The Healing Cottage

11/27/2025

Wishing you and yours a safe and loving Thanksgiving!

The holidays come aglow in candles, and gatherings, but sometimes with the darkness of memories that we wish we could forget.

We tell ourselves this is the season Where we must gather.
Where we must comply.
Where we must sooth the past into silence because the table is set and the story is supposed to be beautiful.

Healing doesn’t happen where harm is invited. A holiday does not make unsafe people safe. Time does not heal wounds all on its own.

If a child was hurt, your job is not to keep the peace … it is to protect the child.

It may look like an empty chair.
It may look like a closed door.
It may look like choosing courage over comfort.
It may look like new holiday traditions and people.

If the one who was wounded is grown now, hiding a quiet ache behind their smile ask them (or yourself) what would feel like safety.

Listen.

Do not overwrite the story with forced joy nor participation. Do not try to rush the healing to make others comfortable.

The hard work is not pretending it never happened.
The hard work is saying:
You matter more than tradition.
You are worth more than silence.
Your safety is not negotiable.

This is about all the unseen sorrows we wrapped in scripture, excuses, and smiles.

Healing does not come by sitting beside what once shattered you.
Healing comes when someone finally stands between the harm and the harmed.

If protecting the vulnerable rearranges the table, and even leaves empty seats,
then maybe that is exactly what love and safety looks like.

Families are not healed by pretending.
They are healed by truth.
They are healed by safety.

They are healed when someone is brave enough to say:

Not anymore. It stops NOW.

11/20/2025

CPTSD-is a trauma-related condition that develops after long-term, repeated, and inescapable traumatic experiences, especially those that occur through childhood or within close relationships.

So many who carry complex trauma don’t even know they’re carrying it.
I know, it sounds impossible but sometimes wounds weave themselves into the very air we breathe.

CPTSD grows in places we couldn’t leave, inside relationships we were tied to by love, or need, or simple survival.
It doesn’t announce itself with a clear beginning or end. It threads itself through the days and the years until it feels less like harm and more like “just life.”

So we grow up calling the hurtful things “normal.” We learn to make peace with what should never have been ours to bear. And then, later…maybe much later…someone looks at our story and whispers the word “trauma.” And everything inside us wants to say, “No… it wasn’t like that. Well, it didn’t feel like that.”

Because, usually, it just felt like any other Tuesday.

Our minds, our bodies, gracious guardians that they are, gave us dissociation, and distance, and all sorts of adaptive protections so we could keep going. But even the strongest defenses grow tired. Many years after we’ve walked out of the places that hurt us, the symptoms rise like a tide we never saw coming. What was adaptive, is now maladaptive. What worked, now causes more problems.

The truth is:
complex trauma rarely looks obvious.
Not to the world.
Not to the survivor.
Especially not to the survivor.
We think trauma announces itself with dramatic noise. Sometimes it does, but more often, it hides in the shame filled parts of us and gets masked by competence, humor, strength, or the habit of never making a fuss.

So maybe what we need is more compassion, more gentleness toward the stories we don’t see.
More grace for the people who learned to survive by pretending they didn’t hurt.

Maybe part of your own healing is to help the world slow down and see a little deeper. To tell the truth about what trauma can look like. To make space for every survivor…

Even the ones who don’t yet have the words for what they lived through.
❤️‍🩹

11/19/2025

Thanksgiving is a week away, and it’s a beautiful time to slow down and notice the everyday gifts we often overlook. Things like your first warm sip of coffee, a cozy bed at night, the people who show up for you, the small moments that bring a breath of relief between the busy days.

I also know many of you may be in a season where gratitude feels hard to reach. Maybe you’re overwhelmed, stretched thin, or wondering what there is to even be thankful for. I understand. Sometimes it seems like there’s nothing good to hold onto but those are the moments when digging a little deeper matters most.

There were seasons in my own life when I didn’t know where our next meal would come from. Gratitude wasn’t easy then, but it became an anchor. Noticing even the smallest good helped carry me through what felt impossible.

If you’re longing for more peace, well-being, or connection with others, gratitude is a powerful place to begin.
Here’s a simple practice to try this week in anticipation of Thanksgiving:

✨ Say “thank you” to at least three people.
This could be someone close to you or even someone you meet in passing.
✨ Be specific.
Name what they did and why it mattered.
For example: “Thank you for taking the time to explain the issue to me. You really put thought into it, and it shows how caring you are.”

✨ Notice the impact.
Did their expression or body language change?
How did you feel after offering genuine appreciation?

✨ Reflect on the experience.
What shifted in you when you slowed down and named the good?

As we prepare for Thanksgiving, may gratitude open the door to peace, connection, and a deeper sense of “being” in the days ahead. 🕊️

11/15/2025

Need a slow, cozy reset? 🧶🧵🌸

Join us for Contemplative Crafts a peaceful space to create, breathe, and connect with others.

