South Hills Counseling, LLC

11/17/2025

We're excited to feature Nicole Crawford-Barna, LPC, a valued member of our South Hills Counseling team!

Nicole is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 25 years of experience working with children, adolescents, and adults in individual, group, and family therapy settings.

Her therapeutic approach incorporates CBT, ACT, EMDR, EFT, and client-focused methods, giving her a comprehensive toolkit to meet each client's unique needs.

"I believe that every client has the power within them to change their lives and achieve their goals. I utilize several interventions that will help you on your journey and assist you in achieving those goals."

When she's not helping clients transform their lives, Nicole enjoys spending time with her family and her beloved dog.

Ready to work with Nicole? Contact our office to schedule at our Pleasant Hills location!

11/10/2025

Parenting while anxious is not a failure; it’s human.

By recognizing your own emotional needs, you model resilience and regulation for your child.

At South Hills, we help parents build a toolkit that nurtures the entire family’s mental wellness.

11/03/2025

Meet Courtney Purslow, Licensed Professional Counselor

Specialties: Anxiety • Depression • ADHD • Grief • OCD • Interpersonal Challenges • Behavioral Issues • Student Athletes

Using CBT, ERP, solution-focused therapy, and mindfulness approaches, Courtney helps adolescents, young athletes, and adults gain a deeper understanding of how they operate and interact in the world, creating a space where they feel validated and safe to share their struggles.

Outside the therapy space, Courtney loves reading, antiquing, and spending time with friends. She recently started a book club and enjoys hosting gatherings where people can connect and mingle.

10/31/2025

Art therapy is a powerful therapeutic approach that uses the creative process to help people explore emotions, reduce stress, improve self-esteem, and work through difficult life experiences.

Whether you've never held a paintbrush or consider yourself creative, art therapy can offer unique pathways to healing that words alone sometimes cannot reach.

Read more:

Wondering if art therapy could help you? Discover how creative expression supports healing without requiring any artistic talent or experience.

10/27/2025

Art therapy isn’t about being “good at art”; it’s about using creativity as a language for what words can’t always say.

Whether you're expressing grief, anxiety, or joy, art can help externalize emotions and access healing.

At South Hills, we welcome all skill levels and all stories.

10/24/2025

Psychologist Pauline Boss coined the term "ambiguous loss" to describe losses that lack clarity and closure. These losses are particularly challenging because they exist in a gray area where the person is neither fully present nor completely gone.

There are two types of ambiguous loss. Physical absence with psychological presence occurs when someone is physically gone but psychologically present in your mind, such as with missing persons, military deployment, or divorce. Psychological absence with physical presence happens when someone is physically present but psychologically unavailable, as often occurs with dementia, addiction, or severe mental illness.

Ambiguous loss can feel especially isolating because others may not recognize your grief or may expect you to "move on" when there's no clear ending. The uncertainty prevents the normal grief process from unfolding, often leaving people feeling stuck between hope and despair.

Read more:

Are you struggling to process different types of loss in your life? Learn how to navigate grief and find paths to healing through understanding.

10/23/2025

Reduced daylight exposure during fall and winter months can disrupt the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter crucial for mood regulation. Simultaneously, increased melatonin production in response to longer nights can lead to feelings of fatigue and sluggishness that extend beyond normal sleep needs.

These biological changes affect everyone to some degree, but some individuals experience more pronounced symptoms that can interfere with daily functioning and overall quality of life. Understanding these patterns helps normalize seasonal mood changes while identifying when additional support might be beneficial.

Read more:

Notice your mood changes with the seasons? Learn why seasonal shifts impact mental health and discover effective strategies for maintaining emotional balance year-round.

10/22/2025

When we experience threatening or overwhelming situations, our nervous system activates automatic protective responses designed to keep us safe. These responses, commonly known as fight, flight, freeze, and fawn, represent our body's sophisticated survival mechanisms that have evolved over thousands of years to help humans navigate danger.

Understanding these trauma responses can provide profound insight into your own reactions to stress and help explain behaviors that might otherwise seem confusing or problematic. At South Hills Counseling and Wellness, we help individuals recognize their personal trauma response patterns and develop healthier ways to manage stress and emotional overwhelm.

Read more:

Do you recognize fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses in yourself? Learn how trauma responses work and discover healing approaches that can help restore balance.

10/21/2025

Many people believe that mindfulness requires sitting still for long periods or achieving a completely calm mind. In reality, mindfulness can be practiced during any activity and doesn't require your mind to be free of thoughts. The goal is awareness, not emptiness.

This present-moment awareness helps interrupt patterns of worry about the future or rumination about the past that often contribute to anxiety and depression. When you're focused on what's happening right now, you're less likely to get caught in cycles of anxious thinking or negative self-judgment.

Read more:

Ready to try mindfulness but don't know where to begin? Discover simple, practical techniques that anyone can use to reduce stress and improve mental well-being.

10/20/2025

Meet Lucas Finnell, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist.

Specialties: Men's Mental Health • Family Therapy • Marital Issues • Anxiety • Depression • Grief & Loss • Life Transitions

Using a strengths-based, systemic approach and methods like Humanistic Psychology, CBT, and the Gottman Method, Lucas helps adolescent boys, adult men, teens, and families explore emotions and understand their real-world experiences beyond any diagnosis or label.

Outside the therapy space, Lucas loves working on and riding his motorcycle, building custom PCs, gaming, and hiking, especially during the fall season.

10/13/2025

As the seasons shift, so can our moods, energy, and mental clarity. Whether it's the long nights of winter or the transitions of fall, allow yourself grace. Seasonal changes affect more than just the weather; they touch our minds and emotions, too.

Let this affirmation ground you in self-compassion, no matter what season you're in.

10/08/2025

Digital communication offers convenience and connection across distances, but it can also create barriers to deep, meaningful interaction. Text messages and social media posts allow us to stay in touch throughout the day, yet they often lack the emotional nuance and intimacy that face-to-face conversations provide.

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Struggling to balance technology use with meaningful relationships? Learn practical strategies to create healthy digital boundaries and strengthen real-world connections.