Category: Telehealth

1/12/2026 0 Comments

How to Grieve Well: Healing After Loss (A Therapist's Guide for Trauma Survivors)

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Grief is one of the most difficult human experiences to navigate, and when you're a trauma survivor, it can feel nearly impossible. I've spent years working with clients who've faced this exact struggle, people who feel stuck, numb, or overwhelmed when loss enters their already complicated emotional landscape. If you're reading this, you might be one of them.

Let me start by saying this: there's nothing wrong with you if grief feels different or harder than what others describe. Your nervous system has been through things. Your attachment patterns have been shaped by difficult experiences. The way you grieve will be uniquely yours, and that's not just okay, it's expected.

When Trauma and Grief Collide

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1/5/2026 0 Comments

Creating Safety to Feel Again: How Trauma-Informed Self-Care Rebuilds Confidence from the Inside Out

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Divorce recovery is tough terrain to navigate. I've been working with trauma survivors for years, and I can tell you that rebuilding confidence after a marriage ends isn't just about positive thinking or "moving on." It's about creating safety in your nervous system so you can actually feel again, without panic, without that constant knot in your stomach, without your mind racing through worst-case scenarios.

The truth is, divorce often triggers our deepest attachment wounds. Your nervous system doesn't distinguish between physical danger and emotional threat. When your primary relationship dissolves, your brain interprets this as a survival crisis. That's why you might feel like you're losing your mind, even when you know logically that you're going to be okay.

What Happens to Your Nervous System During Divorce

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12/22/2025 0 Comments

Emotions Series Part 1: What's the Difference Between Feeling and Showing an Emotion?

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Emotions can feel like a mystery, even to those of us who work with them every day. You might notice your heart racing during a difficult conversation, but your face remains completely neutral. Or maybe you've had the experience of someone asking "Are you okay?" when you thought you were hiding your frustration perfectly well. This disconnect between what we feel inside and what others see on the outside is more common than you might think, and it's rooted in fascinating neuroscience.

As a therapist, I see this emotional complexity play out in my office daily. The difference between feeling an emotion and showing an emotion shapes how we connect with others, how we heal, and how we navigate our relationships. That's why I'm excited to start this four-part series exploring the intricate world of emotions and expression.

The Neuroscience Behind Feeling vs. Showing

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12/17/2025 0 Comments

Part-Time AMFT Jobs: Your Complete Guide to Finding Flexible Therapy Work in 2026

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Finding meaningful part-time work as an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist can feel overwhelming. I get it: you're trying to balance your need for flexibility with your desire to do impactful work, all while navigating licensing requirements and building your clinical hours. The job market has changed dramatically, especially post-pandemic, and figuring out where you fit can be tough.

As someone who's worked in this field for years and employs associate therapists, I've watched countless AMFTs struggle to find positions that honor both their professional goals and their personal needs. The good news? The landscape for part-time therapy work has never been more promising. Let me walk you through what I've learned about finding flexible, meaningful positions in 2026.

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11/19/2025 0 Comments

When Trauma Mimics Bipolar or Borderline Personality Disorders: Why Differential Diagnosis Matters

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Mental health diagnosis isn't always straightforward. Sometimes what looks like one condition is actually something completely different underneath. This is especially true when it comes to trauma and how it can masquerade as bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder (BPD).

As someone who's worked in mental health for years, I've seen this mix-up happen more times than I can count. A person comes in thinking they have bipolar disorder because of their intense mood swings, or they've been told they have BPD because of their emotional struggles. But when we dig deeper, we often find that trauma is the real culprit behind their symptoms.

The Great Imitator: How Trauma Masks Itself

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8/18/2023 0 Comments

Multiple Emotions all at Once!

By Lauren Heinrich

Change is a part of life. Sometimes it feels good, like getting a promotion. Sometimes it hurts, like having to end a relationship. We tend to categorize our transitions as “good” or “bad” and expect the emotions we feel to match. It can really be confusing if our feelings don’t match what we expect.

Let’s take starting a family as an example. Having your first child is supposed to be a magical, joyous experience. What are new parents supposed to do if they feel mixed emotions about having a child? It doesn’t feel right to admit to being upset that they won’t have the same amount of freedom as they did before their first kid. Or let’s consider the mixed feelings that might come with taking a promotion at work. Who wouldn’t be excited about a pay raise? No one wants to admit they feel anxious about the new responsibilities, or how their relationships with their old coworkers will change.

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7/22/2023 0 Comments

Why Does Talking About it Help?

by Emily Emmerman, MSW, ASW

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People come to therapy for a variety of reasons - to talk about and processes traumatic events, to better understand themselves and the way they process the world, to learn new skills to be more emotionally flexible, and even to just vent about life and get some clarification. No matter which way you spin it, you come to therapy to process, and processing means talking. But what happens when we feel like talking about the past might open up Pandoras Box?

All too often I have clients come to their session who say something along the lines of, "I want to feel better, but talking about what happened won't fix it, so I don't want to talk about it."

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6/19/2023 0 Comments

Values: Our Life Compass

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By Joe Acciaioli, LCSW

In his book Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life, Steven Hayes compares our values to a life “compass.” Values go beyond goals, because they are more deeply held, and we are never “done” with them. If one of my values is to be loving, that is different than the goal of finding a partner and possibly getting married. Presumably, once I find that partner, or even if I break up with that partner, I will continue to have the value of being loving.

Especially during these challenging times, I find myself talking to my clients about their values, and the importance of living a values-based life. How do we not lose hope in a time of crisis, a time when we see so much suffering in the world? I believe the answer has a lot to do with living our values day-by-day.

