Karen Joyce, LMHC, LPCC

04/10/2026

Absolutely

04/08/2026

Mental health care is health care and it deserves the same attention, access, and support.

On World Health Day, we're reminding everyone that caring for your mental health is just as important as caring for your physical health.

04/08/2026

03/22/2026

A new study shows that when you pay attention to the good in your life—even the small things—your brain builds stronger pathways for happiness, calmness, and clearer thinking. This process is called neuroplasticity, and it’s the way your brain adapts and grows throughout your life.

By practicing simple habits like noticing good moments, showing gratitude, or holding onto positive thoughts for a few extra seconds, you can slowly shift your mindset toward more peace and positivity.

Over time, these small mental shifts can become powerful patterns, helping you respond to challenges with resilience, reduce stress, and feel more present in your daily life.

It’s not about ignoring difficulties, but about training your mind to find balance and strength even in the middle of them.

03/21/2026

I regularly recommend humming and other vagus nerve exercises to my telehealth patients as gentle yet powerful tools for nervous system regulation, calming inflammation, hormone balance and supporting gut health.  
  
Humming instantly spikes nitric oxide, tones the vagus nerve, lowers cortisol, releases stored tension, and activates rest-and-digest mode — making it incredibly effective for anxiety, insomnia, trauma healing, and chronic stress. I also recommend complementary practices like deep breathing, gargling, and singing, paired with vagal nerve stimulation devices, to improve heart rate variability, reduce inflammation, balance hormones, support gut healing, and ease autoimmune symptoms. These simple daily tools create the internal safety your body needs to move from survival mode into true repair and vibrant health.  
  
  
                 

03/21/2026

I wish more people understood the powerful science of co-regulation and how it becomes one of the most effective prescriptions in my telehealth practice for true nervous system regulation, inflammation calming and hormone balance.  
 
Rooted in Polyvagal Theory, co-regulation happens when a safe, regulated nervous system activates your ventral vagal complex, tones the vagus nerve, boosts heart rate variability (HRV), lowers cortisol, reduces inflammation, releases oxytocin, and instantly shifts you from sympathetic fight-or-flight into deep parasympathetic rest-and-digest mode — sending felt safety signals all the way to the cellular level so your body can finally repair.  
 
My clinic team and I are that safe space for our telehealth patients who don’t have it right now in their personal lives, while guiding personalized protocols that facilitate profound healing. I recommend daily co-regulation through attuned connection alongside simple tools like humming, breathwork, safe self-touch, somatic shaking, and dark showering — each one a gentle reminder to your nervous system that it is safe now. Both physical factors (such as chronic inflammation, gut dysbiosis, blood sugar instability, and oxidative stress) and psychological factors (like unresolved trauma, hypervigilance, and generational wounds) can create cellular-level unsafety by dysregulating your HPA axis and keeping mitochondria in protection mode instead of repair. Sustainable healing only happens when we compassionately address both roots at once — because your body heals best when it feels truly safe, inside and out. 
  
  
                 

03/17/2026

Psychologists suggest that the highest form of peace lies in releasing the need to be understood, admired, pitied or known because these desires tie your internal state to external factors you cannot control. When you crave admiration or recognition, you often subconsciously “perform” a version of yourself designed to get that approval. Letting go of this desire allows you to act based on your own authentic values rather than trying to satisfy an audience, which significantly reduces the mental exhaustion of constant social negotiation.

Relying on external validation-whether it’s someone finally “understanding” your pain or “admiring” your success-makes your emotional stability fragile. If your worth is assigned by others, it can be taken away by them. When you stop reading others to validate your reality however, your self-worth becomes self-generated and unshakable.

Seeking to be understood or pitied of stems from a desire for others to mirror our internal feelings. When you release this expectation, criticism or misunderstanding loses its power to ruin your day. You also no longer feel the need to explain or defend yourself to people who may never intend to understand you anyway.

According to the Self-Determination Theory, autonomy and self-acceptance are core drivers of well-being. True peace isn’t about being invisible or isolated; it’s about being so grounded in your own identity that external “reflection” (the gaze of others) is not longer a requirement for you to feel whole.

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03/17/2026

Healing often involves giving yourself permission to cry. 
   
In Japanese culture, the practice of rui-katsu, or “tear-seeking,” has gained popularity as a therapeutic way to release pent-up emotions and alleviate stress in a society often characterized by high-pressure work environments and emotional restraint and suppression. 
    
Pioneered by figures like Hidefumi Yoshida, known as the “tear teacher,” and Hiroki Terai, rui-katsu involves intentional crying sessions—often in group settings, seminars, or even walking tours—where participants watch poignant films, read heartfelt letters, or engage in discussions to provoke tears, fostering emotional catharsis and a sense of refreshment. 
    
I “prescribe” this to my telehealth patients by integrating it with somatic practices like somatic practices or restorative yoga poses to ground them in the present moment and encourage emotional flow; vagal nerve stimulation techniques such as deep diaphragmatic breathing, humming, vagal nerve stimulation or cold water face immersion to activate the parasympathetic response; and other accessible methods including guided journaling prompts for grief processing, curated playlists of music, all tailored to help their body know that it’s safe to let go and begin to heal.   
                

03/13/2026

03/07/2026

Neuroscientists and physiologists at the University of Copenhagen have characterized the precise neurobiological mechanisms behind the stress resilience benefits of habitual cold water immersion — finding that regular cold water swimming (10-15°C water, 10-20 minutes, 3-5 times weekly for 6 months) produces permanent structural changes in the locus coeruleus (the brain's primary norepinephrine hub), including increased dendritic branching, enhanced norepinephrine synthetic capacity, and upregulated alpha-2 autoreceptor sensitivity — changes that result in more controlled, proportionate stress responses that persist indefinitely after cold swimming cessation. The cold is rebuilding the brain's stress architecture. 🏊
The locus coeruleus is the neurological origin of the acute stress response — it produces the burst of norepinephrine that drives increased heart rate, alertness, and fight-or-flight physiological changes. In individuals with anxiety, PTSD, and burnout syndrome, the locus coeruleus is dysregulated — firing too readily and too intensely in response to non-threatening stimuli. Copenhagen's findings show that the repeated controlled stress of cold water immersion — which activates the locus coeruleus intensely but briefly, with the swimmer maintaining behavioral control throughout — acts as graduated functional training for the stress system, analogous to progressive overload training for muscles. The repeated controlled activation followed by recovery builds a more regulated, more resilient norepinephrine response architecture.
The mental health implications are immediately practical. Conventional anxiolytic treatments (SSRIs, benzodiazepines) suppress stress responses pharmacologically without addressing the underlying locus coeruleus dysregulation. Copenhagen's data suggests cold immersion therapy creates durable structural changes that improve stress regulation from the neurological architecture level — and unlike medications, the effect outlasts the treatment. Six months of cold swimming produces stress resilience that persists for years.
Copenhagen is now running a clinical trial of cold water swimming for treatment-resistant anxiety and PTSD. A swimming pool and cold water may be among the most cost-effective mental health interventions identifiable.
Source: University of Copenhagen Neuroscience Center, Cell Reports Medicine 2024