PESI

04/29/2026

How do you translate, "My teen client taught me TikTok dances for 30 minutes," into clinical language? Asking for a friend...

04/28/2026

Are you confident you're not missing ADHD look-alike symptoms in your clients? Misdiagnosis, overdiagnosis, and pathologizing are real risks — and they damage the therapeutic relationship.

This FREE 1-day virtual training with Dr. David Nowell gives you the clinical clarity you need. You'll learn: ✔ Neurodiversity-affirming, top-down & bottom-up approaches ✔ The BIG 5 non-medical supports for the distracted brain ✔ The latest research on how exercise, sleep & diet impact ADHD ✔ How to reduce shame and anxiety in your ADHD clients

Free to attend. Free 3-day replay access if you can't join live.

📅 May 28th, 8AM–4PM CT — Register free today: https://bit.ly/4cozEU1

04/27/2026

Ever finish a session and think "We talked a lot, but did anything actually move forward?"

It happens to the best of us. MINT Certified Trainer Kristin Dempsey has a framework that might be exactly what your MI practice needs right now.

It comes down to 3 F's, and once you see it, you won't be able to unsee it.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/4mQo9Ih

When writing Advancing Motivational Interviewing: An Experiential Skills Guide for Mental Health Providers with my colleague and pal, Ali Hall, I found myself wondering more about what it means to build resources that continue to address the complexity of work we do in ways that are useful and not t...

04/27/2026

With all due respect to myself, what was I thinking?

Better fuel up with a latte on the way into the office. 😎

04/26/2026

As clinicians, we feel the pull to help our clients move through pain, and quickly. But with survivor's guilt, rushing the process can actually work against us.
Dr. Truitt reminds us that the brain developed self-blame for a reason. It was trying to make something unbearable feel manageable. That strategy won't simply dissolve under pressure. It needs to be gently, carefully updated.
That shift in framing, from eliminating guilt to updating the brain's strategy, changes everything about pacing, intervention, and how we hold our clients in the process.
🔗 Read the full article:

Your client may know, logically, that they did not cause the loss. And still, the loop persists: I should have done more. I should have seen it. Why them and not me?

04/25/2026

Some call it intuition, others call it pattern recognition. I call it years of experience in a field that requires extraordinary levels of self-awareness, attunement, and empathy.

04/24/2026

Your client understands intellectually that the danger is over. So why does their body still feel like it isn't?
Dr. Arielle Schwartz cuts to the heart of it: trauma isn't just stored in the mind. It lives in the nervous system. And that means healing has to happen there too.

When we shift our clinical lens from what happened to what's happening inside right now, we give clients something powerful: agency. 🙌

The nervous system isn't fixed. And that's the whole point.

📖 Full article by Dr. Schwartz: https://bit.ly/4vsbI9K

04/24/2026

Hate to break it to you, but therapists aren't exactly in the business of giving advice.

If you're looking for collaboration, self-reflection, insight, perspective, tools, and someone who knows you've got all of the answers you need deep down inside?

We've got you covered. 😉

04/23/2026

If you've ever sat with a client stuck in survivor's guilt, you know how resistant it can be to reframing. They know it wasn't their fault. And yet the loop continues.
Dr. Truitt explains why — and it starts with the brain.

Survivor's guilt is often the mind's attempt to restore a sense of control after something overwhelming. If I can find what I did wrong, maybe I can prevent this from ever happening again. Self-blame isn't irrational. It's protective.

Understanding that changes how we show up in the room.

🔗 Read the full article: https://bit.ly/4cYd2JY

Your client may know, logically, that they did not cause the loss. And still, the loop persists: I should have done more. I should have seen it. Why them and not me?

04/21/2026

I don't know who needs to hear this but, you NEVER need to apologize to your therapist for crying. It's okay if you do apologize, but crying does not make us uncomfortable in the slightest.

It's not that we enjoy making people cry, it's more like we're so honored that you trust us enough to let your guard down. 💖

04/20/2026

Trauma-informed is necessary. But is it the whole picture?

Dr. Arielle Schwartz makes a compelling case for expanding our clinical lens to also ask: How did this person survive? When have they felt most connected to themselves?

This resilience-informed approach doesn't sidestep pain — it activates different neural networks, and the shift in a client's nervous system when they speak to their own strength is clinically meaningful.

Read the full blog to explore the neurobiology behind this integrative framework. 👇
https://bit.ly/4c1MxDc

When we understand trauma not as something that happened to the body but as something that continues to live within the body, everything about how we approach healing shifts. Trauma is not defined by the event itself. It is defined by the internal experience that follows, by the way the nervous syst...

04/19/2026

"Do you like weather, sports, or any other emotionally neutral subject?"

Who else feels like an alien trying to make normal human conversation at the end of a long day of providing therapy? 👽