Charlotte McKernan Therapy

12/12/2021

If you choose to go sober or stay sober as a couple, the holidays can be a testing ground. Learn how to navigate this difficult time of year.

11/13/2021

My friend and colleague Stephanie Dalager is beginning a weekly yoga class that I know is going to promote so much healing and inner wisdom in our community. See below for details:

"I am starting a weekly yoga class that is taught using Trauma Sensitive Yoga principles. TSY incorporates movement, breathing, and rest to support participants in safely building connection to their body and facilitation of the class focuses on choice so that participants can be in charge of their experience. This class is open to all, but may particularly good for those who could benefit from safely building their body awareness, cultivating a sense of agency related to their body, and those who are looking to build resources for self-regulation. Check out the attached flyer or send me a note if you have any questions. Thanks all!"

10/05/2021

In the Body Trust Project: A School for Unlearning, we bring in some amazing guest speakers to lead discussions around our monthly topics. Last month, Melissa Toler joined the cohort to speak on Reclaiming Movement:

"At their core, the messages that we get around health and weight and bodies and food are really meant to reinforce a body hierarchy. They perpetuate the idea that there is such a thing as a 'normal body' and that a person who deviates from that norm should be 'fixed' or excluded in some way.

Those messages made me feel like I had to deny who I was in order to be a part of this body hierarchy, to climb higher up the body hierarchy.
So at the core, these messages are reinforcing that status quo and they add to the chorus of voices that we hear about not being good enough and having to strive and hustle for worthiness.

I think it's important to note that these messages don't go away without effort.

One of the things that I have observed as part of my own process of unlearning is there is a denial of our humanity when this status quo or this body hierarchy is reinforced.
It doesn't take into account the differences in our lived experiences, and our genetics, and our environment. It enforces that there is one way or very limited ways of being, and that we need to do whatever we can in order to accomplish that."

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The Body Trust Project: a School for Unlearning will be back in session on November 11th!
Registration is open-- you can read all about this 9-month program here: https://bodytrust.lpages.co/sfu/
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-Image Description-
A quote by Melissa Toler from her presentation, "Reclaiming Movement," to Be Nourished's Body Trust Project: A School for Unlearning cohort: "We don't arrive on this Earth ashamed of our bodies or hating other people just because of their's. Over time, shame, embarrassment, and fixing (and fixating) creep in because of the messages that we see and hear every single day of our lives."

08/11/2021

"Your relationship matters more than being right. Remember: if your partner loses, you lose too. Look for a solution that allows you both to benefit. “Winning” an argument at the expense of your partner may feel great in the moment, but it will hurt you as much as it hurts them in the long-run."

Your relationship matters more than being right. Remember: if your partner loses, you lose too. Look for a solution that allows you both to benefit. “Winning” an argument at the expense of your partner may feel great in the moment, but it will hurt you as much as it hurts them in the long-run.

04/18/2021

02/26/2021

Can you recognize the difference between your social self and your essential self? Much of our unhappiness in our lives comes from living too in alignment with our social self and from ignoring the needs of our essential self. Read this great article for more info.

We often operate in a state of tension and inner conflict between our social-self and our essential-self. Understanding these two parts of…

02/05/2021

Community opportunity! My dear colleague Mica Adesso is starting a grief support group. Mica does powerful work with grief and loss and I highly recommend this group. From Mica herself:

"This group is for those who have lost a parent, partner, sibling or child at any point in their lives. We know grief isn't linear, doesn't always follow those neat and well-ordered stages of grief, and is certainly magnified by other loss (like normal life, hello 2020). We're creating a space for people to understand their very specific grief, and for community to form among strangers who share the experience of world-altering loss."

02/03/2021

Every now and then, I just need a good cry. I’m not going to lie to you. I’ve been having a hard time lately. COVID has meant that my partner and I haven’t seen our families in over a year and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve hung out with friends since March 2020. On top of ...

01/24/2021

So many of my clients seek happiness and struggle to find contentment in life. What should they focus on? Research suggests that strong social connections and high quality relationships are most predictive of a happy, fulfilling life.

A Harvard researcher reveals what a 75-year study tells us about building a fulfilling, long life filled with true happiness and satisfaction.

01/22/2021

PACT therapy during COVID!

01/22/2021

My favorite line from the poem by Amanda Gorman today: “We lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us.” She is amazing.