https://www.neardeartherapy.com/

Near and Dear Therapy, 1460 Maria Lane #300, Walnut Creek, CA (2026)

01/27/2026

MARKETING MONDAY 🌿

If this post found you at the right moment, trust that.

If you’re feeling stuck in a relationship — overwhelmed by ADHD-related stress, rejection sensitivity, or emotional reactivity — and you’re unsure whether to stay, leave, or even how to think clearly about what’s happening… you’re not alone.

Maybe you’re:

Struggling to trust your partner because stress keeps hijacking your nervous system

Feeling emotionally exhausted and unsure what’s yours vs. the relationship’s

Avoiding dating altogether because past hurts still feel too close to the surface

Support can help — even when you’re not ready (or able) to make big decisions yet.

I’m Amy Ratkovich, LMFT, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, offering therapy throughout California via telehealth — and I’m also introducing something new this year:

Shadow Walks — Walk & Talk Therapy

These sessions take place on spacious, quiet trails near downtown Pleasant Hill.

We walk side by side — not face to face — while talking through what’s brought you here.
There’s something powerful about moving the body while gently exploring the parts of yourself that feel unclear, stuck, or hidden in the shadows.

Walking can be especially helpful for anxiety, restlessness, and ADHD-related overwhelm. It supports regulation, perspective, and honest reflection — without the pressure of sitting still or making eye contact the entire time.

If your relationship needs space to be understood —
or if ADHD is making it hard to trust yourself or your partner —
I’d be glad to walk with you.

Reach out when you’re ready.
You don’t have to figure this out alone.

www.neardeartherapy.com
510 269 4808

01/23/2026

Sometimes January is long and cold

Sometimes the path forward isn’t clear.

We don’t always know how we’ll change —
only that something in us wants to.

Dry January invites a different kind of strength:
the willingness to keep moving without having all the answers.

Faith doesn’t have to be religious.
It can be trust in the process.
Trust in your capacity to grow.
Trust that support will meet you as you move.

Humility keeps us open —
open to help, insight, and guidance we couldn’t reach on our own.

Clarity often comes after the next small step, not before.

👉 Reflection for today:
What helps you keep going when the way forward feels uncertain?

www.neardeartherapy.com

01/20/2026

“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”
Change doesn’t happen through force or willpower alone.
It happens when we’re ready to receive it.
Sometimes the hardest part isn’t doing something new —
it’s letting go of what no longer serves us:
a habit,
a belief,
a routine that once helped but now holds us back.
Dry January reminds us of something simple and important:
readiness matters.
You can’t rush clarity.
But you can prepare for it — by paying attention, staying curious, and creating space for insight to arrive.
Growth often shows up quietly, when we stop pushing and start listening.
👉 Reflection for today:
What lesson seems to be meeting you where you are right now?
www.neardeartherapy.com

www.neardeartherapy.com

01/19/2026

MARKETING MONDAY 🌿

If this post found you at the right moment, trust that.

If you’re feeling stuck in a relationship — overwhelmed by ADHD-related stress, rejection sensitivity, or emotional reactivity — and you’re unsure whether to stay, leave, or even how to think clearly about what’s happening… you’re not alone.

Maybe you’re:

Struggling to trust your partner because stress keeps hijacking your nervous system

Feeling emotionally exhausted and unsure what’s yours vs. the relationship’s

Avoiding dating altogether because past hurts still feel too close to the surface

Support can help — even when you’re not ready (or able) to make big decisions yet.

I’m Amy Ratkovich, LMFT, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, offering therapy throughout California via telehealth — and I’m also introducing something new this year:

Shadow Walks — Walk & Talk Therapy

These sessions take place on spacious, quiet trails near downtown Pleasant Hill.

We walk side by side — not face to face — while talking through what’s brought you here.
There’s something powerful about moving the body while gently exploring the parts of yourself that feel unclear, stuck, or hidden in the shadows.

Walking can be especially helpful for anxiety, restlessness, and ADHD-related overwhelm. It supports regulation, perspective, and honest reflection — without the pressure of sitting still or making eye contact the entire time.

If your relationship needs space to be understood —
or if ADHD is making it hard to trust yourself or your partner —
I’d be glad to walk with you.

