always in the correct seat for their height and age as car seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71% for infants and 54% for toddlers according to NHTSA. Also, always strap them in before you start driving.

09/14/2024

09/02/2024

September is National Su***de Prevention Awareness Month!!

No matter who you are… please always remember:

You are loved.
You matter.
You are enough,
And your life is worth fighting for.
You are worth fighting for.
Please please talk to someone. Anyone.

💚🫂

09/02/2024

Reminding our redline heroes that their mental health matters as September is Su***de prevention month! We brought our local fire department breakfast for them to enjoy in the morning ☀️ & They gave the kids fire hats 🧑‍🚒

06/17/2024

Today I had the opportunity to take a tour and meet some of the staff and students at the Pace Center For Girls, Polk ! This organization is dedicated to providing girls the best possible opportunity to succeed in their education! I was honored to get to learn more about this program & look forward to collaborating with them in the future!

Pace provides girls an opportunity for a better future through education, counseling, advocacy and training.

03/14/2024

March is National Social Work Month 💜 If you know a social worker stop and thank them, the amount of countless unpaid hours this profession brings can be overwhelming and exhausting… so the ones who push through and see the value in the profession deserve to be noticed ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

03/12/2024

Let me help you heal ❤️ Let me help you learn new responses to break the cycle of responses you learned that cause hurt. I believe in you 💜

Heal. Your mom may never apologize to you, because she is following what she was conditioned to do, believing that she did right by you. She hasn’t healed.

Heal. Your father may never apologize to you, because he can only see what he’s done right because that is what he was taught to do. He hasn’t healed.

Heal. Your family members may never apologize to you, because toxicity is what they were raised in. They haven’t healed.

Heal. That “friend” may never apologize to you, because he/she isn’t sorry and doesn’t know how to be. He/she hasn’t healed.

If/when they reach their healing, they may seek your forgiveness. Be so healed that it won’t even matter.

Heal. For you. You owe it to yourself.