Affirmative Therapy Collective

11/24/2025

No matter what or how you celebrate during the holiday season, alcohol and drinking culture tend to be part of the equation. This can be stressful for those who are sober, sober-curious, or just trying to cut back.

But it has also become much more socially acceptable to be sober, or to at least be courteous of sober individuals’ needs. You don’t have to spend the holiday season isolated, or feeling like the dud at the party. With a little prep and maybe some planning, you can have an amazing holiday season, whether you’re drinking alcohol or not. ATC associate, Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW, walks us through her tips.

Looking for support around substance misuse and/or your relationship with alcohol? Sophie is taking new clients! Head to the 🔗 in bio or to our website to learn more about working with Sophie.
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11/17/2025

Navigating the holidays in general is already a complicated experience for many. Toxic family dynamics, pressure around appearance and food, and spending time with people you may not otherwise get along with are just some of the few challenges that most of us experience around the holiday season.

As a polyamorous person, this time of year can be even more complex, even if it is also joyful. Though it can mean there are a plethora of loved ones’ gatherings to attend, which can be fun and exciting, it can also mean that you’re pulled in many different directions at once. You also run the risk of spending the holiday with folks who don’t understand or approve of your relationship structure.

This season, remember that your relationships are valid and your boundaries matter, no matter how they look. You are allowed to choose the gatherings that feel uplifting, and to give yourself permission to honor the connections that keep you grounded. Your choices may ultimately upset some people or not meet certain people’s expectations, but you are allowed to decide how you want to spend your time because your love deserves room to thrive, and you deserve to spend the holidays in whatever way feels right for you.

Communicate as openly as you can with your loved ones. Honor your values, needs, and preferences, and check with all parties to ensure everyone is getting out of the season what they are looking for.

Interested in exploring relationship dynamics in therapy? Lee is currently taking new patients! Head to the 🔗 in the bio to find out more about how to work with them.
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11/07/2025

November is here and so is daylight savings, which means we are creeping up on SAD season. Though we might be tempted to wait until the SADs hit to do anything about it, it is actually much more effective to start planning for the SAD months now.

This can look many different ways, and may just mean that you need to pay closer attention to your bio needs and other self care tasks. But for some of us, we may need more targeted support, potentially including medication, supplements, or other tools such as SAD lamps to get us through the SAD period.

If you’re feeling anxious about getting through SAD season without mental health support, be sure to head to the 🔗 in the bio to find out more about how to work with a therapist on our team ❤️‍🩹

10/31/2025

A Halloween message from associate therapist Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW!

With Halloween being a time for costumes and candy, we can easily get wrapped up in body image and negative self talk. The precedent for certain kinds of costumes in particular, especially for women and femme presenting folks, can contribute to feeling a little too focused on our bodies, how they look, and what it means to be on display for others. Lingerie and animal ears, anyone?

But if we can put the societal pressures and expectations around costumes to the side, we can remember that Halloween is also about having fun with friends, swapping candy, watching scary movies, having jammie parties, and carving pumpkins. When we’re preoccupied with our bodies and how they look in our costume, it’s hard to be present for these special moments. Instead of focusing on how everyone else is dressing, focus on your comfort and being in the moment with people who bring you joy.

Happy Halloween!
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10/24/2025

So often we come into therapy because we think we are broken toys in need of fixing. We have struggled and suffered and when we have reached out for support, so many have told us that our suffering is our own fault. The conclusion most of us come to, understandably, is that if it is our fault, it is also within our power to “fix.”

The truth, however, is so much more complicated. When we utilize an approach of “fixing”—hyper focusing on coping skills and bandaid solutions without getting at the root of the feeling of not enough-ness—we buy into the idea that we are, in fact, broken. When we shift to an affirmative approach, our goal changes to trying to better understand how the beliefs and narratives we have internalized around our experiences can create this feeling of perceived brokenness, and how we can challenge these narratives and build an identity and understanding of self that is guided by our own intuition, desires, needs, traumas, and lived experience.

It is through this affirmative approach that we can create a life we want to live, and learn how to care for ourselves within distress in a way that is supportive rather than self-shaming.

Shame keeps us stuck; acceptance and curiosity allow us to grow.

