Hilary Norris, MSW, LCSW

06/10/2025

It’s okay to:
✅ Feel insecure
✅ Ask for help
✅ Cry
✅ Be vulnerable

Men deserve the full range of human emotions — and the support to navigate them.

Find help and support here: nami.org/menshealthmonth

06/01/2025

Happy Pride!

05/11/2025

Don’t be mad at the wasp. The wasp doesn’t even know he is a wasp. No amount of energy and time concerning ourselves with the existence…

05/03/2025

May is 💚

A time to remind ourselves (and each other) that it's okay not to be okay, and there are ways to feel better. Everyone goes through tough days, even if they don’t always show it. The good news? You don’t have to deal with it alone.

Here are 3 simple things you can do to support your mental health:

1️⃣ Talk to someone you trust. A friend, parent, teacher, or counselor—sharing how you feel can really help.

2️⃣ Take a break. Go outside, listen to music, draw, or just do something that makes you happy and helps you relax.

3️⃣ Ask for help. It’s brave to speak up, and our team is here to support you whenever you need it. 💬

You are important. You are not alone. And no matter what you're facing, there is help and hope.

Get support >> https://www.sarangapsychiatry.com/

03/26/2025

03/04/2025

Welcome to School Social Work Week 2025! From March 2–8, we’re celebrating the passion and impact of school social workers across the nation. Join us as we honor those who light the way for brighter futures. Stay tuned for a week of inspiration and impactful stories.

03/03/2025

Gratitude is more important for our everyday lives than it is for the one day out of the year that we set aside for it. Gratitude is often spoken of, and given great value, in the mental health field due to its powerful ability to fight depression. Practicing gratitude is key in 12-step recovery. In AA, it is said that gratitude “turns what you have into enough.” Most religions incorporate gratitude into their teachings and have blessings and prayers specific to thankfulness. Gratitude can promote self worth, provide relief from hopelessness, and requires nothing more of a person than to reflect and be present.

Gratitude gives us perspective. It helps us to notice the sheer abundance that surrounds us, which we take for granted we have become so accustomed to it. There is no greater medicine for hopelessness than acknowledging the presence of clean running water, electricity, air conditioning, technology, a hot shower, shelter, food, clean air; the “basics” we overlook each day. A wise woman once told me, “you can be thankful for the work you have in front of you, the long walk down to the bathroom, and that you can talk out loud about your problems.” It is all about perspective.

Gratitude grounds us and is a mindfulness practice. I can be thankful in this very moment, in real time. I can take 10 deep breaths right now and notice what is good or right within me and around me. It is called “practicing gratitude” because it is in fact, a practice. It is an intentional effort to train our minds to notice the positive which helps to replace automatic negative thinking that is a symptom of, and catalyst for, depression. One can practice gratitude in word (prayer, blessings, words of affirmation), in writing (a note, journaling, making a list), in giving to others (a smile, a compliment, a flower), or by simply thinking, reflecting, and being present. We can be thankful for big things (our health) and small things (a cup of coffee); for what is present in our lives (love) or what is missing (financial troubles). We can be thankful for things both tangible (roof over our head, water/food) and intangible (experiences, relationships, love).

So try it, just practice. Find something to be thankful for every single day, then multiple times a day. Make it a part of your routine. Leave yourself reminder notes. Journal. Write thank you notes to others. Thank your work for the distraction it provides you. Express your appreciation to others. Let's leave Thanksgiving Day for the celebration of all the days that we have given thanks throughout the year.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~ Melody Beattie

02/28/2025

Something you’ve been wrestling with for a long time, maybe even years, can suddenly just click for you out of the blue. It churned and churned in your head, battled with your heart, and you ruminated on it day in and day out. Then, out of nowhere when you aren’t expecting it, you are hit with the peace that you sought for oh so long.
Life works on its own time. It's not something we can direct, although we try really hard to control it to make it the way we think it should be. But, really, what information, or clarity, or answers, come in time if we give time time. Give time time. Stressing and obsessing will give you a false sense of control while time passes, but is not going to bring relief any more quickly, will make us sick in the process, and may even delay the desired outcome. Staying mindful and present, living life day to day while doing our best to care for our emotional and physical wellbeing, will inevitably bring us resolution. If we keep our minds and hearts open, if we are still, it will come. The relief will come, the answers will come, the closure will come, and there will be peace.

02/20/2025

Would you rather be weird or normal? That is the question. I say it can’t be answered. Weird and normal are relative. The definition for both lies within each individual’s perspective. What you may believe to be weird I may believe to be quite normal. It would be unfair for any of us to use our own point of reference as the universal standard. My perspective on the definitions are a result of my life’s experience, and we all have a unique experience. Part of mine is the gift of being a therapist. I am privy to the spectrum of the human experience, and get to see that we all have issues, troubles, things to work through, guilt and shame, insecurities, etc. It is normalizing and validating to know that all people, regardless of their demographic, is dealing with something. Something others would define as “weird.” I wish everyone to know that their “weird” is actually the status quo, that we all have our “things,” and there is no “normal” or “weird.” I hope that everyone can come to the conclusion that they just want to be themselves, weirdly normal or normally weird, but just themselves.

02/20/2025

Most people don't think much of the word "we" when it is used by others to include them, but to those who have felt alone in their experience it is incredibly heart warming, and can even feel shocking to hear. “Alone” means solo and “we” means together, so in hearing this they finally feel seen and their struggle noticed. They feel relieved to hear that someone is finally “in it” with them. They hear "you aren't alone in this," “you don't have to carry all the weight alone," "together, it will be ok."
For those who suffer from chronic illness, mental or physical disabilities, substance abuse, lack of support system, or those having to parent alone; they may never hear the word "we." All of the weight of their situation is on their shoulders with no one to share it. My hope is that no one bears pain on their own, that we all can feel supported, that no one goes feeling unseen. "We are in this together." "We will get through this." "We will share the weight of this load."