Worrying about the future or dwelling on past mistakes is something we all experience. Anxiety feels like that, but stronger and more constant.

Do you ever feel like nothing is fun anymore? You might be feeling sad, uninterested, or just nothing at all. Depression often involves significant changes in your energy and motivation. Things that once felt manageable become nearly impossible to do, making you feel isolated from others and disconnected from yourself. People with depression often feel lethargic, hopeless, or worthless. Depression can also make people feel like they don’t deserve anything good or even want to hurt themselves.

Treatment for depression can involve therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes that support a healthy mood.

Everyone experiences changes in mood, but mood disorders have specific symptoms that can disrupt everyday life and have a long-lasting effect. There is usually something more significant going on than just a “mood swing.” Mood disorders can make your emotions feel out of place, making daily life extremely difficult. You might struggle to identify your feelings or feel like you’re powerless to contain them. You might experience a wide range of emotions, from sadness to numbness, or irritability to mania.

Finding relief from mood disorders can look like developing coping skills and creating a consistent routine.

Substance use can be a serious, even life-threatening issue. Every body is different and some people are more likely to become addicted to substances than others. Use involves ingesting a chemical substance meant to alter one’s state of consciousness, usually with little to no medical purpose. Some substances are highly addictive, leading to increased dosage, frequency, and potency to achieve the same effect over time. A substance user can become unstable at any point of their use.

Substance use disorders require a team of clinicians who understand the physical impact of substances as well as the emotional impact on the user and their loved ones.

Most people think about the death of a loved one when they hear the words “grief” and “loss,” but these feelings aren’t just limited to end-of-life. Change of any kind is hard for us to process, especially when we don’t feel in control of what happened or don’t understand the events that occurred. Every person experiences grief in their own way and it is a normal part of the human experience. It is important to feel heard, held, and understood in your grief.

Working through grief and loss takes time, and is often about accepting the changes you’re going through - figuring out how to make it more comfortable and adjusting to the next phase of life after your loss.

We often use the terms “gender” and “sex” interchangeably, but they are not the same. Sex describes the biolgoical makeup of person that influences how their bodies look and function. Biology doesn’t restrict sex to only male and female; there are many genetic variations that can make up a person’s perceived sex.

Gender is a personal identity and expression of how someone presents to the world. There is a whole spectrum of ways people can identify, making it an exciting way to get to know more about yourself. Some people identify with one fixed, specific gender while others experience genders that are fluid, changing, expansive, or neutral. We consider the biopsychosocial aspects of gender to inform our work. It is important to us to use a person’s preferred name and pronouns.

Sexuality, while related to gender, is the way you describe sexual, emotional, and physical feelings/attractions toward another person. Sexuality is a spectrum, as well, in that there is no “right” way to be attracted to someone, or even multiple people. Having an active and healthy sex life is something all people deserve when and how they want to consent to it.

The desire to have sex, or not, is influenced by personal and cultural factors and can be impacted by physical, mental, and emotional health. Past experiences can change how a person feels about their sexuality; they may even feel ashamed because of it. Talking about sex might be awkward, but it’s an important part of life for many people, so it’s perfectly normal to bring up your sexual concerns in therapy without fear of judgment or shaming.

People are fascinating and diverse. Just as there’s no one way to describe a person or community of people, there’s no one way to describe how brains interpret and interact with the world. Neurodiversity describes the very normal variations of thinking, learning, and behaving that humans can experience. When the world isn’t set up to support neurodiversity, you might feel ashamed or dysfunctional, even though social systems can interfere with or impede functioning.

Differences and disabilities are not problems to be solved. Rather, they are opportunities to reshape the world around you to be more supportive of all types of thought. Addressing neurodiversity in therapy can involve sensory grounding, collaborative communication, boundaries and self-dislosure, and self-advocacy.

Self-injury or self-harm is using a physical means of releasing uncomfortable emotions that creates harm in some way. A person might use a sharp object to cut their skin, pull out their hair, burn their skin, or punch their limbs to create bruises. This can also be a way to signal that someone is in distress when they don’t have the language to express what they’re feeling internally. It is common for kids and teenagers to experiment with self-harm, so we talk about different, healthy coping skills to express emotions and find relief.

Pain and discomfort are universal human feelings, but knowing this doesn’t make it easier to cope. Exploring self-injury in therapy means reducing risk of unintended health issues such as infections, creating alternatives to express emotions, identifying triggers, and focusing on the beliefs that one deserves pain.

Suicidal ideation can be passive thoughts of not wanting to be alive anymore or wishing things would end, but not specifically wanting to die. A person can have this feeling when they are feeling depressed, grieving, or when they hear about traumatic events in the community. Suicidal intent means someone has a plan, such as a method and timeline, for causing their own death.

Someone can express thoughts of wanting to die without having active suicidal intent. Our clinicians screen clients with a history of suicidal thoughts to determine the level of acuity. When we know clients are going through a hard time, we check in more frequently to determine if there is a need for more frequent sessions or a higher level of care. Your safety is always our primary concern, and we will always work with you to keep you safe.

Eating Disorders are very serious and have a high risk of fatality due to disruptions in body function. Teens and young adults are most affected by eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating disorder. The common theme is that a person has distorted thoughts about the size and shape of their body. They may become fixated on certain foods, calorie intake, and weight, employing restrictive diets, extreme exercise regimens, or bingeing and purging to help control weight.

An eating disorder diagnosis requires a team approach to treat the disturbances in thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Recovery from an eating disorder might look like complete elimination of the disordered behaviors, while others consider themselves in recovery when they can safely maintain control of their lives while occasionally engaging in high-risk behavior.