Healthy groups allow every member to express their individuality without that difference being seen by other group members as a threat. That’s differentiation. In a psychological context, the word “differentiation” refers to how we can set boundaries between who we are and the groups, relationships, workplaces, ideologies, religions, and even self-identifiers that shape our…
Pizza Themed Simple Emotion Wheel For Kids + Free Printable PDF Kid’s Feelings Wheel Download
Last month, my patrons helped me collaborate on creating this new resource: a pizza-themed feelings wheel for kids. Via the Patreon community, Patrons got early access to this resource as it was developed, and their input shaped this final draft, which is now available for everyone to download below. I love how this ooey-gooey…
Ruptures, Disagreements, and Misunderstandings in Therapy
This simple illustration is meant to be a visual representation of something that can be kind of hard to understand about therapy: it’s okay to not see eye to eye with your therapist. A lot of us began therapy as clients with the expectation that the therapist will be the expert, that they’ll…
Intergenerational Trauma – Illustration and Questionnaire
If you aren’t naming and breaking the cycles that have entangled you, you are participating in them. This is true in most systems we are part of, but is especially true for families. Researchers call it “intergenerational trauma” and have demonstrated that the trauma of a parent is literally, genetically, passed to offspring. This Simple-Wikipedia…
How (Good) Trauma Therapy Works – A Model for Understanding Trauma Recovery
Even as someone who has studied trauma therapy for years, I often find it difficult to describe just how trauma therapy works and what someone can expect from “good therapy.” Download this resource for personal reference or professional use below. Download includes vertical and horizontal orientations, with printing options with either a yellow…
Intrusive Thought Flowchart – Illustrated Mental Health Resource
It’s not always this simple, but *sometimes* it is: shifts in how we respond to intrusive thoughts from PTSD or anxiety can shape our internal response and the strength of future intrusive thoughts. Sometimes just shifting from “OMG NO! The intrusive thought is here! 😱 Run away! 🏃♀️🏃🏻” to “Oh, hello. 👋You are back, huh?…
Phases of Disaster & Collective Trauma: Mental Health & Recovery
None of us really know what it looks like to survive and thrive beyond a global pandemic. Thankfully, past government funding for research about disaster response has produced some resources we can adapt, so we don’t have to start at square one in figuring out how to care for ourselves, support others, and care for…
Sketch notes on Parenting, Trauma, and Childhood Adversity
Instead of questioning (“how could you?”) or punishing (“how dare you!”) look for the entry point for empathy (“oh, of course you…”) When someone – especially kids but inclusive of us Adults- has a HUGE reaction to a minor thing- the reaction probably is not actually about the thing. More often, it’s fear, trauma, or…
Researchers: Early Education funding offers a 13.7% Annual Return on Investment
In the past, most of my artwork was translating research studies and book chapters into visual sketchnotes. Even though I’ve mostly moved away from that in my art, when I see the results of a particularly important study published, I like lending my illustration to it. By highlighting a few key points and reposting on…
How we Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn in Difficult Conversations: Adapting a Learning Mindset
When our sense of self depends on being “right,” challenging information from opposing viewpoints is often seen as a threat. Instead of being able to listen and respond thoughtfully, we automatically react. I think these reactions can be categorized into the same categories used when neurobiologists talk about how humans respond to more visceral threats…
Irvin Yalom: Group Therapy Sketchnotes and an Open Letter on “Love’s Executioner” as a Textbook
This article is in two parts, #1, Group Therapy Sketchnotes, and #2 An Open Letter I’ve written to educators who are using Yalom’s text “Love’s Executioner” as a Textbook. [click here to jump to Part 2] Group Therapy Sketchnotes In graduate school, I had the privilege of learning under instructors who were mostly…
Nothing to Add: A Sketchnote on White Silence in Conversations on Race + Racism Isn’t a Binary Illustration
Below is a sketchnote created from the text of an article titled Nothing to add: A Challenge to White Silence in Racial Discussions by Robin Diangelo. This doodle is a partial summary of a few points that stuck out during my read and I highly recommend reading the full article. The full text of…
Feeling Forecast: A Resource for Teaching Kids about Emotional Regulation and Empathy
This three-piece worksheet is an adapted excerpt from my COVID Kid’s Activity Book. This bundle includes two worksheets, with three pages total. The Feeling Forecast is a coloring book page and activity designed to teach kids about the Window of Tolerance (and why sometimes everyone needs to take a break to calm-down in…
Magical Thinking
Magical thinking is a normal phase in childhood in which we think that our thoughts- or totally random, unrelated events- can change the future. Lots of us hang onto just a bit of magical thinking into adulthood and that’s not necessarily a bad thing (confession: I’m calling myself out a bit on coffee mug magic!).…
Covid Kid’s Activity Book – A Workbook for Kids and Families to Build Community and Resilience through Quarantine and Beyond
Most of us are more than a little concerned about the mental health of the kiddos that we care about during this pandemic. The natural resiliency of kids combined with the positive benefits of all the time spent together during quarantine (even though that may feel at times like way too much time!) is likely…
Trauma Recovery Avocado Model
Trauma and trauma recovery look different for everyone, but generally, there’s a deep hardened core and a bunch of squishy stuff, all held together by a peel juuuust thick enough to keep us composed unless something comes along to smash us. A lot of times, we think the “pit” is in the past, and…
Hand Model of the Brain – A Doodle-Illustrated Learning Resource
This little video explains why it’s SO HARD to calm down once we’re set off. Make the motions with your own hand to get a sense of how an amygdala overwhelmed by fear, danger, or any overwhelming emotion can blow up, making us seem to “flip our lid” and act in ways we…