📅 Next Meeting: December 7th
🕑 Time: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
📍 Location: 119 N. Belair, Evans
📞 To reserve your spot:
Call or text Emma Haffey, LMSW
(913) 547-0863

All craft supplies are provided, so you can simply show up as you are and let your hands (and heart) unwind.

💲 Cost: $25 per session
👥 Adults 18+

Share or tag a friend who would love a peaceful afternoon of crafting and contemplation, and save this post so you don’t forget! 🌿✨

11/11/2025

🏆🥇Thank you to all who nominated and voted ! The Healing Cottage won
“Best of Shop Local Augusta 2025” in the mental health category.
We are so thankful for each of you!
😱❤️
See other winners in the link in the comments.

10/17/2025

What are you doing on a Friday night?

It’s easy after a long hard week to want to just come home and doom scroll. The days can feel long, but the years pass in the blink of an eye. One day, the toys will be gone, the laughter will echo in memory, and your little one will have a life and family of their own.

Put down the phone. Sit on the floor. Listen to their stories, their giggles, their dreams.

Look at them. Play with them.

These are the moments that shape connection, security, and love… the things that last far beyond childhood.

✨ Cherish every moment. They’re watching, waiting, and wanting you.

10/15/2025

We were nominated for the Best of Shop Local Augusta!
If you love The Healing Cottage of the CSRA, please go vote with a valid email address! We are listed under “medical and health” category.
Vote for your other local favorites too!

Vote for the Best of Shop Local Augusta! Our annual community poll celebrating our favorite local businesses. Support your hometown favorites!

10/14/2025

We were nominated for the Best of Shop Local Augusta!

10/06/2025

When we’ve endured deep pain or trauma, those experiences can start to define how we see ourselves and the world around us. We may begin to live in survival mode. We feel stuck in grief, fear, or victimhood.

Because it’s all we’ve known.

Healing doesn’t just happen by time alone. It happens when we choose to do the inner work, step by step, to move from surviving to thriving. 🌸

Take a moment and ask yourself:
✨ Am I still living as a victim or merely a survivor?
✨ Where do I want to be on my healing journey?
✨ Am I ready to do the work to truly heal?

Every step toward healing matters and you don’t have to walk it alone.

10/04/2025

Attention MEN! Must REGISTER to attend.
You’re Not Alone
The Conquer Program- Begins Sept 22
Feeling trapped in cycles of guilt and shame over p**n use? You’re far from alone. Even among those sitting quietly in church pews every week.
According to a recent Barna study:
54% of practicing Christians struggle with p**nography at least occasionally, while 22% view it weekly or daily
Alarmingly, only 10% of churches currently offer any programming to support those dealing with p**n use.
Pastors aren’t exempt either:
Two out of three U.S. pastors (67%) have dealt with p**nography struggles, and nearly one in five (18%) say it’s a current battle Yet, most recognize that the issue is widespread among congregants—75% of Christian men and 40% of Christian women report consuming p**nography.
This silent epidemic grows in isolation and secrecy, fueling shame and distancing many from God and community.
But there is hope.
Breaking the Cycle of Shame:
The Conquer Program
Every two weeks on Monday evening @ 6:30 pm
What to expect:
Holistic, shame-free support using scientific facts, cinematic visuals, therapeutic guidance, and spiritual strategies.
Located at 119 N Belair Rd, Evans, GA 30809
Just $50 per session (scholarships available- if you need it!)
Let’s not wait until it’s too late. Join us and build a path forward toward integrity, healing, and healthy relationships.
If you or someone you know needs this, please share or reach out today.
To Register:
✉️ Email: thehealingcottagecsra@gmail.com
📱 Call or Text: (706) 339-1020
You don’t have to walk through this alone. Hope to see you soon.
*******hy

09/13/2025

Can you imagine—
the breath knocked right out of your chest when you see a grainy video and realize the face the world is searching for… is your own child?

Can you imagine the shaking hands,
the way a phone becomes a weight in your palm, when you dial the number that could hand your son over to a fate worse than you can bear to name?

This is the world:
where one son is buried, and another son’s life unravels under the weight of his own hands.

The grief of the Kirk family is an ocean of tears we all wade into but mercy means we weep not only for the loss of Charlie Kirk, and the pain of his family but also for the 22-year-old who took Kirk’s life, and the parents who are left to cradle the unbearable weight of both love and horror.

This is what it means to be human in a broken world: To pray with tears for every aching family, to lament the fracture of every heart, to hold space for the truth that every soul is important.

Because every mother’s heart,
every father’s trembling hands,
are caught up in the same story of sons and daughters who are all in need of grace deeper than the grave.

So we hold both families in the whispers of our prayers.

We whisper the only hope we have:
Please, comfort and heal, Holy Spirit.