Bonnie Healey LCSW

05/02/2026

Here’s a view that not a lot of people get to see – this is where I work at when I’m working from home. When I do telehealth sessions from home, most people usually see the bookcases behind me when I’m facing the computer.

I have some thoughts to share with folks:

🌺 I’m getting ready to go back into the office for in-person sessions again. I appreciate the flexibility I’ve had from people over the past year with telehealth, but it’s time to literally go back to work. If you’ve been waiting for in-person sessions with me, send me a message either privately through here or email me at bonnieh@hopeandmeaning.com. I’d like to know what days and times seem to work out best for people so I can plan my in-person days according to what people need.

🌺 I will be offering a new state soon – Oklahoma. I got an Oklahoma social work license in 2018, but I let it lapse because I wasn’t using it enough. I’m reinstating it though, and that process shouldn’t be too long. It’s going to be nice to offer another state soon, especially because I’ll be physically in Oklahoma at least once a month beginning in two weeks.

I’m really happy about some of the changes in both my HMC job and also my job in the Army. Things are working out great with each one and there are so many opportunities ahead. I look forward to sharing some of them here; the things that I won’t be able to share - just know that I’m in a great place in the Army, I’m happy and doing really well!

05/01/2026

This is absolutely the truth, and it’s a hard truth to accept.

People sometimes behave badly towards others, and it takes a lot of courage and humility to to come back and say “I should have treated you better, I was wrong and I’m sorry”. It sounds like a simple thing to say, but a lot of people just aren’t able to do it. They don’t have the courage, they don’t have the humility, they are cowardly, they’re too insecure – it seems like it’s always something. It’s easier for them to make you out to be the bad person because then they don’t have to do the hard work of being vulnerable and taking accountability for themselves. But what they don’t realize is that making you out to be the bad person who deserved mistreatment doesn’t work – their conscience will still bother them as time goes by. The person who made you cry will one day become the person who cries for you.

I wish I could tell people in situations like that that humility and accountability feels so, so good. That moment where you allow yourself to become vulnerable and ask for forgiveness from someone else ends up feeling like complete liberation and relief. I know this because I’ve been there, I’ve had to apologize for different things over the years and every time– it’s always felt so good afterwards. Accountability is so healing, and I really wish more people could take that step and experience it too.

woke up and had a truth ache

05/01/2026

The Lehigh County Coroner’s Office & Forensic Center is asking everyone to please share the message below.

Our investigations related to su***de continue to rise. Together, we can help raise awareness, show that we care, and remind those who are struggling that help is available.

Please take a moment to share this message. It matters.

Together, we can make a difference.

05/01/2026

April is Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Month 💙

At Hope and Meaning Counseling, we stand with survivors and reaffirm our commitment to creating safe, supportive spaces for healing. Sexual violence affects millions of individuals across all backgrounds, and its impact can be long-lasting—but healing is possible, and no one has to go through it alone.

This month, we encourage our community to:
• Listen to and believe survivors
• Educate ourselves on consent and prevention
• Speak up against harmful behaviors and attitudes
• Support organizations working to end sexual violence

If you or someone you know is struggling, reaching out can be the first step toward healing. Our therapists are here to provide compassionate, confidential support every step of the way.

You are not alone. 💙

04/26/2026

04/20/2026

Hope and Meaning Counseling is at the Pennsylvania Certification Board annual conference today and tomorrow! Taking care of our table, we have:

⭐️ Jessica Mess (left)
Practice Manager

⭐️ Shannon Fischer, LPC (right)
Clinical Director

We support people who need general mental health outpatient counseling as well as substance abuse-specific outpatient counseling. We specialize in disability case management, and we support many of our clients with employer-mandated counseling, leaves of absence and in obtaining accommodations in the workplace that support their recovery and ability to work. We are happy to partner with counselors, social workers and organizations to augment existing services as needed.

Stop by, say hello and pick up some materials about our services. We can support clients throughout PA, NJ, KY, CT, SC and FL.

04/13/2026

Long-Term Disability (LTD) approval is an answered prayer that solves a lot of problems, but there is a catch: depending on how your LTD policy is written, you might lose all income from your employer once you leave Short-Term Disability (STD).

Hope and Meaning Counseling sees a lot of STD cases, and most of our clients do receive income, at least a reduced amount if not the full amount. Most of our STD clients go back to work quickly, but occasionally we have some that move from STD to LTD, and that’s when we see their income drop if not disappear altogether.

