Larneka Lavalais, LPC PLLC

12/13/2025

🌟 4 Trauma-Informed Wellness Tips for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

🌟 2. Lead With Connection, Not Perfection

Children who have survived chaotic or unsafe homes often carry silent fears:
fear of being abandoned,
fear of being “too much,”
fear that love will disappear when they mess up.

Because of what they’ve been through, many expect adults to yell, shut down, or walk away when things get hard. That’s why your consistent, calm presence becomes one of the strongest healing tools they will ever experience.

Connection matters more than perfect parenting.
You don’t have to get every response right. You don’t have to fix every behavior immediately. What they need most is to feel emotionally held, understood, and safe with you.

Simple ways to lead with connection:
✨ Soft tone: Your voice communicates safety before your words do.
✨ Eye contact: Gentle, warm, not demanding — it helps their nervous system settle.
✨ Reassurance: “I’m not going anywhere.” “We’ll get through this together.”
✨ Daily moments of closeness: A shared snack, a bedtime chat, folding laundry together, a short walk — these moments build trust layer by layer.
✨ Stay steady during tough behaviors: Their reactions make sense in the context of their past. Your calm teaches them a new emotional language.

Healing Message:
Your presence tells them:
“You don’t have to earn love here.”
“I choose you — even on hard days.”
“You are safe with me.”

The work you’re doing as a grandparent raising a grandchild from trauma is nothing short of life-changing. Connection is the bridge that helps them grow beyond their past.

12/12/2025

Some children seem to manage so well at school — polite, quiet, compliant.
Then they come home and everything falls apart.

That shift isn’t manipulation.
It’s the crash that happens when a child has spent all day masking, suppressing, and holding it together.

At school they survive.
At home they release.

Our new visual explores what’s really happening beneath the surface — and why those meltdowns after school are actually signs of trust and safety, not defiance.

Explore our linked toolkits for deeper support:
Masking Toolkit – understanding the hidden effort of blending in
After-School Restraint Collapse Toolkit – practical strategies for recovery and regulation at home.
Instant electronic download with secure global checkout. at link in comments ⬇️ or via our Linktree Shop in Bio.

Save this post for when you need the reminder that 'coping' can come at a cost — and that behaviour always tells a story.

12/11/2025

🌟 Now Accepting New Virtual Clients Across Texas!

Ages 12 & Up | Secure Online Therapy

Healing can start from the comfort of your home.
Whether you're navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, or relationship stress—support is just a click away.

At Larneka Lavalais, LPC PLLC, our licensed therapist Leah George, LPC provides warm, culturally responsive virtual therapy for teens and adults throughout the entire state of Texas.

💛 Services Offered

• Individual Therapy
• Couples Therapy
• Anxiety & Stress Management
• Trauma & Grief Support
• Depression Treatment

🏥 Insurance Accepted

Aetna • Cigna • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas • Ascension SmartHealth • Carelon • Quest & more

💻 Now Serving Virtual Clients Anywhere in Texas

Ages 12+ welcome.

📲 Start Your Wellness Journey Today

Email: L.George@lavalaislpc.com

Phone: (409) 527-4347
Website: www.lavalaislpc.com

Therapy that gets you. Healing that grows you.

12/11/2025

🌟 Create New Traditions When the Old Ones Hurt

Grief can make familiar holiday routines feel overwhelming.
Sometimes the traditions we once loved now feel heavy, lonely, or painful—and that’s okay.
You are allowed to shift, pause, or reinvent traditions to reflect where you are in your healing journey.

Creating new traditions doesn’t erase your loved one.
It gives you space to honor them in ways that feel emotionally safe and meaningful today.

💛 Ideas for Gentle, Healing Traditions:

✨ Light a candle in their honor.
Let it symbolize love, memory, and the connection that still exists.
Take a quiet moment to breathe and acknowledge what they meant to you.

✨ Make their favorite dish.
Cooking can be emotional—and healing.
Share the dish with family, or enjoy it alone as a moment of remembrance.

✨ Start a “gratitude-for-them” journal.
Each entry can be:
• A memory
• Something they taught you
• A way their love still shows up in your life
This helps transform pain into meaningful remembrance.

✨ Volunteer in their memory.
Whether it’s donating food, helping a family in need, or supporting a community event—
Acts of kindness can turn grief into purpose.

You don’t have to celebrate the holidays the same way you always have.
You can create something new, something gentle, something that honors both your grief and your love.

12/10/2025

✨ Holiday seasons can be beautiful—but they can also be overwhelming.
At Larneka Lavalais, LPC PLLC, we honor every emotion that shows up this time of year. You don’t have to push through stress or anxiety alone.

Here are four gentle reminders to support your mental wellness:
🎄 Set boundaries that protect your peace
🎄 Plan ahead so you don’t feel rushed or overwhelmed
🎄 Release the pressure to be perfect
🎄 Take care of you — emotionally, mentally, and physically

Your wellbeing matters, especially during the holidays.
If you need support, we’re here to help.

