Ascend Individual & Family Therapy Services

04/21/2026

We celebrate my dad’s heavenly 55th birthday the other day. Grief hit me like a bag of bricks. All the feelings were felt and acknowledged. Hope you find some reassurance and peace in the following verse like I did: John 16:22: “So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” Keep pushing 🫶

04/15/2026

Career week at school! Promoting mental health one kid at a time 🙏✊🏽

02/23/2026

Best medicine ☀️

02/16/2026

No matter how intense the storm is (literally and figuratively) keep moving forward like this snail. On that note, I am back to accepting northern CA Kaiser insurance. Reach out to me directly for more information. 🙏🫶

01/18/2026

There’s something about the beach that strips everything back to the basics. Watching my kids today, I realized they aren’t just playing in the sand—they’re teaching me how to see the world again. No schedules, no stress, just the pure magic of a crashing wave and the hunt for the perfect seashell. Life looks a lot brighter through their eyes.

12/21/2025

(Psalm 121:1-2) “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord...”

12/01/2025

Romans 6:8-9
“Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.” A few days ago we lost a family friend and we are raising funds to help out their family during this time period. .glenda.a is selling home made soaps at $20 a bundle. (My kids love them). Please reach out to her directly for additional information or I can point you in the right direction. You are all amazing. Keep Villalobos family in prayer.

11/21/2025

Next podcast will be how it feels to grow up without a father, how it feels to have no memory of a father then becoming a father yourself. Life is beautiful but a trip.

10/05/2025

When the Plan Burns Down (Acceptance & Pivot)
This hits around mile 20. Your stomach turns, your perfect pacing plan is garbage, and your feet are screaming. Everything you thought was going to happen is wrong. The initial goal is lost.
I stop fighting reality. I tell myself, “That race is over. A new, uglier race has just begun.” I don’t lament the lost time; I just find the next aid station, take 10 minutes, and set one new, tiny, achievable goal.
This is radical acceptance. In life, just as in an ultra, we waste too much energy mourning the loss of the perfect career, relationship, or day. The real work starts when you accept the current, messy reality and pivot your focus from a five-year plan to “just making it through the next hour.” Push on. 😤

08/07/2025

03/03/2025

02/06/2024

Mario had the pleasure of sitting down with Amy to discuss the the world of family therapy and mental health. Listen to the full episode on our website!
https://ascendtherapyinc.com/blog/breaking-stigmas-and-finding-solutions-with-mario-apolinar-mft/