I know this can be a rough time - you’re waiting for an LTD payment and no money is coming in, you can’t pay bills, and the stress only makes your existing emotional and behavioral health problems even worse. HMC can support you and your LTD claim while you’re waiting on an LTD payment. There are some circumstances that allow us to bill insurance and/or EAP for the time we spend working on your claim with you, but if your insurance company doesn’t allow for reimbursement, then we can hold off on billing until your LTD payment comes through. During the waiting period, most LTD clients will have continued medical insurance benefits, and we will bill your insurance for all counseling and related case management as your policy allows. Worst case scenario, if there is no way to bill insurance during your waiting period, we have interns who can provide counseling and case management support on a pro bono basis. We make sure every one of our clients has a way to access care no matter what the billing situation looks like.

Hope and Meaning Counseling isn’t going to be another source of stress for you. We understand the financial challenges our LTD clients face are stressful enough as it is, and we’re here to see you through it.

03/29/2026

The silent block—where a narcissist severs all ties without warning, blocking access across every digital space and leaving not a single trace of explanation—is far more than a practical way to end communication. It is, in fact, their loudest and most calculated form of punishment, designed to wound deeply, assert control, and leave a lasting emotional imprint that words alone could never achieve.

Unlike direct confrontation, which might allow for dialogue, accountability, or even resolution, the silent block creates an impenetrable wall of uncertainty. The person on the receiving end is left adrift in a sea of questions: What did I do wrong? Was anything about our connection real? Did I matter at all? These unanswerable queries become a form of self-torment, as the individual replays every interaction, searching for clues that will never materialize. This cycle of doubt is precisely what the narcissist intends—they want to keep you emotionally invested in them and the relationship, even as they remove themselves from your life entirely.

For the narcissist, this act of silence serves multiple punitive goals. First, it is a display of absolute power: by erasing you from their world with a few clicks, they demonstrate that your presence (or absence) is entirely at their discretion. It is also retaliation—often for perceived slights, for daring to set boundaries, or for failing to prioritize their needs above all else. By refusing to engage, they deny you the chance to defend yourself, express your truth, or find closure, turning the act of cutting off contact into a weapon to inflict pain.

Moreover, the silence carries a message that is meant to be heard loud and clear: in their eyes, you are unworthy of their time, their energy, or even their anger. They position themselves as the "judge and jury," condemning you without trial and ensuring you have no opportunity to appeal. This dismissal is designed to chip away at your self-worth, making you question your value as a person. In this way, the quiet act of blocking is anything but passive—it is a deliberate, aggressive statement that echoes in the mind long after the connection is broken.

It’s important to recognize that this behavior says nothing about you, and everything about the narcissist’s need to control and manipulate. Their refusal to communicate is not a reflection of your flaws, but of their inability to take responsibility, engage with empathy, or treat others with respect.

03/22/2026

03/16/2026

This is a comment from someone else in a group I belong to, I’m posting it here for awareness purposes.

I strongly believe in patient privacy, sometimes a patient’s or client’s privacy has been taken from them in one way or another and they’re therapy because of it - sometimes their right to privacy is the only thing they feel they have left. If I compromise on their privacy, then I am compromising their dignity. Protecting privacy is extremely important.

I think everyone who is a consumer of a healthcare service, to include therapy, has the right to know which electronic medical record (EMR) their healthcare provider uses. You can then look the EMR up on the internet, see what if any legal actions the EMR has been involved in, and you as the consumer have the right to decide if you are comfortable with how your records are created, collected and stored. Ask questions, do your own research - it’s your right!

HMC uses TherapyNotes (TN). I don’t know of any legal actions involving TN.

This also extends to onsite records storage as well. Who has access to your records? All hard copy medical records should be behind two locks, access should be restricted to “need to know”, which refers to HIPAA’s minimum necessary rule. HMC moved into a paperless model a few years back, and we store all records in TN. Access to charts is restricted to only the assigned clinicians, and our admin staff do not access under their logins to see notes. If there is a reason to keep a hard copy patient record, we do have locked filing cabinets we can use.

TN is not owned by venture capitalists. Most EMRs are. So are most therapy platforms. Venture capitalists are there for the profit, they aren’t there to protect your rights. HMC is contracted with Lyra and Spring Health, and they are both owned by venture capitalists. We store all Lyra patient records in TN, however Spring Health does require us to store documentation in their own platform, which is called Compass. Spring Health is AI-powered and they have an AI Advisory Council which ensures internal ethics reviews and clinical validation processes are being conducted and that there are strict data access controls in place. That being said - they retain ownership of all data, and I don’t know what exactly that will mean in the future.

And to think I began my work in this field with manila folders and printer paper… 🫠