Therapy that gets you. Healing that grows you.
🌐 www.lavalaislpc.com

12/10/2025

🌸 Thank You, Tiffany Jones, LPC-Associate 🌸
Special Guest – Fall 2025 Trauma & Grief Support Group

A heartfelt thank you to Tiffany Jones, LPC-Associate (supervised by Danielle Bowman, LPC-S) for sharing her compassion, wisdom, and clinical insight with our group tonight. Your guidance on the trauma and grief experienced by single mothers was powerful, validating, and deeply needed.

Tiffany reminded us that single mothers often carry:
✨ the pain of grieving while still showing up for their children
✨ the emotional weight of doing everything alone
✨ hidden guilt and unspoken sadness
✨ trauma that sits in the body long after the moment has passed

Her message was clear — single mothers deserve healing, rest, and spaces where they don’t have to be strong to be valued.

Thank you, Tiffany, for helping our community feel seen, supported, and understood.
Your voice made a meaningful impact.

💜 Therapy that gets you. Healing that grows you.

12/09/2025

TONIGHT!!!!

Trauma and Grief Support Group. The group is for individuals ages 18 and up. The group will meet once a month. Next session is Tuesday, December 9, 2025 from 6:30pm to 7:45pm. This is a virtual group. This group is at no cost. To register go to: https://forms.gle/2nHUFhuUFTxSVd2A6
This month's special guest is: Tiffany Jones, LPC-Associate Supervised by Danielle Bowman, LPC-S

12/09/2025

🌟 4 Trauma-Informed Wellness Tips for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
✨ 1. Create Safety Through Consistency

Grandkids who come from traumatic or unstable households often live in “survival mode.” Their bodies and brains have learned to expect unpredictability. One of the most healing gifts you can offer is consistency — the type that wraps them in emotional safety.

Why It Matters:
Predictable routines help calm the nervous system. When a child knows what comes next, their brain doesn’t have to stay on high alert. This reduces anxiety, outbursts, and the emotional exhaustion that comes from not feeling safe.

What This Looks Like at Home:
• Keep mealtimes around the same hour each day.
• Create gentle bedtime rituals — a warm bath, quiet music, story time, or a simple “How was your day?” moment.
• Establish predictable after-school rhythms: snack, homework help, play time, or rest.
• Use simple reminders or visual schedules for younger kids who feel comforted by knowing what’s next.

Healing Message:
Consistency tells a child:
“You’re safe here. You can breathe.”
“You don’t have to watch for danger anymore.”
“You can settle because I’ve got you.”

For grandparents stepping into the role of caregiver, remember — it’s not about perfection. It’s about creating a steady, nurturing environment where healing becomes possible.

12/08/2025

🍎 Food Insecurity & Community Resources

Theme: Feed the Body and Soul

🥣 No one should struggle to eat this season.
While many gather around holiday tables, some families quietly face empty cupboards and limited resources. Food insecurity doesn’t just affect the body — it weighs on the mind, spirit, and sense of dignity.

💚 Ways to Nurture Your Community and Yourself:

Give if you can. Donate non-perishable food, hygiene items, or gift cards to local pantries.

Share resources. Post or pass along community food drives and free meal programs.

Ask without shame. Everyone deserves nourishment — there’s strength in reaching out for help.

Volunteer. Serve a meal, pack boxes, or check in on a neighbor. Small acts matter.

Practice gratitude. Each meal shared is a moment of connection and care.

💡 Activity: Create a Community Giving Jar — each family member adds a few dollars or a note of kindness to contribute to someone in need.

💬 Gentle Reminder:
The holidays are about more than abundance — they’re about belonging. When we feed others, we help heal hearts.

✨ Therapy that gets you. Healing that grows you.

12/07/2025

🎉 Congratulations PA Memorial Titans! 🎉
Final score: 48–35 — and just like that… ON TO THE NEXT ROUND! 🏈🔥

Hard work, discipline, and heart always pay off.
So proud of our Titans and the entire Port Arthur community.

Let’s keep the momentum going!
Therapy that gets you. Healing that grows you.

12/06/2025

12/05/2025

💛 Honor Your Grief This Holiday Season

The holidays can stir up memories, emotions, and reminders of who or what we’re missing.
If this season feels heavier than others, you’re not doing anything wrong. Grief doesn’t take a holiday break.

You are allowed to show up exactly as you are—without pretending, performing, or forcing joy.
Your feelings are valid. Your experience is real. You deserve gentleness, not pressure.

🌟 Holiday Grief Tip:

Instead of pushing the feelings away, give yourself permission to notice them.
Grief often comes in waves—sometimes soft, sometimes overwhelming. Let the wave pass without judging yourself for it.

🌬️ Try This Grounding Mini-Practice:

❄️ Name your feeling.
Say it softly to yourself: “I feel sad… lonely… angry… overwhelmed…”
Naming feelings lowers emotional intensity.

❄️ Take 3 grounding breaths.
Inhale through your nose
Hold for 2 seconds
Exhale slowly through your mouth
Repeat until your body softens.

❄️ Affirm yourself:
“What I’m feeling makes sense.”
Because it does. Grief is love with nowhere to go.

If no one has told you today: You are doing the best you can while carrying something heavy. That deserves compassion.