trauma therapy

Take Root Therapy May Newsletter

We manage the urge to people please, tend to the land, and celebrate PRIDE. A Letter From Our Founder   Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a retreat that was held right at home in Los Angeles. It was something I’d really been looking forward to. I went in hoping to slow down and reconnect with myself. And I did, eventually. But it took…
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Why Is It So Hard To Set Boundaries?: Understanding People-Pleasing and Learning to Honor Your Own Needs

I recently made the difficult decision to assert a boundary with my family while they were here visiting us in Los Angeles, knowing it might not go over well. I communicated it with as much care as I could and felt pretty good about it—until I got a phone call from my mother a couple of days later. She told me how hurt people felt…
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Take Root Therapy April Newsletter

We understand what it means to be emotionally unavailable, paint the park, and learn about ecological grief. A Letter From Our Founder   This past week, I felt like I was finally coming up for air. There’s no need to rehash how challenging 2025 has been—between the fires, the devastating chaos of the new administration, and the demands of caring for my children and aging…
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What Does It Really Mean to Be Emotionally Available?: How to Go From Emotionally Unavailable to Building Real Connection for Healthier Relationships

There are many moments in my life where I have acted in a way that later left me embarrassed or, even worse, ashamed. One exchange I have thought about many times since was a conversation between myself and a dear friend during my senior year in high school. My friend was a year older and was already in college, and he called me one night…
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Take Root Therapy March Newsletter

We get curious about our inner critic, fly kites, and learn to build new friendships. A Letter From Our Founder   Hi there, Spring is finally here, and it’s feeling… wonky. We had a few warm days, but today, when I stepped outside, I was shocked by the cold. It’s disorienting—almost like an external reflection of how I’ve been feeling internally. The world keeps spinning,…
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Why Am I So Hard On Myself? Understanding Self-Criticism and Learning to Quiet Your Inner Critic

My schedule has been jam-packed recently: my kids are playing multiple sports in addition to their other after-school activities, and all of it spills into our weekends. We go from one game or birthday party to another, squeezing in meals, caring for our dog, and then tending to a never-ending to-do list. This week, their school has early dismissals all week, and my partner has…
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Is It All In My Head?: Recognizing the Mind-Body Relationship and Destigmatizing Psychosomatic Symptoms

In my immigrant home growing up, there wasn’t a lot of room for challenging emotions. If I was feeling overwhelmed, scared, sad, or (gasp!) angry, I was encouraged to disregard how I was feeling and to just keep going. My parents had many concerns, including financial matters and familial issues. My emotional state was not necessarily where my parents would focus their energy, and emotional…
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How Do We Stop Having the Same Fight Over and Over?: Making Sense of Conflict in Relationships and Finding Resolution

I will be celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary with my partner this year. This feels monumental to me, as I often struggled to see myself in a marriage in the traditional sense of the word. Yes, I wanted to be married and have children. And also, sometimes, I didn’t. I imagined so many different lives for myself. I had so many relationships work and then…
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Why Am I Being Singled Out?: Understanding Bullying and Its Impact on Mental Health

Bullying can take many forms, and these days, it seems to be even more ubiquitous. I am fortunate that I haven’t experienced too many instances of peer bullying myself. As a child, I was mainly able to blend in, and as a teen, I chose to lean into and really embrace being different. I was usually kind to others; they were generally kind to me.…
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Why Do I Feel So Alone?: Understanding the Loneliness Epidemic and Cultivating Connection as the Antidote

I was recently on a retreat for work and decided to go early to have some time for myself. As a parent and partner, I later realized this was the longest time I’d been alone in years. I didn’t have anything planned, and it was raining and, at times, totally delightful. I read a whole book, walked in the rain, stopping whenever and wherever my…
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