Cedar & Ivy Counseling Services, PLLC

10/23/2025

When people think about trauma responses, we often hear about fight or flight, but there are actually four main ways our nervous system reacts to threat:

🩶 Fight: confronting or pushing back
🩶 Flight: escaping or avoiding
🩶 Freeze: shutting down or feeling paralyzed
🩶 Fawn: people-pleasing or appeasing to stay safe

If you’ve ever felt unable to move forward, make decisions, or even feel your emotions, that could be your body doing its best to protect you. It’s not weakness or laziness. It’s your body saying, “I don’t feel safe enough to act yet.”

In therapy, we work gently with these responses to help your body and mind recognize safety again, helping you move from survival into healing. 💚

10/21/2025

Rainy days call for cozy sweatshirts and showing up just as you are.

At Cedar & Ivy, we believe in creating space for authenticity, whether you’re seeking support or offering it. That means our therapists show up as their full, human selves too.

Because healing doesn’t require perfection. Just presence, connection, and a little comfort. 🌦️☕️

10/19/2025

What Is a Window of Tolerance?

Your window of tolerance is the range where you can manage emotions, stay grounded, and respond to life’s ups and downs with balance.

When you’ve experienced trauma or chronic stress, that window can narrow. This makes it easier to feel overwhelmed, anxious, or shut down. You might find yourself swinging between high alert (anxiety, panic, anger) and numbness (disconnection, exhaustion, shutdown).

Therapy helps widen that window. Over time, you can learn to recognize your body’s signals, regulate emotions, and return to a place of calm and connection more easily.

At Cedar & Ivy Counseling Services, we help clients find their way back into that window, where healing and growth can truly happen.

10/14/2025

Struggling with boundaries? A+ advice by Michael Scott.

10/12/2025

Sunday funny brought to you by Psychotherapy Memes, good questions brought to you by the Cedar & Ivy team 🤓🤣

10/12/2025

🏳️‍🌈 National Coming Out Day

Today and every day, Cedar & Ivy Counseling Services celebrates authenticity, courage, and connection.

Whether you’re out, questioning, or exploring your identity privately, you are safe, seen, and welcome here. Our therapy space is one of support and understanding. It is a place where all parts of who you are belong.

Healing and growth happen when you can show up as your true self, and we’re honored to walk alongside you on that journey. 💚

10/08/2025

Mental Health Tip from our very own Angela: Name it to tame it.

When emotions feel overwhelming, whether it's anxiety, grief, or irritability, simply naming what you're feeling can help regulate your nervous system.

This small act of self-awareness activates the thinking part of your brain, creating space between you and the emotion.

It's not about minimizing your experience; it's about reclaiming your power to respond rather than react.

Next time you feel flooded:

🌱Pause
🌱Breathe
🌱Say, "this is anxiety," or "this is grief."

You might be surprised how quickly clarity follows.

10/07/2025

Trauma isn’t always what you think.

It’s not just “big” events, sometimes it’s the small, quiet moments that change how safe you feel in the world.

Your experiences matter, and healing is possible.

Reach out to Cedar & Ivy Counseling Services to start your healing journey 💚

10/06/2025

Mankato community - If you’re looking for a way to give back, Connections would be a great place to lend a helping hand!

Weather has started to get cold and shelter is full.
Many meal and serving volunteer opportunities this week. Especially Tues, Thurs, and Fri.

We are so grateful to volunteers to give their time and culinary talents to make sure guests are fed!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0544ACA922AAFA7-57914762-shelter #/

10/06/2025

Starting the week out with some therapy humor 🤭🤣 Where are my Office fans at?

10/05/2025

🎃👻 Spooky Season PSA from your friendly Mankato trauma & anxiety therapists 👻🎃

It’s officially jump scare season! From haunted houses to horror movie marathons, October loves to keep us on edge. But here’s the thing:

Your brain doesn’t have to live in a haunted house. If your nervous system feels like it’s always bracing for the next “boo,” you're not alone. Anxiety has a way of making everything feel like a horror movie, even when you're just trying to go about your day.

Here's a little grounding skill to try when the “spooky” gets overwhelming:

The 5-4-3-2-1 Technique

Take a deep breath and name:
👁️ 5 things you can see
🤲 4 things you can touch
👂 3 things you can hear
👃 2 things you can smell
👅 1 thing you can taste

It helps bring your brain back to the here and now, instead of the past or the “what ifs” of the future.

So go ahead and enjoy the pumpkins, costumes, and creepy fun. Just remember:

👻 Halloween is meant to be scary for fun, not your everyday default setting.

Happy haunting (and healing),

The Cedar & Ivy team 🧡🕸️

11/27/2024

I had the absolute pleasure of being interviewed by Bold Journey Magazine about the topic of resiliency! 🤍🌱

(link: https://boldjourney.com/meet-bethany-kroesing/)

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bethany Kroesing a few weeks ago and