Renteria Counseling and Wellness

So you're about to start EMDR therapy. You might be feeling one or more of these things: nervousness, fear, excitement, curiosity, dread. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a powerful and effective treatment approach for individuals dealing with trauma, anxiety, and other mental health challenges. After completing an EMDR session, it's essential to understand what to expect in the hours, days, and weeks that follow. In this blog post, we'll guide you through the post-EMDR experience, focusing on the potential emotional responses and self-care strategies to support your healing journey. Initial Feelings of Relief Immediately following an EMDR session, many individuals report a sense of relief. They may feel lighter, as if a heavy burden has been lifted. This initial feeling of relief is a positive sign that the therapy is beginning to work, but it's only the beginning of the healing process. Increased Awareness EMDR therapy can bring up inten...

September is National Suicide Prevention Month.  Approximately 6 million Americans struggle with suicidal ideation (SAMHSA). In 2019, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death for people in the US (CDC). If you or someone you know struggles with suicidal ideation, you are not alone. Treatment can help. You can access life-saving crisis support 24/7 by contacting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988. Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are serious and require immediate attention and support. If someone you care about is struggling with suicidal thoughts, it can be an incredibly scary and emotionally challenging situation. However, just being present and showing compassion for their situation can make a significant difference in their life. Here are some quick tips about supporting someone with suicidal thoughts: 1. Recognize the Signs The first step in supporting someone who is suicidal is to recognize the signs. While these signs can vary from person to person, co...

Mindfulness meditation has become a bit of a buzzword over the last few decades--and for good reason! Mindfulness is a powerful, evidenced-based tool for stress reduction and has a rightful place in mental health treatment. However, let's embark on this path with awareness, particularly if you have experienced trauma or are dealing with PTSD. While the benefits from this practice are wonderful for your mental and physical health, I want to encourage you to explore the potential challenges that many people face when they begin to explore meditation for the first time, and empower you to skillfully navigate these obstacles with the gentleness of self-compassion.  The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation: Soothing Stress and Anxiety: Mindfulness meditation invites you to anchor your attention in the present moment. This shift from dwelling on the past or worrying about the future can be a source of tranquility, easing the grip of anxiety.  Embracing Emotional Equilibrium: Through m...

Death and grief have been on my mind lately, perhaps because I recently attended a funeral to pay my respects and to support my husband and his family in their grief. Funerals are always uncomfortable, and yet they are a very normal part of our culture. The great psychotherapist Irvin Yalom writes in his book Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death that events such as funerals and deaths of loved ones serve as "awakening experiences," or moments in time in which we are reminded of our own mortality and inevitable death. Our own death anxiety manifests in a variety of awakening experiences. Such experiences could be as obvious as having a near death experience, or as subtle as attending a high school reunion and seeing how your classmates have aged. Awakening experiences can be jarring. They arrive rather suddenly, and shake us out of our blissful distraction, bringing us back to the awareness of our own eventual demise.  This can leave us feeling utterly terrified ...

I've been working in the mental health field now since 2013. I've finally hit my 10 year mark! "Am I bonafide yet?" I ask my imposter syndrome. Over the last ten years, I've hit some gems that seem to resonate with almost everyone. I find myself repeating these things to clients over and over again- sometimes to the same client! If you've worked with me before, these have probably come up in our sessions. I think there's a reason these things get repeated-- because they are important things we all need to pay attention to.  So, here's my top 5 things I most often say to my clients:  1. Breathe When in doubt, breathe. The more we can tune into our bodies and our breath, the more regulated we become. Our breath is the fastest, most accessible, easiest way to get into our bodies and still our nervous systems. We take breath work for granted so often, but it is such a beautiful skill to learn and practice.  2. Where do you feel that in your body?  I've...

 You may have heard about Intuitive Eating. What exactly is it, and how can it benefit you on your journey to heal your relationship with food and your body?  I have yet to meet a client who hasn't struggled at some point with their relationship with their body, and most of the time with that comes a difficult relationship with food. And it's no wonder: our culture is entrenched with messages specifically designed to make us loathe the skin we're in. Diet culture exists in capitalism to make us hate our bodies so that we buy products to make ourselves smaller. In 2022, the diet industry raked in $142.6 BILLION in the United States. They are making bank at the cost of our mental health and wellbeing.  Okay, let's get one thing out in the open: it's hard to love our bodies all the time. Everyone you've ever met, even the most beautiful/sexy/hot/perfect person you can think of, hates their body some days. But the relationship we have with our bodies is the longest ...

 For those who haven't met my canine co-therapist, let me introduce you to her:  Meet Fender. She's a two and a half year old Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix. She's small, but has a HUGE personality. She's imperfect. She barks during session when someone walks by the door. She struggles with boundaries because she loves to give clients kisses. And she gets away with it because she's so cute (most of the time, anyway). So, why do I have a dog as my co-therapist? Because she brings something to the table that is uniquely powerful. She invokes a relationship between human and animal that is disarming and healing. Let me explain.  Animal Assisted Therapy is an evidenced-based treatment modality in which animals are included in an intentional manner for the purpose of therapeutic benefit (ie, Fender's not just there because she's adorbs, she's there for a reason--because it's shown to be therapeutic). Many studies have shown the benefits of utilizing Animal Assi...