Reach out when you’re ready.
You don’t have to figure this out alone.

01/16/2026

Buzz Killer

"Drinking alcohol, especially heavily, triggers inflammation by
damaging the gut lining, allowing toxins into the bloodstream, and increasing inflammatory molecules, leading to issues like liver disease (alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis), heart problems (atherosclerosis), pancreatitis, and potentially increasing cancer risk. While light to moderate drinking might show some anti-inflammatory markers, the overall impact of excessive alcohol is pro-inflammatory, disrupting the immune system and damaging tissues throughout the body." Google it!

Perhaps Moderation, but perhaps it's not worth it at all.

You only have one beautiful body, care for it with all your heart.

01/14/2026

Dry January

Awareness is the doorway to responsibility.

It’s the moment we pause and ask:
Will I act on impulse — or slow down long enough to choose clarity?

If you have ADHD, this can feel especially challenging. Taking hold of your mind doesn’t always feel intuitive.
Fear not — the mind can be trained.

Dry January isn’t about punishment or perfection.
It’s an invitation into responsibility as an act of self-respect.

That kind of responsibility sounds like honest questions:

• Where has my clarity slipped?
• Where have my choices cost me something — or affected others?
• What can I choose differently today?

Responsibility doesn’t mean harsh self-judgment.

It means staying present with your impact.
Trusting yourself to pause.
Using breath to calm the emotional storm before reacting.
Finding inner stability before speaking your truth.

This is where agency begins.

When you learn to own your choices before you make them, something powerful happens:
You regain authorship.

The freedom to write a different next chapter.
Reflection for today:
What choice would support clarity — even if it feels uncomfortable at first?

www.neardeartherapy.com

01/09/2026

AA teaches us to take it one day at a time.
Taking a break if you are not ready to stop the vices, which by definition do not serve us.
Dry January is a thing because this time of year, we are in a state of reflection, we tend to gravitate towards reflecting on how our patterns and habit serve us.
Sometimes it can be hard to give things up, even if it is good for us.
When you have ADHD? This process feels like you are pushing that famous bolder up hill only to find it back in the same place the next day.
We want to stop, but without a built in filter for the world, we seek external shields to tolerate the intensity within.
I know it doesn't seem like it but when we remove these fake defenses, and build up our internal strength, we find that we don't need the crutch anymore.
Just take this first step, then another and another.
#
www.neardeartherapy.com

01/07/2026

This time of year, folks find themselves reflecting on the road ahead.
Some fear it, some are hopeful and some have a plan.
Where are you in this moment in your reflection.
Please comment below.

During this season, many people contemplate the future that lies before them.
While some experience apprehension, others hold optimism, and some have devised a strategy.
At this point in your contemplation, where do you stand?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

01/05/2026

Day Twelve of Christmas: Twelve Drummers Drumming

Twelve drummers drumming create rhythm.
Not noise — coordination.

Symbolically, the final gift represents regulation —
the steady beat that holds everything else together.
For ADHD nervous systems, this is the foundation.

Without rhythm, everything scatters:
• attention
• emotion
• time
• impulse
• energy

And here’s an important truth that often gets missed:
Not everyone was taught how to build regulation from the inside.
If you grew up without consistent co-regulation —
without someone helping you steady, pace, and recover —
your nervous system may still be learning skills it never got to practice.
That doesn’t mean ADHD is a life sentence.
It means these are learnable capacities.
Executive function isn’t a personality trait.
It’s a set of skills.

Think of it this way:
Your internal CEO is you.
You’re the only one who can lead your inner world.

But sometimes it helps to bring in an expert.

Someone who can help you:
• set up the office differently
• design systems that actually fit you
• learn when to push and when to pause
• establish rhythms your nervous system can trust
Therapy isn’t about fixing what’s broken.
It’s about building internal regulation strong enough to support your ideas, energy, and dreams.
And when rhythm is in place?

Everything else can finally move together.
Day twelve reminds us:
You’re not failing at life.
You’re learning how to conduct it.

www.neardeartherapy.com

Near and Dear Therapy

01/27/2026

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01/20/2026

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