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5/1/2023 0 Comments

The Fear of Therapy

By Jessica Darling Wilkerson, LMFT

I have a tendency to dig right in.

I have to force myself to remember to engage in the expected pleasantries of hello, how are you, how has your day been so far? This is because by the time my client has shown up to my office I've already been thinking about them - how about I just say "you".

I've been thinking about you.

I get up in the morning, take my shower, drink my coffee, drop my children off to their respective places, and drive into work. I listen to the radio while I drive in, but that's mostly background noise. I think about the people I get to see today. Their stories come back to me and I start wondering how they've been this week based on how they left my office the previous week.

By the time you arrive, I've already started our conversation hours ago, and I'm ready to jump right in. But quite often, I'll catch myself, and I'll try to remember to say the hello first...

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11/28/2022 0 Comments

EMDR & Me

by Jessica Wilkerson, LMFT 104464

It's not for everybody, and everyone isn't necessarily ready for it when they walk in the door.

The following article is written from my experience as a psychotherapist who has been providing EMDR since 2014. If you're reading this and you're a fellow clinician, you'll be happy to hear that my training was EMDRIA approved. I've been trained in the standard protocol and also in the Interpersonal protocol invented by Roy Kiessling.

If you're not a therapy-nerd, then all of that was just my way of tooting my horn and letting other therapists know I'm legit - there are some wonky EMDR trainings out there that give this modality a bad name when those therapists start trying to use what they were taught. The EMDRIA part of that paragraph is the most important part.

But I digress... Why is it not for everyone and why are people not necessarily ready for it right away?

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10/17/2022 0 Comments

Gottman Couples Therapy

By Deborah Duell-Stephens, LMFT

The Gottman Method of for couple’s work is an empirically proven process that is the result of research that began in the 1970’s by psychologist, Dr. John Gottman, which focused on what makes marriages succeed or fail. In studying how couples argued, Dr’s John & Julie Gottman fashioned a method for therapy that accentuates a brass-tacks approach to improving clients’ relationships.

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10/6/2022 0 Comments

Teens & Eye Rolling

by Emily Emmerman, MSW, ASW

It might be annoying to be on the receiving end of, but eye rolling is a form of communication for teenage girls. I myself was an extreme eye-roller my intermediate/high school years and it drove my parents WILD because it was "disrespectful" and oftentimes hurtful. As I have become a more mature adult, I've also noticed when teenage girls roll their eyes it's usually in response to a few things:

a sore spot statement/question,
things they think are dumb,
or a defense mechanism against someone asking them to do things they don't want to do (but know they probably should) but may not know how to verbally express this.

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12/18/2020 1 Comment

EMDR & Telehealth

By Jessica Wilkerson, MA, LMFT

"Can a person really get any sort of benefit from trying to do EMDR online?" "How will they do it if they can't use the vibrating paddles or wear the headphones?" "This seems sketchy!"

I have been providing EMDR through telehealth and I've been seeing amazing results!

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12/18/2020 2 Comments

Do Online Sessions REALLY help????

by Jessica Wilkerson, MA, LMFT

The short answer: Yes!

But isn't in-person therapy better?

Mehhhhhh... yes and no.

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(530) 809-1702

[email protected]

Locations:

1025 Village Lane, Chico CA 95926

1610 West Street, Ste 4, Redding CA 96001

Inspired Life Counseling is NOT a crisis center and is not equipped with the necessary tools to help in an emergency. Please click below for more information if you or your loved one is in crisis: Crisis Information.

Crisis Information

By texting Inspired Life Counseling at ( 530) 809-1702, you agree to receive conversations (external) messages from Inspired Life Counseling. We are NOT a crisis response. If you are in a mental health crisis or feel you are a danger to yourself or someone else, please contact 911. If you would like to no longer receive SMS correspondence Reply STOP to opt-out; Reply HELP for support; Message & data rates may apply; Messaging frequency may vary. Visit https://www.inspiredlifechico.com/contact to see our privacy policy and our Terms of Service.

MISSION: To provide a tranquil and healing space in which people in our community can find calmness internally through the relaxing atmosphere, along with respectful and engaging therapy conversations. To contribute to happier and more secure families by helping individuals, couples, and teens heal within and thereby creating different ways of engaging with themselves, the world, and those they love.

VISION: Creating a new kind of therapy experience in the Chico and Redding areas in which therapists have smaller caseloads, giving them the flexibility to spend more time with clients as needed - longer sessions, phone calls, client-centered advocacy. Creating a space in our community where clients can go between sessions to sit, linger, and re-center themselves when they're having difficult days. A place to belong while they heal their hearts and relationships. A therapy office that embodies the unconditional love of Christ, no matter what a person's gender identity, romantic disposition, or previous life hardships, experiences, or actions might have been. To be a safe place.

Inspired Life Counseling
Inspired Life Counseling is owned and directed by Jessica Darling, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #104464.
Office Hours: By Appointment Contact us!

YOUR CART

How to Grieve Well: Healing After Loss (A Therapist's Guide for Trauma Survivors)

Creating Safety to Feel Again: How Trauma-Informed Self-Care Rebuilds Confidence from the Inside Out

Emotions Series Part 1: What's the Difference Between Feeling and Showing an Emotion?

Part-Time AMFT Jobs: Your Complete Guide to Finding Flexible Therapy Work in 2026

When Trauma Mimics Bipolar or Borderline Personality Disorders: Why Differential Diagnosis Matters

Multiple Emotions all at Once!

Why Does Talking About it Help?

Values: Our Life Compass

The Fear of Therapy

EMDR & Me

Gottman Couples Therapy

Teens & Eye Rolling

EMDR & Telehealth

Do Online Sessions REALLY help????

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