Interested in working with one of our therapists? Head to the 🔗 in the bio to find out more ❤️‍🩹
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10/15/2025

To close out Hispanic Heritage Month, the team at ATC wants to acknowledge the pain, anxiety, fear, and anguish the Hispanic and Latine / Latinx communities are currently facing in the United States. Body and bodily autonomy are for everybody, even when the systems that we exist within try to convince us otherwise. You are worthy of being protected. You bring value to the communities you join and create. Our country wouldn’t be what it is without you.

Note! We are aware that the terms Hispanic, Latine, and Latinx are all limited and controversial in their own ways. Regardless of how you identify yourself, if you belong to the group of people being targeted by this government, this applies to you.

Interested in working with one of our therapists? Head to the 🔗 in the bio to find out more ❤️‍🩹

10/10/2025

Meet the team! ATC is a group of psychotherapists, supervisors, consultants, and coaches committed to changing the way we approach mental health treatment.

If you’re interested in working with one of our clinicians, check out the 🔗 in our bio to learn more 👏🏼
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10/02/2025

A reminder to our Jewish community members: you do not need to fast on Yom Kippur if doing so would be a detriment to your health. In fact, the mitzvah of fasting is not a mitzvah if fasting would be harmful to you. Rather, the mitzvah is to nourish, even when your cultural customs might encourage you not to.

The mitzvah we are meant to experience on Yom Kippur is, broadly, to explore your relationship with god, your higher power, your spirituality, etc., and this is most often done via fasting. But this connection and introspection can be accomplished without restricting nourishment.

In my experience, a satisfying and reflective Yom Kippur is *not* about whether you do or don’t eat. It’s about taking care of you, and tending to your relationship with your own humanity and the broader world.

If it’s imperative that you *dont* fast on Yom Kippur for your mental or physical well-being, and you do it anyway… that is not honoring god, your higher power, or your spirituality and relationship to self and community.

Every Jewish denomination has different approaches to the practice of fasting, some more strict and some more lax. Some rabbis might take issue with prioritizing your physical health over your spiritual practice. But as with all things with Judaism, we are allowed to create, develop, and engage with our relationship with our faith in whatever way works best for us. Our Jewishness, and our relationship to it, is our own.

If you’re looking for a therapist to support you in a culturally competent way in eating disorder recovery, check out the 🔗 in our bio to learn more how to work with us 👏🏼
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09/25/2025

09/19/2025

Affirmations and reminders for Su***de Prevention Month

It is okay to ask for help.

And it is even better to ask others how they are when you have the capacity to really hear their answers.

We know asking for help is hard.

If anything else, this month is a reminder that we all need community and need to BE community for others.

Please stay. There is a place for you. You are loved. We all need you here.

Struggling with your mental health in this moment? You’re not alone. Head to the 🔗 in our bio or email us at info@affirmativetherapycollective.com 💌 to find out how to work with us.
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09/12/2025

TWO SPOTS LEFT in our new group, Coming Home to You, a 6 week support group for adult trans folks (binary trans individuals as well as non-binary folks, 18+) struggling with disordered eating, eating disorders, and body image!

Facilitated by ATC associate Sophie Kuhn Bedaña, LMSW, this group is built as a space to explore the unique intersections and challenges of the trans body experience with eating and body image disruptions.

If you are interested in joining the group, head to this 🔗 to fill out our inquiry form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehry_6IzJAUYmnzrYnDv3XWrj2qTp1xcJisri2uvh3cQ-50Q/viewform

Email us at info@affirmativetherapycollective.com 💌

or

Share with anyone interested via this link: https://affirmativetherapycollective.com/coming-home-to-you/
🏷️ email

07/22/2025

Announcing the Affirmative Therapy Collective's new group, forming now:

Coming Home to You - Exploring Eating Disorder Recovery and Body Image Injury within the Trans Experience

A new group offering a space for adult trans folks (binary trans individuals as well as non-binary folks, 18+) struggling with disordered eating, eating disorders, and body image! Facilitated by ATC associate Sophie Bedaña, LMSW, this group is built as a space to explore the unique intersections and challenges of the trans body experience with eating and body image disruptions.

See flyer below for details!
In addition to the group fee, there is a one time, 30 minute screening session with a $50 fee, with sliding scale available. As of now, only one sliding scale spot is remaining!

Interested? Email info@affirmativetherapycollective.com, or complete our interest form: https://forms.gle/YKhpFtiabVxQDLqt9

You're welcome to forward or share this website link:
https://affirmativetherapycollective.com/coming-home-to-you/