Wholehearted Healing Collective

02/25/2026

You do not need permission to take up space. 🌈✨

Not in a room.
Not in your family.
Not in your relationships.
Not in your identity.

So many LGBTQ+ young adults have learned—subtly or explicitly—to shrink, filter, or soften themselves to stay safe. That survival strategy makes sense. And… it can be exhausting. 💭🫶

You deserve spaces where you don’t have to minimize who you are.

Our Young Adult LGBTQ+ Process Group is starting soon, and it’s designed to be exactly that kind of space—affirming, compassionate, and grounded in real connection. 🤍

The group is facilitated by Giana Simonelli, LAC, who works with adolescents and adults navigating anxiety, OCD, identity exploration, life transitions, fertility-related stress and grief, and the emotional weight that can come with daily stressors and change. She is especially passionate about supporting LGBTQ+ individuals and is deeply committed to creating a safe place where you can explore your experiences openly and authentically. 🌿

If you’ve been craving community where you can show up fully—this is your invitation. 💬✨

02/21/2026

Rebellion & Renewal: An Exhibit celebrating Women's History Month
Long Branch Arts & Cultural Center
Opening Reception March 10, 2026 | 6PM
On View March 9-27, 2026
https://longbranch.org/158/Arts-Cultural-Center

02/21/2026

Hi Everyone! We can use your help. HealingUS Communities is working on opening a Women's Sober Living home in Ocean County. We already have the house in place and ready to go, so we're reaching out to our community to raise funds for the following:

- Beds, mattresses, and bedroom furnishings
- Living room and common area furniture
- Kitchen equipment and essentials
- Safety and security measures
- Initial setup costs to make the home move-in ready

If you're able to donate, please do so! We have a private donor willing to match any funds we raise. Thank you!

DONATE BELOW!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-open-a-womens-sober-living-home?lid=zljr9cv8ct1u&utm_medium=email&utm_source=product&utm_campaign=t-donation-alert

02/21/2026

✨ If you give a teen therapist a tool… they’ll want to share it.

Our Intervention Exchange is back — and this time we’re focusing on clinical work with adolescents in honor of National Adolescent Health Month. 💚

This is an afternoon designed for helping professionals to slow down, connect, and swap the interventions that actually work. Bring an 8–12 minute exercise you love using with your teen clients — whether it’s a mindfulness activity, expressive arts prompt, game, worksheet, or written reflection — and leave with a whole new toolkit. 🧰

Even better? All proceeds will be donated to the Society for the Prevention of Teen Su***de, Inc. Because strengthening clinicians strengthens the support teens receive. 🌱

🗓 May 7
⏰ 11am–1pm
📍 West Long Branch, NJ
🥗 Light refreshments provided

Come for the collaboration. Stay for the community. Leave with ideas you can use the very next session.

02/19/2026

Intern Spotlight 🌿✨

We’re so happy to introduce Emily Castillo Arauz, LPC Intern 🤍

Emily is a graduate counseling intern and board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) who brings such a thoughtful, grounded presence into the room. She’s currently completing her MS in Counseling at Prescott College, with concentrations in Somatic Counseling and Human Sexuality Counseling — which means she deeply understands the mind-body connection and the importance of affirming, inclusive care.

Her approach is trauma-informed and experiential, rooted in safety, authenticity, and real connection. Emily supports individuals navigating trauma, anxiety, mood concerns, psychosis, and identity exploration — meeting clients exactly where they are.

Outside of therapy, she’s spending time with her wife and their pets 🐾, painting, songwriting, exploring coffee shops ☕, and playing video games 🎮 (we love a well-rounded clinician).
We’re so grateful she’s part of our team and bringing her creativity, warmth, and skill to the work.

02/18/2026

Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions, not diets, not phases, and not “attention-seeking.” They can impact people of all ages, genders, body sizes, and backgrounds, and many individuals struggle silently for years because they don’t “look sick enough” to be taken seriously.

