The Root Therapy NYC

08/01/2025

Life may break us. Heartbreak, pain, and loss are inevitable the longer we live, but it is what we do with those broken pieces and cracks that makes the difference. We can ignore them and allow them to fester and continue getting worse, or we can face them, embrace them, accept them and move forward. Our cracks are part of our story. They make us unique. They are reminders that we have survived and are still here. Like this photo filling gaps with little pieces of beauty and similarly the Kintsugi Japanese tradition of mending broken pottery with gold, we honor our trials by making them beautiful. We not be able to make every hurt heal completely, but we can allow it to remind us of our strength, our resilience, of what we are capable. Healing does not necessarily look one way or the other - it is unique to each of us. It is not perfect and not every scar will disappear, but when we accept those losses and reframe, we have a better chance of moving forward with our flaws even with mixed feelings about them. Move forward without judgment, you lived through something and you are here to create something beautiful from that brokenness.

07/29/2025

Another day, another reminder - It MATTERS who you surround yourself with. A supportive community can lift you up in rough times as well as be your best cheerleaders through the good too. But in equal measure, surrounding yourself with bad players can drain you emotionally and physically. Gift yourself with the joy that comes with minimizing the ties that do not serve your mental wellness and investing in the emotional banks of those who invest in you. Quality over quantity and authenticity over filters. Be at peace with those that bring you peace. You deserve it and it’s your time to shine.

07/24/2025

07/19/2025

And sometimes when everything else is too heavy, we just need a little levity. Enjoy this therapist joke and recognize what a surprisingly powerful coping tool humor and laughter can be. Laughing has been proven to decrease stress hormones and promote a sense of calm and relaxation. Humor generally produces a positive outlook and the release of feel-good chemicals like endorphins and serotonin.
And when we are sharing those giggles with friends and family, we strengthen bonds and reduce feelings of isolation. May we each enter this weekend with a little sprinkle of joy from a shared moment of humor.

07/17/2025

Wise words from the iconic Mandy Patinkin. Generations have passed being told emotions are not valid and/or make yourself and especially others feel more comfortable by not sharing them or burdening others with your feelings. We need to stuff them down and chin up and move forward. But what we know now is facing our emotions, feeling our feels, processing, and moving through them is so much more impactful for our mental wellness and supportive of our healthy interactions with our family and friends. So don’t try to fix the hard feelings. Don’t try to look away or make it easier for others to digest. Don’t run but face. Sometimes living in the discomfort teaches us more about ourselves - our strengths, our needs, and our resilience. Join us to explore those feelings and needs more and discover your mental wellness.

07/14/2025

Generational trauma transcends our personal experiences and includes the things that happened to our family members before us.

You might even not be aware of the emotional pain and survival and coping skills that may have been passed down to you. But those pieces of us shape how we face stress, if we can or cannot trust, and how we respond in situations of conflict or connection across all of our relationships.

I selected this song because it really hits home the power we have within ourselves to break the chains. We CAN break the cycles of generational trauma. It may feel overwhelming as they are so deeply embedded in our being and our cultural experiences and often we are not aware of the root causes of our actions, and we are not making the connections to that generational trauma. But we owe it to ourselves and if you are a parent to your children to reclaim our emotional safety, set healthy boundaries, and learn how to show up for yourself and others in ways that were not taught to you.

As always, small steps make way for big change. Start by taking stock and enhancing your awareness. Ask yourself if you’re reacting to the current situation or are you reacting from your own childhood hurts. Are you seeing the needs of your child’s behavior? Can you take a moment and acknowledge their truth even if it’s hard for you?

Lean on your support community. As we’ve said before, if that community used to be your family and that same family is the one hindering your growth, expand that community to include healthy relationships that supplement your mental health. Your found family and surrounding community of personal and professional supports can make all the difference in your journey to healing.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. You just have to start

07/08/2025

As the Texan amongst our team, I felt moved to post sharing our practice’s love and support for those impacted by the devastating floods in Texas. It seems like one thing after the next lately with little space to breathe between the incredibly heavy realities our country is facing every day. As a team, we are holding space for those directly impacted, the first responders and volunteers, and those who are grieving this event in all different ways all over the country. We all hurt for those experiencing the heartbreaking losses, but in addition, events such as this can trigger feelings about the fragility of our perceived safety any day for ourselves and our own children. We are here to help process anything that comes up. And lastly again as a Texan myself, may we come together and demonstrate our resilience and our kindness to one another as we navigate this tragedy.

06/28/2025

The othering is being stoked like a fire. Our humanity remains grounded in our connection and tolerance. The world around us is hard enough, and unfortunately we don’t walk around with signs ensuring others understand us and our emotions more fully and our communication even with those closest to us is not always as clear or effective as it could be. So err on the side of caution that you or someone you interact with is going through something unspoken and shower them and yourself with kindness. If we could all react in kindness and act in empathy, imagine how that may feel and the world we might create.

06/27/2025

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a common mental health condition that can develop after the experience of a traumatic event. Symptoms may manifest as flashbacks, anxiety, negative thoughts and beliefs, hyper-vigilance, and more. If you feel like this describes you, know that you are not alone and that you deserve to feel safe and healthy again. Traditional talk therapy has demonstrated great success with reduction of symptoms, but new techniques are being developed all of the time as well. Touch base with our clinicians to see if we can help you take the first step to a healthier you today.

06/19/2025

Happy Juneteenth! The date marks when the federal troops arrived in Galveston to ensure that all enslaved people were officially freed. The freedmen of Texas began the first celebrations the following year as Jubilee Day. In 1979 Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth an official holiday, and it was only in 2021 that President Biden made it a federal holiday. As wider spread awareness and celebration of this important day in our history continues today, it is as important as ever to highlight the ongoing effects of colonialism and remind ourselves of the historical and ongoing struggles for freedom and equality faced by the people of African descent. There is a school of thought that cancel culture is one example of continuing colonialism disproportionately “cancelling” minority voices when they don’t align with current political ideals. Others believe cancel culture is our tool to publicly call out injustice. Today and every day, may we continue the fight together to end systemic oppression and use our voices, our platforms, and our privilege as allies to call out the systemic injustices, vote to change laws and practices, and stand up to truly protect and enforce liberty and justice FOR ALL!

06/16/2025

06/05/2025

Conscious unbossing. Heard of it? It’s the trend where employees, particularly Gen Z, are intentionally avoiding traditional tracks to leadership in their workspaces. In an effort to protect the long sought after work-life balance, these individuals are taking a more aggressive approach and choosing to do less in a world where we are constantly told to do more. They are challenging the historically silently accepted expectations of our previous generations to give all you’ve got and climb the ladder - oftentimes at the expense of our personal lives and mental health. Rather than chasing that promotion or aiming for that higher income bracket, they are actively choosing to be content with avoiding higher stress levels and workloads managing others, the unpaid hours of extra work that’s expected of higher-ups, and potential burn-out. It’s not necessarily about doing a subpar job, but instead showing up doing the job and then going back to your personal life and investing more time and energy there. As the saying goes, you can be replaced at work but not at home. Are we just throwing out the idea of work-life balance all together? Are we phoning it in and the quality of the work products of our employees is going to suffer? Will there be leadership ready and willing individuals when leaders retire? These are questions we will need to address as this trend continues. We all know we need money (and more and more these days) to live, but we are also more increasingly aware that our mental health and joy can come from so much more than our 9-5. So here’s to conscious unbossing - may it be our way to the goal of finding true balance and joy! What are your thoughts on this budding trend?