Immigrant families often carry histories shaped by poverty, war, displacement, political persecution, or natural disasters. These experiences leave a deep imprint—not just on those who directly endured them, but on future generations. Trauma shows up in parenting, family roles, and communication patterns. This can create emotional distance between generations.
Setting boundaries with a parent can feel confusing, painful, and even taboo, especially if you were raised to "honor thy father and mother." Maybe your parent dismisses your feelings, crosses emotional or physical boundaries, or makes you feel responsible for their moods. If any of this sounds familiar, you're not alone.
American society is divided and polarized in our beliefs and perspectives, now more than ever. This can present unique challenges around connecting with others who we may not view as “like us” in our thought processes or belief systems, and this isolation can negatively impact our mental health. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to find community in a divided world, and why community is so important to our mental well-being.
A person's religious upbringing can have as much influence on them as their family of origin, shaping how they see and interact with the world around them. In this post, we'll cover the basics of religious trauma and how therapy can help survivors of religious trauma deconstruct their experiences, find new meaning, and rebuild their value system.
We all have our own stories for how our identity formed. Some of these stories are full of beauty and can serve us really well. Other stories can get in the way. Narrative Therapy encourages us to consider how we might “re-author” these stories to have more ownership over our lives.
As a wave of red and pink floods our storefronts, and Valentine's Day posts from your peers begin to take over your social media feed, these can be painful reminders of what we perceive as personal deficits in our lives. Even for those in relationships, Valentine’s Day can be a breeding ground for expectations, resentment, pressure, anger, and hurt. Here are some reminders as potentially complicated feelings come up around February 14th.
You might know about attachment styles, as it is now a widely discussed way of viewing relationships. Here is a little background if it is new to you though. Attachment theory focuses on bonds formed in relationships between people. This includes, but is not limited to, friendships, romantic relationships, polyamorous relationships, and even working relationships.
Relationships are connective and complex. They can sometimes hold dialectical meaning. When something like this is filled with so much nuance, we then try to find answers to make sense of it. We might turn to relationship experts, self help books, or intensive workshops. I am here to break the news that not even the experts have it all figured out. Why? Because we’ve all got a story and so do our partners. One that is unique to you and only you. The relationship is just a new chapter in our own story. Now, imagine starting a book halfway through and not having the details of the previous chapters. That’s a big part of relationships. Getting to know your partner’s previous chapters. That requires work, time, and effort.
The five love languages originated from Dr. Gary Chapman in 1992. These languages are modalities of how we show or receive love and appreciation whether it’s towards our romantic partners, family, or friends. We as humans communicate differently and by understanding how others express love in a meaningful way, it helps us communicate and strengthen relationships by focusing on other’s needs rather than our own. Dr. Chapman developed 5 categories of love languages; Acts of Service, Gifts, Physical Touch, Quality Time, and Words of Affirmation.
Have questions about what to expect when coming to therapy? What types of therapy are there? How to know if a therapist is a good fit? Empowered Connections Counseling Founder, Danielle Zawadzki, LMFT sat down with Palos Heights’ (PHTV4) Living Well program to discuss the ins and outs of therapy. Below is a brief summary of her interview, and be sure to check out the full length interview with more in depth insights at the link below.
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