Karen Dudgeon, LCSW

10/25/2025

Office refresh complete!

01/02/2025

My colleague Sarah Tillotson, LCSW will be starting this group in February. This is a wonderful opportunity for parents to learn how to support their anxious teen.

12/26/2024

11/27/2024

Cortland County food pantries are offering a variety of food giveaways and meals during the holiday season. Visit 211 for the list! https://www.211cortland.org/holiday-giveaways

11/21/2024

Negative core beliefs can limit us, but challenging them allows for growth and self-compassion

For more content on trauma therapy, visit: http://www.amazon.com/Robert-T.-Muller/e/B0033AFO5A

11/19/2024

Trauma memories are often fragmented and involve intense emotional responses

For more content on trauma therapy, visit: http://www.amazon.com/Robert-T.-Muller/e/B0033AFO5A

09/01/2024

9/8 will mark the first annual ! 📅

988 Day is a national initiative dedicated to raising awareness about the 988 Su***de & Crisis Lifeline and emphasizing the importance of mental health and su***de prevention.

Learn more from SAMHSA: https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/988/newsroom/988-day

08/30/2024

08/26/2024

This is the one thing you must do.

07/15/2024

When you can’t cut out (their worries), add in (what they need for felt safety).

Rather than focusing on what we need them to do, shift the focus to what we can do. Make the environment as safe as we can (add in another safe adult), and have so much certainty that they can do this, they can borrow what they need and wrap it around themselves again and again and again.

You already do this when they have to do things that don’t want to do, but which you know are important - brushing their teeth, going to the dentist, not eating ice cream for dinner (too often). The key for living bravely is to also recognise that so many of the things that drive anxiety are equally important.

We also need to ask, as their important adults - ‘Is this scary safe or scary dangerous?’ ‘Do I move them forward into this or protect them from it?’♥️