Westport Family Counseling

01/29/2026

Interested in EMDR therapy?
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01/27/2026

Sustainable focus starts with understanding design, not discipline.

01/17/2026

Overreacting to small things usually signals that your nervous system is already overloaded. When you're managing chronic stress without adequate recovery, your threat assessment gets skewed. Minor frustrations trigger major responses because your system can't differentiate between actual danger and manageable annoyance.

Understanding what's depleting your baseline capacity matters more than trying to control individual reactions.

01/14/2026

Self-criticism masquerades as motivation but mostly adds shame to whatever you're already managing. When you attack yourself for struggling, you end up carrying both the original problem and the weight of your judgment about it.

01/08/2026

The isolation that makes difficult times worse often comes from being around people who can't sit with what's real.

When someone is struggling, they don't need you to fix it or find the bright side. Instead, try to listen without minimizing, offer help that's actually useful instead of performative, and stay present even when nothing can be resolved.

01/05/2026

Survival mode that runs long enough gets mistaken for identity. Therapy creates space to examine which patterns kept you safe versus which ones match how you want to live going forward.

12/28/2025

Ever hear the expression "what fires together, wires together"? That's the concept of neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to reorganize its structure, functions, and neural connections throughout life in response to new experiences or learning.

Your brain can adapt, form new pathways, and develop new skills. It takes practice and repetition, but it works.

12/23/2025

The holidays can act like a pressure cooker for anyone managing mental health challenges. The constant buzz of parties, family gatherings, and “cheerful” obligations can quickly become overwhelming. Even well-meaning friends or relatives can unintentionally trigger stress or anxiety with probing questions, judgments, or expectations.

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For people coping with grief, eating struggles, substance use, or mental health challenges, the holidays can feel less like a celebration and more like an emotional obstacle course.

12/07/2025

You can't talk yourself into feeling safe. You have to show your body what safety looks like through consistent actions, predictable routines, and environments that actually support regulation.

This is why therapy often focuses on what you do, not just what you think. Modalities like EMDR tap into ways your brain can reprocess traumatic events that go beyond talk therapy. At Westport Family Counseling in Westport, CT our therapists are trauma-specialists, EMDR trained, and have expertise working with clients of all age.

Contact us today to set up an appointment!

12/04/2025

Healing is difficult, and every step makes you stronger.

11/28/2025

We've been conditioned to believe that if we just analyze enough, push through enough, work at it enough, the answer will appear. But your brain needs downtime to process.

Rest isn't procrastination—it's part of the work.

11/24/2025

The goal isn't to stop having hard days—it's to meet them with steadier tools. And honestly, the goal can also be having fewer of them. But hard days are part of being human. Sometimes they're about mental health, sometimes they're about grief or stress or just life throwing curveballs.

Therapy isn't about eliminating difficulty, it's about building capacity to move through it without falling apart.