Blog
Breaking Free: Setting Boundaries for a Healthier You
Jessica Carlyle MS, LCMHCA Have you ever felt like, as an adult, you are still walking on eggshells, or monitoring your speech and expression, or even dreading spending time with your parents or family members? This feeling is seemingly common across generations. What...
Our Commitment to Training Future Therapists
Lacey Cottingham MSW, LCSW As part of our commitment to continuing education and filling the field with kick ass therapists, Origins Counseling and Wellness, PLLC partners with a few graduate school programs to train graduate students in their practicum...
Perfumed Palms and Green Resolve: The Faces of People Pleasing
Dr. Crissa Jewel Allen, LCMHC, LCAS-A (Using the Major Motion Picture, Wicked, as Our Guide) With the new trailer out for part two of Wicked, the musical, I’ve been reflecting on both Glinda and Elphaba, not to diagnose them, but to normalize from a therapist’s...
Feeling “Stuck” in Mental Health Therapy? How to Find Help When Progress Plateaus
It's a familiar but frustrating experience–you've been going to therapy regularly, you like your therapist, and you've made progress—but suddenly it feels like you're spinning your wheels. Maybe you feel like you are talking about the same topic over and over with no...
Ego State Therapy
What is Ego State Therapy? Ego State Therapy is a therapy method created by John and Helen Watkins. It began as an effective treatment for Dissociative Identity Disorder, but it has evolved with growing evidence to support its use in treating PTSD, Complex PTSD, or...
Under The Veil: Layers of Religious Trauma
Religious beliefs can be both a source of comfort and community for many people but for some they can lead to immense trauma and discomfort. Religious trauma itself is a term that is relatively new in the therapeutic world and encompasses psychological, emotional, and...
Motivation and Elephants
Motivation is fickle, isn’t it? You look at something, you know you need to do it, but you just can’t. Some people try to will power their way through the task. It might work. Other people try to set aside time, hoping that would be enough. And sometimes it is. Still...
Finding a Therapist
Looking for a therapist is a constructive positive thing to do in your life. It does not matter if you are seeking help for larger mental health issues, or if you need help gaining clarity or distance in a specific situation. A therapist can act as a supportive and...
The Dangers of “See that wasn’t so hard!”
The Autistic and ADHD Experience This article is written purely in the context of a brain diagnosed as autistic, as ADHD, or both combined. To understand my point, we first have to have a shared understanding of what it means to have a different brain than the...
Faith-Based Therapy
When people ask me what I do for a living, I like to explain to them that I have two jobs. For paid work, I am an outpatient mental health therapist. But, when I am not busy doing that work, I serve my local community as a spiritual leader. Occasionally, those two...