applied_counseling

05/07/2026

Mental Health Awareness Month isn’t just about awareness—it’s about action.

It’s checking in on your people.
It’s being honest about how you’re really doing.
It’s choosing growth, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Mental health doesn’t always look obvious.

Sometimes it looks like:
– Overthinking everything
– Feeling exhausted but unable to rest
– Avoiding things you used to enjoy
– Smiling while struggling internally

If that’s you, you’re not alone—and you don’t have to stay there.

This month, consider one step:
✔ Start the conversation
✔ Reach out for support
✔ Set one boundary
✔ Give yourself permission to not be “okay”

Progress doesn’t require perfection—just willingness.

05/06/2026

Love this!!! Thank you!

“Counseling services that include working with children, adolescents and adults that are struggling with mental health concerns.”

05/04/2026

I love the insight that Star Wars can give us so today...

May the 4th Be With You… and Your Mental Health!

A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away....

We learned that the greatest battles aren’t always fought with lightsabers—they’re fought within.

Fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate.
Hate… leads to suffering.

Yoda’s wisdom still applies today.

Unchecked anxiety, distorted thinking, unresolved pain and hurt, and emotional wounds can pull us toward and want us to embrace our own Dark Side.

But counseling can help you recognize those patterns before they take control.

✨ Counseling can help you:

🧠 Retrain unhelpful thought patterns like a Jedi mastering the Force

⚔️ Face inner struggles with courage instead of avoidance

🛡️ Strengthen boundaries like a personal energy shield

🌠 Process grief, trauma, and pain without being consumed by it

🤝 Build connection, because even the strongest heroes need a Rebel Alliance

Luke needed Obi-Wan.
Anakin needed healing.
Leia balanced leadership under pressure.
Even Mandalorians know: strength doesn’t mean walking alone.

Your mind may sometimes feel like it’s battling the Empire of stress, depression, or self-doubt—
but HOPE is never lost.

💙 This May the 4th may you be reminded to:
Choose wisdom over fear.
Choose healing over suffering.
Choose to believe there is still good within you.

The Force isn’t about perfection—it’s about balance.

05/01/2026

Your thoughts shape how you feel, how you respond, and how you see yourself—
but not every thought is accurate or true.

Feelings of pain, anxiety, depression, insecurity, fear or others can distort thinking patterns and create false beliefs. Emotions are important signals but are not accurate interpreters of reality.

Just because you feel:

"Unloved”
“Unsafe”
“Hopeless”
“Like a failure”
...does not automatically make it true.

When repeated often enough, these thoughts can begin to feel like facts.

But feelings and thoughts are not always truth.

Counseling helps uncover these distorted beliefs, examine the evidence behind them, and challenge them with facts and truths.

Ask yourself:

• Is this thought true?
• What evidence supports it?
• Am I assuming the worst?
• Would I say this to someone I love?
• Is there another, healthier perspective?

You can learn to question the internal stories or beliefs that are not based on facts.

Your mind can be retrained.
Your thoughts can be challenged.

04/30/2026

Feelings are real… but they are not reliable narrators.

Just because you feel like a failure doesn’t mean you are one.

Just because you feel unloved doesn’t mean you’re alone.

Just because anxiety says “danger” doesn’t mean you’re actually unsafe.

Feelings deserve attention, not automatic control.

In counseling, we work on recognizing emotions, validating them, and then asking:

“Is this feeling telling me the truth, or just telling me a story?”

You don’t have to believe every thought or emotion that shows up.

04/23/2026

Grief doesn’t follow a timeline.

It doesn’t care how strong you are, how busy you stay, or how much you “should be over it.”

Some days it looks like tears.
Some days it looks like irritability.
Some days it looks like feeling… nothing at all.

All of it is valid.

Grief isn’t something you fix—
it’s something you learn to carry differently over time.

If you’re in it right now:

You’re not behind.
You’re not doing it wrong.
You’re human.

And you don’t have to walk through it alone. 🖤

04/19/2026

There has been a lot going on with new office changes and making the move BUT gotta make time for some fun too!

Fun night being able to sponsor and support a great cause! Grateful for the opportunity to be a part of surrounding area and community events!

04/16/2026

Where are my 90s grunge-loving, alternative friends at?

Anyone still moved by the blissful notes of Mazzy Star, Weezer, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., Oasis, Radiohead???

Interesting read about why the music of your adolescence still resonates deeply!

Psychologists explain why the songs you loved between thirteen and eighteen feel more emotionally powerful at sixty than anything you've heard since — it's not nostalgia, it's how memory and identity were being built simultaneously - The Expert Editor
https://experteditor.com.au/blog/gb-a-psychologists-explain-why-the-songs-you-loved-between-thirteen-and-eighteen-feel-more-emotionally-powerful-at-sixty-than-anything-youve-heard-since-its-not-nostalgia-its-how-memory-and-identity-w/

04/15/2026

Proud to be a sponsor for this fun event supporting Scarlett this Saturday night!!!!

💪 Looking forward to a fun evening of body slams and mayhem and raising money for a worthy cause!

👍 Thanks for the opportunity to partner with you!

04/14/2026

Adulthood is wild!🤪

No one really tells you how to:

• manage stress without shutting down
• set boundaries without feeling guilty
• keep it all together when you’re actually not okay

So you just… figure it out as you go.

And sometimes “figuring it out” looks like:

•scrolling to avoid your thoughts
•overthinking every conversation
•saying “I’m fine” when you’re absolutely not

That’s where counseling comes in.

A place to:

🧠 sort through the noise
🧩 make sense of your patterns
🗣 say the things you don’t say anywhere else

You don’t have to do it by yourself!

Applied Counseling
417-413-4544

04/09/2026

Therapy tip you didn’t expect:

Get dirty!!! 🪴

Not metaphorically.

Literally.

Science backs it—there’s actually a natural bacterium in soil (Mycobacterium vaccae) that can help boost serotonin levels which can help regulate mood, reduce anxiety and improve cognitive function.

What does this mean?

Your backyard might be doing more for your mood than your phone.

So if you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or just “meh”:

• Step outside
• Dig, plant, pull weeds, or just sit in the grass
• Let your brain take a break from screens and stress

Is dirt a replacement for therapy? Nope.

Is it a surprisingly solid sidekick? Yup.

So go ahead and get dirty!

Your body and mind will thank you!!!