Cook Counseling and Consulting Inc.

Cook Counseling and Consulting Inc. We are a telehealth psychotherapy practice serving individuals and couples in the state of Ohio. Take the first step towards a brighter future.

At Cook Counseling and Consulting Inc., we are here to provide you with unwavering support and guidance on your journey towards healing and personal growth. With a compassionate and empowering approach, we understand the unique needs of individuals struggling with depression and offer a sense of hope and understanding. Our dedicated team of experienced therapists is committed to delivering personalized treatment plans that suit your specific needs. Through evidence-based approaches, we empower you to regain control over your life, guiding you towards a brighter and more fulfilling future. At Cook Counseling and Consulting Inc., we create a safe and welcoming atmosphere where you can feel heard, valued, and supported every step of the way. We understand that reaching out for help can be difficult, but we assure you that you don't have to face this journey alone. Our services encompass a wide range of therapeutic modalities, including individual counseling, group therapy, and family counseling. We also offer comprehensive consulting services for organizations seeking to enhance their mental health support systems. Allow us to be your guiding light as you navigate through the challenges of depression. Through therapy, you can gain valuable insights, learn effective coping strategies, and discover the strength within you to overcome obstacles and embrace a life filled with joy and purpose. Contact Cook Counseling and Consulting Inc. today and embark on your transformative journey of healing and personal growth. Together, we can bring light and hope into your life.

02/25/2026

Micro-rest is what happens when you stop waiting for a perfect break and start offering your nervous system small returns to safety.

It’s not quitting your day.
It’s interrupting the pressure.

Sometimes filling your cup looks like:
• stepping away for 60 seconds
• unclenching your jaw
• drinking something warm slowly
• letting one breath be enough
• doing one thing without rushing

You don’t need hours to begin supporting yourself.
Small pauses are still care.

People-pleasing doesn’t soften by forcing yourself to stop caring.It softens when your nervous system learns that connec...
02/23/2026

People-pleasing doesn’t soften by forcing yourself to stop caring.
It softens when your nervous system learns that connection doesn’t require self-erasure.

What actually helps:
• Slowing the response.
Giving yourself a pause before saying yes allows your body to check in. Even a few seconds matters.

• Naming capacity instead of explaining.
“I need to think about that” or “I don’t have the bandwidth right now” builds safety without over-justifying.

• Tolerating small discomfort.
The discomfort of setting a limit is often safer than the long-term cost of resentment.

• Noticing the fear underneath.
People-pleasing is often protecting against rejection, conflict, or abandonment not a lack of boundaries.

• Building relationships that respond to honesty.
This pattern softens fastest in spaces where your needs don’t threaten the connection.

• Practicing self-trust in small ways.
Each time you honor your own signal, your system learns it doesn’t have to override you to stay safe.

People-pleasing isn’t a personality trait.
It’s a survival strategy that can gently loosen with awareness, support, and safer connection.
You don’t have to stop caring to stop abandoning yourself

Many people grow up learning that love feels like intensity:the highs, the uncertainty, the constant mental scanning, th...
02/21/2026

Many people grow up learning that love feels like intensity:
the highs, the uncertainty, the constant mental scanning, the need for reassurance.

So when connection starts to feel steady…
predictable…
even a little “boring”…
it can feel unfamiliar.

But boredom isn’t always a red flag.
Sometimes it’s your nervous system adjusting to stability.

Healthy love doesn’t require adrenaline.
It doesn’t keep you guessing.
It doesn’t spike your body into hypervigilance.

Safe love tends to feel consistent:
• clear communication
• repair after conflict
• emotional availability
• space to breathe
• no chasing, no suspense

That kind of steadiness can feel almost too quiet at first, especially if chaos once felt normal.
The calm is not the absence of love.
It may be the presence of safety. 🌿

Platonic relationships are often overlooked when we talk about attachment and emotional safety but they matter deeply.Fe...
02/19/2026

Platonic relationships are often overlooked when we talk about attachment and emotional safety but they matter deeply.

Feeling regulated in connection isn’t about romance.
It’s about consistency.
Mutual care.
Being seen without having to perform.
Knowing someone will show up without conditions.

For many people, friendships provide the kind of safety that allows the nervous system to soften:
conversations without pressure,
time together without expectations,
support that doesn’t hinge on being “chosen” in a romantic way.
Platonic love can offer steadiness, repair, and deep emotional intimacy.

It can be grounding.
Protective.
Life-shaping.

Love doesn’t only count when it’s romantic.
And regulation doesn’t only come from partnership.

The relationships that help your body feel safe, whatever form they take are worth honoring. 💛

02/18/2026

Valentine’s Day can bring a lot of pressure to make love look a certain way.

Big plans. Big gestures. Big proof.
But most connection isn’t built in grand moments.

It’s built in the small ones the everyday pauses where someone feels seen, chosen, and cared for.
If you want a softer, more realistic way to honor love this month (romantic or platonic), here are a few micro-date ideas that fit into real life:
🚗 A drive + one good song
Windows down, phones away, just a few minutes of shared space.

🥤 A drink run with intention
Grab something small and ask one real question:
“How are you, actually?”

🌿 A 10-minute walk around the block
No productivity. Just movement and presence.

🛒 Errands, but slower
Do something ordinary together and stay a little more here while doing it.

📵 A phone-free pause
Sit together for 10 minutes without multitasking. That’s intimacy too.

🍝 A simple meal, no pressure
Not a “date night.” Just eating together without rushing through it.

💌 A voice note to a friend
Platonic love counts. Tell someone: “I’m glad you’re in my life.”

