I have to tell myself over and over that no one’s trauma is worse than another person’s trauma. The trauma may have occurred differently, or under different circumstances, but each person’s trauma is their own. We get to own our own stories and no one gets to tell us how to process that, what to feel or when we should be “over” it.

Sexual assault and violence do not affect everyone in the same way, but that does not make one person’s pain more valid than another’s. Too often, survivors feel pressured to measure their trauma against someone else’s story. The truth is simple: trauma is trauma. My story, your story, and our stories all deserve care, compassion, and healing without comparison.

Everyone is entitled to own their own trauma. We get to own our own stories. One person's experience is no more or less traumatic than someone else's.

While April is the time of year for anticipation of the joy and beauty that is to come with the approach of summer, it is also a time of year for reflection, meditation, and remembering the difficult journey of reaching this moment in the present.

Healing is not a linear journey. It is a constant back-and-forth, at least for me. There have been many moments in my life like this. In the early years, I thought those moments meant I was regressing—that I had somehow undone the healing I had worked so hard for. But over time, I came to understand something different.

Kenneth, Dawn and Neil are all survivors of sexual assault. Our experiences with the initial trauma and the recovery have all been different. Our journeys have one thing in common, however. Our paths to healing have been winding and unpredictable.

I grew up in a deeply unhealthy and dysfunctional household. From an early age, I remember saying to myself, “When I have kids, I will never…” Even as a child, I knew I wanted something different. I knew I wanted to be a mother.

As a child, fear [of ICE] lived quietly in the background of my life. It was present in ways that were easy to overlook from the outside but impossible to escape from within. It shaped how I paid attention to the world. It shaped how I understood safety.

Women who have endured complex trauma often pour themselves deeply into motherhood. Parenting becomes more than a role—it becomes a purpose, a place of safety, and sometimes a way to rewrite the past.

As a child, fear [of ICE] lived quietly in the background of my life. It was present in ways that were easy to overlook from the outside but impossible to escape from within. It shaped how I paid attention to the world. It shaped how I understood safety.

In light of the current administration’s use of ICE to terrorize communities and increased immigration enforcement, Alejandra Anastas will talk about the mental health toll of constantly looking over your shoulder, worrying if you’re next.

Prof. Walter Greason will lead us in a discussion about the mental health impacts of AI use.

We’ll hear from Dr. Kane about lifelong and intergenerational trauma that is specific to African Americans, particularly the trauma of invisibility. He will also share his insights on how everyone—regardless of race—processes trauma and the ABCs of living IN vs. living WITH one’s trauma.

How do you feel about New Year’s resolutions? A lot of people make them. A lot of people struggle with them. Kirby Hansen-McNulty will join us to talk about how a little self-kindness can go a long way towards managing New Year expectations.

We have had a rough start to the year. What about you? If the New Year has started off well for you, we would love to celebrate something. If you’re also struggling, know that you’re not alone.

There’s a myth that when perimenopause is over, mental health issues simply go away. If you are post-menopause, was that your experience? If your partner is post-menopause, did all of your partner’s issues get resolved?

For our discussion on Perimenopause, we will be joined by Dr. Ellen Albertson, who serves on the Medical Advisory Committee for the National Menopause Foundation; Lisa Falcone, CRNP, who is currently in Perimenopause and works as a nurse practitioner at the Lifecycle™ Wellness and Birth Center; and Aisha Sultan, a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who has written about her own experience with Perimenopause.

When the doctor mentioned the words bipolar 2 disorder, ADHD, anxiety, and PTSD, all at once the floor crumbled underneath me.

Getting a Mental Health Diagnosis can often bring clarity. What happens when it forces you to reframe long-held beliefs, or contradicts an earlier diagnosis?

Grief can take many forms. The most familiar is when we are faced with the loss of a loved one. There are rituals of mourning, familiar ways of providing comfort and an accepted and understood common language that we use to show our support. What about when we grieve the loss of an Identity? Or the loss of a Relationship? A Job? A Dream? Although the emotions might be similar, there are often no rituals, no common language.