Awareness matters because stigma keeps people stuck.
Education helps people recognize the signs.
Compassion helps people feel safe enough to reach for support.

You deserve to be seen & supported. 💜

02/18/2026

A gentle reminder: you don’t have to figure everything out to be allowed to feel what you’re feeling. Sometimes it’s okay to just notice the anxiety, take a breath, and let it be. 🤍

02/18/2026

02/18/2026

Therapist Spotlight ✨

We’re so excited to highlight Giana Simonelli, LAC 🤍
Giana works with adolescents and adults navigating anxiety, OCD, identity exploration, fertility-related stress and grief, and major life transitions. Her style is relational, trauma-informed, and grounded in authenticity — which basically means you’ll feel seen, not “fixed.” She believes healing happens through meaningful connection, honest self-reflection, and practical tools you can actually use in real life.

She creates a space where clients can show up fully — not polished, not perfect — just real.
Outside of sessions, you’ll find her leaning into creativity, movement, intentional rest, and time with her pups 🐾 (Blaze & Jax are basically co-therapists at this point).

—
🌈 Did you know?

Giana will be facilitating our Parallel Paths group — a process group created specifically for young adult LGBTQ+ individuals. This space is intentionally designed FOR this community, not just inclusive of it. It’s a place to explore identity, relationships, anxiety, and life transitions alongside others who truly get it.
If you or someone you know could benefit from a shared, affirming space like this, we’d love to connect 🤍

02/17/2026

Some experiences are carried quietly—not because they’re small, but because there hasn’t been enough safety or space to name them out loud. 🌈💭

For many LGBTQIA+ folks, that can look like constant vigilance, emotional filtering, unnamed grief, or the exhaustion of always assessing whether it’s safe to be fully yourself. That weight is real. And it deserves care, compassion, and community. 🫶✨

We believe healing happens when those unspoken experiences finally have room to breathe—and when you don’t have to do it alone. 💬🤍

✨ Our Young Adult LGBTQ+ Process Group is starting soon, and it’s designed to offer exactly that: a supportive, affirming space to connect, process, and heal alongside others who get it. If you’ve been craving a place where you don’t have to explain or minimize your experience, this might be it. 🌱

02/16/2026

Therapist Spotlight ✨
Meet Juliana Venditti, LSW 🤍
Juliana’s goal as a therapist is simple but powerful: to work collaboratively with her clients to reduce the anxiety and depression that so often come with life’s unpredictability. She brings a steady, compassionate presence and a multidisciplinary approach — weaving together CBT, DBT, motivational interviewing, strengths-based work, and psychodynamic therapy to meet each client where they are.
She has experience supporting individuals navigating anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD, Bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and trauma — and she does so with warmth, insight, and a deep respect for each person’s unique story.
Outside of sessions, you’ll find her reading 📚, binging a good show 🎬, doing crafts, and spending time with friends and family 🤍
🌸 Did you know?

Juliana will be facilitating our upcoming teen Body Image & Self-Esteem Group for girls. This group is designed to help teens build confidence, develop a healthier relationship with their bodies, challenge comparison culture, and strengthen their sense of identity in a supportive peer space.
Because navigating adolescence is hard enough — no one should have to do it alone.
If you have a teen who could benefit from a space like this, we’d love to connect 💛

02/15/2026

Black History Month is a time to honor legacy, resilience, brilliance, and impact. It’s also always the time to acknowledge the emotional cost of surviving systems rooted in inequity.

Racism doesn’t only affect people socially or politically, it impacts the nervous system and physical health outcomes, and a feeling like you always have to be strong.

The part that often gets missed is that strength and suffering can exist at the same time.

Black mental health deserves to be taken seriously. Black healing deserves space. And support should never be something you have to “earn” by reaching a breaking point.

This month, may we celebrate Black history and continue building a world where Black people feel safe enough to rest, to feel, to heal, and to be fully seen. ❤️