Better Things Ahead Counseling

11/10/2025

How I came to truly appreciate deep breathing 🤘

10/22/2025

I tell people all the time...you don’t have to just live with tension. My shoulder blade area hurts from sitting too much and apparently in weird positions, so I took 15 seconds to actually do something about it. Practice what you preach.

07/16/2025

An incredible opportunity for women in Princeton!

Reconnecting With Your Favorite Self: Nurturing Self Compassion Through Inner Child Healing

06/24/2025

Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) Training

📍 Eden Prairie, MN
📅 September 18–20
🎯 For clinicians working with first responders

First responders face what most people run from. If you're a clinician serving those on the front lines, this 3-day ART Basic Training will equip you with rapid, effective tools to treat trauma, anxiety, grief, and more.

Why ART?
✅ Evidence-based
✅ Fast and effective
✅ Reduces physiological distress in as little as one session
✅ Designed for those exposed to high-impact stress

Led by culturally competent trainers who understand the unique needs of first responders.

DM me with questions!

06/17/2025

Some folksl are out here handing out advice like Halloween candy with zero training, no trauma lens, and a savior complex the size of Texas.

This is the kind of s**t that repels patrol cops. They can smell bulls**t. Duh.

👉 Want to do peer support right? We’re hosting an 8-hr virtual deep dive June 18th.

For real ones only: training coordinators, peer support, command staff, clinicians, LEOs who give a damn.

🔗 Link in comments. See you there—or don’t.

06/14/2025

We're so excited to spend some time with wellness coordinators and peer support members! To register: https://tacmobility.myflodesk.com/peerwebinar

You’re out here telling everyone else to take time off, reset, and regulate — but when’s the last time you actually did it for yourself?

👀 Don’t preach what you’re too burned out to practice.

On August 12, we’re hosting an in-person, 8-hour intensive in Chandler, AZ built specifically for wellness coordinators, peer support teams, and anyone who gives a damn about showing up better — for themselves and their people.

Here’s what’s inside:
Deep dive into human behavior
Somatic therapy & nervous system education
Psychoeducation + critical incident debrief strategies
Proven wellness program models you can take back to your agency

🔥 We’re already 15% full.
🗓 Grant deadline is July 1.
🏨 Hotels nearby if you’re rolling in from out of town.

💬 Comment below if you’re an AZ agency and want help applying for grant funding. We’ll DM you everything you need to get registered and reimbursed.

06/11/2025

First responders: You give everything to your teams—but who’s got your back? 🚓 🚑 🚒

Introducing the Peer Support Playbook

An 8-hour intensive training designed specifically for those peer support staff.

Whether you're building a peer support team or leading one already, this training gives you real tools to make a difference.

What you'll get:
✅ Understand benefits and limitations of Debrief styles
✅ A process for growth & change
✅ Wellness program strategy you can implement
✅ Psycho-education principles that defy logic but get results
✅ Somatic therapy tools for real, lasting relief
✅ Hands-on practice with training aids & group work

📅 6/18/25
🖥️ Live + interactive

05/09/2025

Interested in knowing how Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) can help your first responder clients? Julie Stender, national ART trainer, and myself will be hosting an information session on May 30th at 9:00 AM central time. This has been a critical piece of my work with first responders, join us for this FREE info session to learn more about ART!

Date: Friday, May 30th at 9:00 AM central time.

Zoom link in caption too: https://us02web.zoom.us/s/6125674654

04/05/2025

You love them — but in the heat of the moment, you forget.

Instead of responding with care, you react. You roll your eyes. You shut down. You go on the attack. Before you know it, you're locked in the same old fight, saying things you don’t mean, pulling further apart.

This isn’t just a bad habit — it’s a relational reflex, wired long before this relationship. It’s your adaptive child taking over, doing what it learned to do to stay safe. But what once protected you is now costing you connection.

Thankfully, there’s another way.

Relational mindfulness is about waking up in the moment. It starts with noticing: Oh, there I go again. Then, instead of reacting, we pause. We breathe. We choose differently. We step into our Wise Adult, the part of us that values connection over control.

At first, it’s uncomfortable. It takes effort. But with practice, responding with intention becomes second nature. And one day, you realize — you’re no longer stuck in the same old fights. You’re showing up differently.

12/27/2024

Your partner sighing can be ✨️triggering✨️

Did you know though that sighs are regulating for a lot of people? Let them sigh without attaching meaning to it.

If your partner uses sighs to communicate to something to you. Let them find their words instead. You don't have to jump to try and figure out why they're sighing and what they're feeling or thinking. Let them come to you directly.

I understand that society in general has attached meaning to sighing but instead of getting dysregulated over someone's sigh. Notice your own body sensations and regulate them first and move along with your today until the person ir ready to address it. Release that burden from your shoulders.

12/07/2024

You'd think being ultra dependable with high attendance rates would be a good thing, but did you know it's actually a red flag for future burnout and PTSD?

It's one thing to love your job but another to never miss a call/shift or take every OT opportunity. In order to make it through a first responder career, you need to be aware that the chemicals and learned patterns that attracted you to the field can slowly creep in and take over your thought processes and they are not thinking of you long-term.

If you are an admin, please take notice of the person that comes to every call, respond to every OT notice, and is ultra dependable. Make them aware that this is not a sustainable way to live. Have them work less or take a day off.

If you have thought to yourself things like:

-"I need to be there."
-"Being at home is boring, I love working."
-"I know I will do things the right way on that call."

There are a number of others, but take note of your thought processes and why they might be showing up. In first responder careers, you must focus on sustainability, so if your call response rate is a little too good, don't give yourself a gold star. Take the day off instead.

12/05/2024

Sometimes, in order to protect ourselves, we can't get attached to the outcomes of a call. Life-saving measures don't always work. Justice doesn't always get served.

Here's a few things to remind yourself of when the results are weighing heavy:

1. Remind yourself that you completed your roll to the best of your ability, and that can be enough.
2. You are just one step in the process.
3. When you lead in your role with compassion for the person, they will remember that you cared even if it wasn't the outcome anyone wanted.

You are human. Of course, you want the best outcome for another person. You only have control over yourself, though, and when we start wishing for different outcomes, we start shifting our perspective to things we have no control over. This inevitably leads to dread and becoming jaded in the job. Always bring yourself back to what you can control.