Connection grows in small, repeatable moments.
That’s the kind of love that lasts. 💛

02/11/2026

Bare branches.
Quiet ground.
No visible signs of growth.
But nature doesn’t panic in winter.
It doesn’t rush to bloom.
It doesn’t mistake rest for failure.
Under the surface, something important is happening:
energy is being conserved, systems are stabilizing, and strength is gathering for what comes next.
Humans aren’t that different.
If this season feels slow, quiet, or emotionally flat, it doesn’t mean nothing is happening.
It means your system may be resting — integrating — preparing.
You don’t need to force growth in a season designed for stillness.
Calm has its own purpose.
Rest has its own intelligence.
Spring comes because winter was allowed to do its job.

Being easygoing and self-erasing can look identical on the outside — but they feel very different on the inside.Being ea...
02/09/2026

Being easygoing and self-erasing can look identical on the outside — but they feel very different on the inside.

Being easygoing means:
• You have preferences, but you’re flexible
• You can speak up without fear
• You adjust without losing yourself
• Saying yes or no feels neutral, not charged

Self-erasure means:
• You don’t check in with what you want
• You minimize needs to avoid conflict or disappointment
• You feel anxious about taking up space
• Your “yes” is driven by fear, not choice
Self-erasure often forms in environments where:
• expressing needs caused tension
• being agreeable kept you safe
• conflict felt dangerous
• love felt conditional

So you learned to be “easy.”
Not because it fit you — but because it protected you.
Healing doesn’t mean becoming rigid or difficult.
It means reclaiming your preferences, your voice, and your right to matter in the connection.
You’re allowed to be kind and clear. Flexible and honest. Easygoing without disappearing

The inner critic often sounds convincing because it’s been practicing for a long time.It might say things like:• “You sh...
02/07/2026

The inner critic often sounds convincing because it’s been practicing for a long time.

It might say things like:
• “You should have done better.”
• “Don’t mess this up.”
• “You’re too much.”
• “If you relax, something bad will happen.”

That voice didn’t appear randomly — it formed in moments when criticism, perfection, or self-monitoring felt safer than being rejected, punished, or misunderstood.
The inner critic isn’t there to hurt you.

It’s there to protect you — even if the way it does that now feels harsh or exhausting.
Healing doesn’t mean silencing this voice overnight.
It means learning to recognize it as information, not authority.

Over time, as safety, self-trust, and compassion increase, the inner critic doesn’t disappear — it softens.
And eventually, it stops running the relationship you have with yourself.

You’re not broken for having an inner critic.
You learned it.
And anything learned can be unlearned — gently, patiently, and without shame

Shame doesn’t linger because you’re weak.It lingers because it was taught — repeatedly, emotionally, and early.High-cont...
02/05/2026

Shame doesn’t linger because you’re weak.
It lingers because it was taught — repeatedly, emotionally, and early.

High-control belief systems often use shame to regulate behavior:
• fear of punishment
• fear of being “bad”
• fear of rejection or separation

Over time, your nervous system associates obedience with safety and questioning with danger.
So when you leave, the structure disappears — but your body hasn’t caught up yet.
Healing shame isn’t about forcing yourself to “stop feeling guilty.”
It’s about slowly teaching your body that curiosity, autonomy, and choice no longer lead to harm.
Shame softens when safety is repeated.
When worth is no longer earned.
When your body learns it’s allowed to exist without permission.
You’re not broken for still feeling this.
You’re unwinding something that once kept you safe.

02/03/2026

“Set my own pace” isn’t a lack of discipline.
It’s an act of self-trust.
Moving at a sustainable pace allows the nervous system to stay regulated instead of overwhelmed.
Slower doesn’t mean stuck — it often means supported.

For many people, intimacy isn’t just emotional closeness — it’s a nervous system experience.If closeness once meant:• un...
02/01/2026

For many people, intimacy isn’t just emotional closeness — it’s a nervous system experience.
If closeness once meant:
• unpredictability
• criticism
• emotional withdrawal
• conflict without repair
• love that felt conditional
then your body learned an important rule: connection requires protection.

So even when your mind wants closeness, your nervous system stays alert.
That tension, shutdown, irritability, or urge to pull away isn’t rejection — it’s self-protection.
This pattern is common in attachment wounds and relational trauma.
And it doesn’t mean you’re incapable of intimacy.

Closeness begins to feel safer when:
• connection is consistent, not intense
• repair happens after conflict
• boundaries are respected
• you’re allowed to go slow without being punished

Healing intimacy isn’t about pushing through discomfort.
It’s about teaching your body — through repeated, safe experiences — that closeness no longer equals danger.
You’re not broken for struggling with intimacy.
Your system adapted to survive.
And with patience, support, and safety, it can learn something new.

A pause gives your nervous system time to catch up with your heart.It creates space between a trigger and a response — s...
01/30/2026

A pause gives your nervous system time to catch up with your heart.
It creates space between a trigger and a response — so you can respond with intention instead of reflex.
Especially in close relationships, we’re often taught that immediacy equals love.
But healthy connection can hold a breath.
It can wait for regulation.
It can respect your capacity in the moment.
You’re allowed to take a moment before you answer.
You’re allowed to say, “Let me think about this.”
You’re allowed to come back when you’re more grounded.
Love doesn’t require urgency.
Sometimes, it requires a pause

Address

800 Cross Pointe Road, Suite 800D
Gahanna, OH
43230

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm
Sunday 10am - 2pm

Telephone

+16148356068

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