Connie Butera Counselling & Psychotherapy

11/17/2025

11/11/2025

11/10/2025

Another Sneaky Grief Moment

The holidays have a way of slipping little memories into our hands when we least expect them. Today it was an ornament. A simple little “wish” ornament I suddenly remembered belonged to my sister.

She won it at my friend’s ornament exchange back in 2021. She was living with me then — nervous to be included, excited when she won, and so happy to tuck it in decorations. I had forgotten she told me to keep it with the others.

Finding it again… it hit differently. A soft thud in the chest. A reminder, a warmth, and a grief that still knows how to find the cracks in a day. I’m grateful to have it, especially because I don’t really have much that belonged to her.

The holidays do this. They stir emotions we didn’t schedule. They mix warmth with longing, joy with ache, presence with absence. And none of it is wrong.

If this season brings you a wave of memories or feelings — comforting or complicated — you don’t need to fight the tide. Just notice it. Breathe through it. Ride the wave as it comes.

Grief doesn’t follow the calendar. And you’re allowed to feel exactly what you feel.

11/08/2025

Ooohh this is a great one for my kiddos

11/06/2025

Your heart grows as a therapist when….

11/06/2025

✨ Holiday Hours — Connie Butera Counselling & Psychotherapy ✨

As we move toward the holiday season, I want to share that my practice will be closed from December 23, 2025 to January 4, 2026.
My last working day before the break is Monday, December 22, with appointments available from 4:00 PM – 9:00 PM.

I recognize that the holidays can be a joyful time — but they can also be incredibly difficult for many individuals and families. Increased stress, complex family dynamics, grief, loneliness, and emotional overwhelm often surface more intensely this time of year. If this resonates for you, I encourage you to book your pre-holiday sessions and begin processing concerns as early as possible. Support beforehand can make a meaningful difference in how you enter and move through the season.

🌿 Booking Updates
My January–March 2026 schedule is now updated in JaneApp, and my regular weekly hours remain:

Mondays & Tuesdays: 2:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Wednesdays & Thursdays: 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Fridays: 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Weekend appointments available upon request and based on availability.

If you’d like to secure a pre-holiday appointment or book ahead for early 2026, you can schedule directly online at:
➡️ Conniebutera.janeapp.com

Wishing everyone a gentle, meaningful, and grounded holiday season — however you celebrate.
Let’s work together to make this your most supported holiday yet. ❤️

10/31/2025

Grief is sneaky like that.

It’s funny and tender and unpredictable — because just when life feels steady and grounded, grief quietly slips in and taps you on the shoulder.

Tonight, it surprised me.

I was making chicken wings — using a recipe my sister once taught me — and suddenly I was right back in a cozy, joy-filled Halloween years ago:

✨ The fun
✨ The smells in the kitchen
✨ The crisp fall air
✨ The excitement of shaking up routine
✨ The laughter and warmth of being with someone who made everything feel special

And in an instant, there it was — a wave of grief and love, hand-in-hand.

No anniversary.
No warning.
Just a simple dinner and a memory that decided to visit.

Grief doesn’t move in straight lines.
It shows up in seasons, scents, recipes, and moments we don’t plan for.

If this happens to you too, it doesn’t mean you’re “back at square one.”
It means your love was real.
It means connection leaves a mark.
It means you’re human.

Tonight, I’m letting myself feel it.
Letting it wash in and wash out.
Letting it remind me of love that shaped me.

If a memory catches you off guard this week — in a kitchen, in a song, in the air — you’re not alone.

Sometimes grief just comes home for a moment.
And that’s okay.

🤍
Happy Halloween everyone

10/30/2025

✨ “I don’t know what to talk about today…” ✨

Oooohhh… I love those sessions. 💛

So many clients worry that they need to arrive with a topic, a story, a “reason” to talk.

But here’s the truth:

You never need to plan your therapy session.

If you come in feeling like “nothing’s going on,” or “I don’t know what to talk about today,” that doesn’t mean there’s nothing meaningful happening.

Sometimes those are the sessions where the most powerful work begins.
Because when the obvious topics are quiet, the deeper layers have space to speak. 🌿

In those moments, it becomes my job to gently guide, ask curious questions, and explore what might be beneath the surface—patterns, emotions, unmet needs, shifts in identity, fatigue, calm, or even growth.

You get to simply show up.
That is enough.

There is always something meaningful inside the “quiet.”
Sometimes calm is information.
Sometimes stuckness is the doorway.
Sometimes your mind finally has a moment to exhale—and that is where we begin.

So if you ever walk into session unsure what to say?

Take a breath.
Sit down.
Let the space do the work.

I’ve got you. 🤍