Dana Hall LCPC

11/28/2025

11/22/2025

🌼 November is National Children’s Grief Awareness Month
A time to recognize that children experience loss deeply, often without the language or tools to fully express what’s happening inside.One of the greatest gifts we can offer grieving kids is words they can borrow when their own feel too big or confusing. That’s why Dandelion Wishes has become such a meaningful resource for families I work with.

Dandelion Wishes gently helps parents and caregivers talk with children about the loss of a loved one, especially the loss of a grandparent. It gives families shared language, simple metaphors, and tender moments of connection so children don’t have to navigate grief alone.

Grief becomes a little softer when we can name it.
Connection becomes a little stronger when we can talk about it.

This month, let’s honor the experiences of grieving children everywhere and support the adults who are trying their best to walk with them through it.


Dougy Center
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11/22/2025

A reminder as we head into the holiday season:

If you feel guilty setting boundaries with family, you’re not doing anything wrong.
That guilt is often a sign that you were raised to put your own needs aside just to keep the peace.

Healthy boundaries are not selfish, they’re self-respect.
You’re allowed to choose your emotional safety.
You’re allowed to take up space.
You’re allowed to protect your peace.

And if it feels uncomfortable?
That’s simply the old pattern breaking.

11/15/2025

This 👇

11/15/2025

I get it.
That reaction comes from a very human place: hurt, confusion, defensiveness, and a longing to reclaim control when something feels unfair.

But here’s the truth I share often in the therapy room:

Acting outside your nature to prove a point doesn’t protect you, it drains you.
Reacting from woundedness can pull you further away from who you want to be.
Someone else’s misunderstanding, jealousy, projection, or discomfort is not your evidence to carry.

You don’t have to shrink, twist yourself, or transform into someone unrecognizable to manage another person’s feelings.

Your power comes from staying aligned with your values, your integrity, and your emotional health, even when others assign you a story you never auditioned for.

Let people misunderstand you.
Let them be wrong about you.
What matters most is that you stay right with yourself.

Your peace is worth far more than the temporary satisfaction of “proving a point.”

10/26/2025

Some days it’s less “gentle parenting” and more “gentle screaming into the void while they argue about who looked at who first.”

10/25/2025

Positive Self-Talk Alone Doesn’t Work!

Ever notice that sometimes you can tell yourself “It’s fine, I’m fine, it’ll all work out” and still feel completely not fine?
That’s because positive self-talk often comes from a protector part of us, the part that’s trying to keep things together and avoid being overwhelmed. Its goal is safety. It believes that if we just think positively enough or stay logical, the painful stuff won’t flood in.

But here’s the catch: that strategy bypasses emotional integration. We end up saying all the “right” things without actually feeling soothed or congruent inside.
Real healing comes when we pause the pep talk and listen underneath it. When we let the feeling part, the one that’s scared, tired, or sad, be heard and cared for, rather than silenced. This is where therapy can really be helpful! Reach out!

Remember self-talk can be helpful, but self-connection is what transforms. 💛

10/14/2025

Fall Can Stir Up Our Mood

As the Midwest shifts into shorter days and cooler air, many people start to feel their energy dip or their anxiety rise, and it’s not “just in your head.” Neuroscience shows that changes in light directly affect our circadian rhythm (the brain’s internal clock), which in turn influences serotonin, melatonin, and cortisol, the key players that regulate mood, sleep, and stress.

When daylight hours shrink, our brain produces more melatonin (making us sluggish) and less serotonin (lowering mood stability). The result? We might feel wired and tired at the same time restless, irritable, or emotionally flat.

But this seasonal shift doesn’t have to throw us off course. Here are a few simple ways to help your nervous system stay in sync this fall:

Get morning light: Step outside within an hour of waking, even on cloudy days. Natural light tells your brain it’s daytime and resets your circadian rhythm.
Move daily: Exercise boosts serotonin and dopamine, helping offset the natural dip that comes with darker months.
Keep a steady rhythm: Stick to consistent sleep and wake times to give your brain predictability.
Stay connected: The Midwest can get gray and isolating; social connection literally strengthens neural pathways that buffer against seasonal anxiety.
Consider a light therapy lamp: A small dose of bright light in the morning can mimic natural sunlight and lift mood.

Our bodies are designed to adapt, but they need signals of safety and consistency to do it well. Think of these habits as helping your brain “tune” itself to the rhythm of fall, instead of feeling like you’re fighting against it. 🍂

10/11/2025

When the World Hurts, We Feel It Too!

More and more of my clients are coming in deeply disturbed by the current social climate, and if you’re feeling it too, you’re not alone.

Our brains were built to keep us safe, but not necessarily to differentiate between what’s happening to us and what we see happening to others. The neural systems that detect threat, regulate fear, and process emotion aren’t finely tuned to know the difference.
When we watch vivid traumatic images or hear distressing stories, the same areas of the brain, the amygdala, insula, and other parts of the limbic system, light up as if the danger were right in front of us.
Trauma isn’t only what happens to us physically. Sometimes, what we see or hear can embed itself into our nervous systems, especially when it’s repeated, intense, or emotionally charged.
Our brain’s threat and memory systems don’t always distinguish between direct and vicarious trauma.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or heavy after watching the news, that reaction makes sense. Your body is responding as if it needs to protect you.

Be gentle with yourself. Limit exposure when needed. Move your body. Ground. Reach out.
Being aware of how our brains work helps us care for our emotional systems, and guard against unintended harm.

10/11/2025

Happy World Mental Health Day

Today is a reminder that your mind deserves the same care and attention as your body. Healing isn’t linear, and you don’t have to do it alone.

✨ “See this as your sign to reach out, life can be brighter, softer, and lighter when you share the weight.” ✨

Whether it’s a therapist, a friend, a family member, or a support group, connection is where hope begins.

💚 Take a breath. Check in with yourself. And remember: you are worth the care you give to others.

10/10/2025

Let's talk relationship health.
In every relationship, there are three parts:
You. The other person. And the relationship itself.

When we look at connection through this lens, it becomes clear that each part requires care and attention. A healthy relationship isn’t about merging into one identity, it’s about two whole people creating a shared space that both can safely inhabit.

Let’s talk about one key piece of that balance: autonomy.
Autonomy means maintaining your sense of self, your values, needs, and goals, even while deeply connected to another. In a healthy relationship, you don’t have to sacrifice autonomy to feel close. In fact, the healthiest partnerships encourage independence. They celebrate personal growth, support individual goals, and recognize that a thriving “us” depends on thriving “me’s.”

Ask yourself:

Do I feel free to be myself in this relationship?
Do we both have space to grow individually?
Do I support my partner’s independence as much as I seek connection?

When both people nurture their individuality and the relationship between them, that’s where true intimacy lives, not in control or dependency, but in mutual respect and trust.

Healthy love says:
“I choose you, and I still choose me.”

10/06/2025

Let's talk about how anticipating your partner’s triggers being an act of care...
Knowing what activates your partner’s anxiety, shame, or fear doesn’t mean you’re responsible for fixing it, it means you’re attuned.

When you learn to anticipate triggers, you’re saying:
✨ “I see what hurts you.”
✨ “I respect your nervous system.”
✨ “I want to be someone you feel safe with.”

Maybe you notice they pull away during conflict, or their tone changes when they feel criticized. Instead of reacting, you pause. You check in. You offer grounding, not judgment.

This isn’t about control, it’s about co-regulation. When both partners understand each other’s safety cues and triggers, healing happens in the relationship instead of alone.

Empathy is preventative care for connection. 💛