Katie Lawliss, Licensed Psychologist

08/18/2025

✨ August is Fat Liberation Month ✨

Fat liberation means challenging the harmful belief that worth = thinness, and dismantling the stigma fat people face every day.

Here are some ways you can take action:
📚 Read and learn from fat liberation authors
🪞 Reflect on your own language and assumptions about bodies
💭 Challenge the ingrained beliefs that connect thinness to morality, health, or value

Fat people deserve to live free from shame, stigma, and oppression- period.

Growth starts with examining your own beliefs, and choosing to make a change moving forward 💚

👉 Save this post to come back to when you need a reminder.
👉 Share with a friend to spread awareness.

08/13/2025

There are not enough nuanced conversations about accommodations. I feel really passionately about helping people seek accommodations for their needs.
Here are some common concerns people have when asking for accommodations 1

07/31/2025

I’ve always struggled with knowing the world continues on when life changing things happen. Someone gets a phone call their parent died while they are grocery shopping but the world doesn’t stop around them, people pick their produce, get annoyed when the wheel of the cart is sticky, and make small talk with the cashier while someone’s life just a few yards over has changed forever.

You get married and it’s the best day of your life but someone in the same town is fighting for their life in their home.

We laugh with friends, plan vacations, and take walks in our safe neighborhoods while entire groups of people are systemically starved and abused and killed.

And it’s NOT that we are not supposed to still find joy and live but it’s that we can do that AND not ignore what’s happening or believe our emotions and reactions are disordered in some way.

We are human- it makes sense why we pay attention to suffering of other humans and it’s important we feel those emotions. Emotions have purpose.

The sadness I feel so deeply thinking about these families helps motivate me to stay up to date on what’s happening and provide support where I can. My anger at the perpetrators helps remind me of my humanity and values. My anxiety about the direction of the world helps show me I care deeply and want to be active in stopping my feared future.

All of this to say, we are meant to feel. We are meant to feel deeply when horrible things are happening to our fellow humans on this planet. These feelings are there to show us what’s happening isn’t okay. 💓

This may not be eloquently worded but it doesn’t need to be. We can’t fit this experience into words that truly encompass the heaviness of life.

❤️

07/29/2025

07/12/2025

“I don’t know why it’s so hard to feel okay in my body.”

Let’s talk about why.

In just one hour of scrolling on social media, I encountered over a dozen messages telling me I needed to fix, change, or shrink something about my appearance—despite actively telling the algorithm I’m not interested in diet or beauty content.

Some messages were blatant. Others were subtle. But they all added up.

If you’re struggling with negative self-talk or feeling like your body is never “enough,” it’s not just you. You’re swimming against a current designed to make you question your worth.

Let this post be a reminder:
📲 Social media is not neutral.
🧠 Your thoughts may not be your own.
💚 You deserve better than a constant stream of critique masked as “wellness.”

✨ Want support untangling the noise? I’m accepting new therapy clients in NY and MD. Link in bio.

07/01/2025

Pride Month may be over — but LGBTQIA+ folks are still navigating a healthcare system that too often ignores, harms, or excludes them.

Being LGBTQIA+ impacts how people experience medical care, chronic illness, and mental health treatment — in ways that are often invisible to providers who don’t ask, don’t listen, or were trained in systems that leave LGBTQ+ folks out.

If you’re a provider, therapist, or healer, this post is a gentle challenge:

How can you make your care more affirming, more inclusive, and more informed? 🏳️‍🌈

And if you’re a q***r or trans person who’s been dismissed, misgendered, or made to feel unsafe in a medical space:

You are not the problem. The system has work to do ❤️

🩺 Let’s talk about what affirming care really looks like.

📍 Save and share if you’re building or seeking safer spaces in healthcare.

06/22/2025

Today is a heavy day. Sending my love to those who need it ❤️

06/20/2025

Get to Know Me: Outside of Therapy – Part 2: Struggles 💬

Yep, I’m a therapist—and I still:
→ Get overwhelmed and shut down
→ Procrastinate health tasks
→ Hype myself up just to shower
→ Struggle with sticking to plans when I’m exhausted

Being a therapist doesn’t mean I have it all figured out—it means I get it. I live the same messy, human experience as my clients. And that helps me show up with more compassion, curiosity, and flexibility in the room.

My struggles are never the focus of our work together but I’m sharing this to normalize the fact that being a human is hard! 🫂

✨ Therapists are people too. Imperfect, tired, trying people. And that’s okay.

💚 If you’re looking for a therapist who keeps it real, I offer free consults. Let’s see if we’re a fit!

06/16/2025

Living with migraines and headaches isn’t just about managing pain.

It’s about:
→ Navigating a healthcare system that often dismisses or misdiagnoses you
→ Being told it’s just anxiety, hormones, or stress — when it’s so much more
→ Advocating for yourself again and again when you’re already exhausted
→ Carrying the emotional weight of missed plans, missed diagnoses, and being misunderstood

This part doesn’t always get talked about — but it’s real. And if you’ve been through it, you’re not alone.

✨ Your story matters. Your symptoms matter.

Let’s keep breaking the silence around invisible illness. 💜

What’s something you wish a doctor or loved one understood about your migraine experience?

⬇️Share in the comments or send me a DM.

06/11/2025

June is National Migraine & Headache Awareness Month — and I want to take a moment to honor just how invisible and misunderstood these conditions can be.

Living with migraine or chronic headaches isn’t “just a headache.”

It’s navigating:

→ constant symptom management
→ unpredictable flares
→ the mental load of tracking medications + triggers
→ stigma from others who may not understand
→ grief for what you’ve missed out on — and resilience in creating the life you can live

If this is part of your story: you are not alone. Your pain is real. And your efforts — just to get through the day — are enough. 💜

Feel free to share this post to raise awareness or comment below:

✨ What do you wish more people understood about life with migraine or headache disorders?

06/04/2025

✨ A small peek behind the scenes of what therapy conversations can really look like.

These are just some of the topics that came up in my sessions this past week.

Therapy isn’t just about diagnoses or symptom checklists — it’s about the real life things that affect your well-being: relationships, boundaries, identity, motivation, grief, trauma, self-worth, systemic barriers... and navigating the stress of it all when you already have a lot on your plate.

If any of these topics resonate with you, know that you’re not alone. 💛
And if you’re ready to start therapy where all parts of you are welcome — ADHD, chronic illness, trauma history, and all — I am currently accepting new clients.

📞 Book a free 15-min consultation through the link in my bio.

05/16/2025

Therapist? Yep. Human first? Absolutely.

I spend a lot of time supporting my clients, but outside of therapy, I’m just a person who loves puzzles, fantasy books, weaving, and hanging out with my two very opinionated dogs, Pippi & Mika.

Whether I’m skiing, dancing around, spending time with my friends and family, or enjoying some quiet alone time, these things fill my cup so I can show up fully for the work I do.

I believe knowing your therapist is human too can make this whole therapy thing feel a little more real and a little less intimidating.

Curious—do you know anything about your therapist’s hobbies or interests? Drop a comment and let’s normalize being full humans, not just roles.