Cultivating Capacity - Reflections - Hero Banner - Lefthand Design Elements

Reflections

The Cultivating Capacity Blog

I offer these writings, practices, and prompts to support your healing journey in or outside of therapy. They can help you deepen your awareness, regulate your nervous system, and reconnect with your inner wisdom. Drawing from systems theory, neuroscience, and narrative approaches, Reflections explores the deeper currents of healing, relationships, and what it means to fully embrace your story. My hope is that you find something here that resonates, challenges, or simply holds space for where you are right now.

see if we’re a fit
Link to Resource
A couple facing each other against a backdrop of fallen autumn leaves.
Link to Blog Post

Where Healing Actually Happens

Marriage and Family Therapy views healing through a relational and systemic lens, focusing on capacity rather than pathology. Drawing from narrative therapy and systems thinking, this reflection explores why lasting change happens when relationships—not symptoms—become the intervention.
Link to Resource
A disorted image of a brunette woman behind rippled glass.
Link to Blog Post

From Secondary Trauma to Shared Resilience: What Research Teaches Us About Caring for Survivors—and Ourselves

This reflection explores research on sexual violence, secondary trauma, and survivor care through a relational and systems-oriented lens. It highlights the ethical necessity of boundaries, supervision, and collaborative therapy, while inviting a deeper conversation about resilience, integration, and shared responsibility.
Link to Resource
A Woman in Gray Long Dress Standing on Big Rock while Looking Afar
Link to Blog Post

Your Brain Has Radar: Understanding Your Inner Threat-Detection System

Our brain’s ancient “radar” scans for danger with fierce loyalty—so loyal it can mistake drifting debris for threat. Therapy helps us gently recalibrate that radar, restoring discernment, capacity, and connection so we can move from mere survival toward a life that feels safe enough to thrive.
Link to Resource
A long gravel road leads through fields of purple flowers toward a small white church, with mountains and low clouds in the background.
Link to Blog Post

Cultivating Awe: An Embodied Pathway to Presence, Wonder, & Regulation

Awe can be a gentle interrupter of stress—a softening, a widening, a return. With intention, we can find awe in ordinary moments and let it regulate the nervous system, deepen connection, and remind us we’re part of something vast and meaningful.
Link to Resource
Stylish Tattoo Parlor with Artistic Wall Mural in Keltern, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Link to Blog Post

Tattoos as Life Stories

Tattoos become living stories—externalized moments of identity, healing, and reclamation. They help us re-author who we are, honor lineage, and make meaning visible on the skin.
Link to Resource
Three women wearing jeans and standing arm-in-arm, holding baby’s breath flowers, symbolizing shared lived experience and connection in healing from sexual violence.
Link to Blog Post

Letter to the Psychology Today Editor

A reflection on Psychology Today’s view of therapist self-disclosure, naming subtle bias and inviting a deeper, third-order lens. I honor lived experience as capacity-building and call our field toward inclusivity, reflexivity, and truly transformative practice.
Link to Resource
Two hands reaching toward each other holding small purple wildflower at sunset, backlit against golden field backdrop.
Link to Blog Post

The Relational Roots of Maslow’s Hierarchy

Most of us have seen Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: a pyramid that begins with food, water, and shelter, then rises through safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.
Link to Resource
Black and white photo of child in white dress walking alone through grassy wooded area, shot from behind.
Link to Blog Post

E-STAIR: Returning to Ourselves

In a world that often celebrates the climb, the conquest, and outward displays of strength and individual “resilience,” many women feel a quieter call—one that pulls inward, downward, and toward something older, wilder, and more aligned with our deepest selves.
Link to Resource
Motion-blurred photo of person running or spinning in warm sepia tones, capturing dynamic movement and energy.
Link to Blog Post

E-STAIR: Enhanced Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation

For survivors of childhood sexual abuse and incest, healing from complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) can feel like an overwhelming journey. Fortunately, therapeutic approaches are evolving to meet the unique needs of those with histories of complex trauma.
Link to Resource
Woman with long curly hair sitting on wooden dock by mountain lake, looking at tablet device in relaxed pose.
Link to Blog Post

Poetry: Where Expressive Arts Meet Narrative Therapy

Narrative Therapy offers a unique approach to understanding and reshaping the stories we tell about ourselves and influencing the stories others tell about us. One of the lesser-discussed but profoundly impactful tools in Narrative Therapy is poetry.
Link to Resource
Close-up of two people's hands clasped together, one wearing an engagement ring and the other a dark band, intimate moment.
Link to Blog Post

Feminist Clinicians Fighting for Justice

Sexual violence is a profound violation that affects individuals, families, and communities. It shakes our trust in a just, safe, and caring world. Addressing its aftermath requires a nuanced understanding of power dynamics, systemic oppression, and the resilience of survivors.
Link to Resource
Tarot card spread on wooden plate with crystals, including Knight of Wands, Eight of Cups, and Six of Swords cards in mystical setting.
Link to Blog Post

Tarot as a Narrative Therapy Tool

In the realm of therapy, Narrative Therapy stands out for its focus on personal narratives and the stories we tell ourselves. It's about reshaping these narratives to empower personal growth and healing.
Link to Resource
Person wrapped in blanket sitting cross-legged outdoors at sunset, silhouetted against golden light and distant trees.
Link to Blog Post

What Is Narrative Therapy? A Guide to Transforming Your Story

Narrative therapy is a unique therapeutic approach that centers on the idea that our lives are shaped by the stories we tell ourselves and others and the stories society and history tell about us.
Link to Resource
Overhead view of person writing in notebook at wooden desk with pen, cup of coffee, and papers scattered around workspace.
Link to Blog Post

Embracing the Client Consultation

Today, we’re diving into an exciting opportunity for MFTs and other systemic therapists—systems consultation. Some clinicians may recognize this by other names – initial consultation, chemistry calls, discovery calls, et cetera.