Near and Dear Therapy

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United States
Walnut Creek, CA
Near and Dear Therapy

Holistic and Compassionate Care My work is rooted in deep, intuitive listening and a blend of person-centered, psychodynamic, and eclectic therapies.

👋 Welcome — I'm Amy Ratkovich, LMFT
I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist serving clients in both California and Wisconsin. With over nine years of experience, I support individuals navigating ADHD, anxiety, depression, trauma, and relationship challenges.

🌀 My Approach
Healing isn’t one-size-fits-all. I focus on creating a space where you feel seen, supported, and grounded — a space where real growth can unfold. Together, we explore your patterns, your needs, and your strengths — not from a place of fixing, but from a place of rediscovering what’s already whole within you.

🌿 What You Can Expect
Sessions are collaborative, compassionate, and paced to meet you where you are. You’ll build insight, learn practical coping strategies, and deepen your connection to yourself. Whether you’re working through something specific or seeking long-term personal growth, I’m here to walk with you.

11/17/2025

ratitude and the Brain’s Alarm System

Sometimes your brain doesn’t believe good things are safe.
When you slow down to feel gratitude, it can actually trigger anxiety at first — because your nervous system isn’t used to calm.

🧠 Here’s what’s happening in your brain — and what it feels like in your life:
When you focus on what’s going well, the amygdala checks for danger. “Are we sure it’s safe to rest?”
💛 That’s the body tightening when things finally quiet down, the mind replaying old stress out of habit.

This is why gratitude isn’t about “thinking positive.” It’s about teaching your brain that safety can coexist with stillness.

www.neardeartherapy.com

11/16/2025

Compassion for the Self Who Tried

Think of the version of you who was just doing her best with the tools she had.
The one who kept pushing, overthinking, doubting — but still kept going.

That’s the self gratitude was made for.
Because healing isn’t about becoming someone new.
It’s about learning to love the one who got you here.

www.neardeartherapy.com

11/15/2025

Compassion for the Past Self

You don’t heal by rejecting the person you once were.
You heal by meeting them again — the one who didn’t know what you know now.

When you feel warmth instead of judgment for who you were, your brain actually changes — self-compassion calms the same regions that light up under criticism.

Gratitude closes the gap between who you were and who you’re becoming.
And maybe that’s the truest kind of forgiveness there is.

www.neardeartherapy.com

11/14/2025

Reframing Without Pretending

Reframing doesn’t mean sugarcoating.
It means shifting meaning while staying honest.
“I was hurt” and “I learned something” can both be true.

Gratitude gives reappraisal roots in reality.
It’s not bypassing pain — it’s growing through it.

www.neardeartherapy.com

11/13/2025

Gratitude Isn’t About Being Happy

It’s not about pretending things are fine.
It’s about letting more than one thing be true.

Gratitude says, “I can be tired and still thankful.”
“I can grieve and still notice beauty.”
It’s emotional complexity — not denial.

You don’t have to feel grateful for everything.
You can simply be grateful in it.

www.neardeartherapy.com

11/12/2025

The Memory Edit Button

Neuroscience says every time we recall a memory, we rewrite it slightly.
Your brain literally reopens it, edits it, and stores it again.
That means healing doesn’t come from erasing the past — it comes from remembering it differently.

Gratitude helps your brain add softness where once there was shame.
It rewrites, gently. Not to forget, but to forgive.

www.neardeartherapy.com

11/11/2025

The “I Should” Story

“I should be further along.”
“I should have handled that better.”
Every “should” is your brain’s error alarm — a signal from the part that mistakes imperfection for danger.

Gratitude quiets the alarm.
It shifts the story from what’s missing to what’s here.
From the story of “not enough” to the experience of “still growing.”

www.neardeartherapy.com

11/10/2025

The Brain That Holds a Grudge

When you replay a painful memory, your brain doesn’t know it’s over.
The same emotional circuits light up again — same cortisol, same heart rate, same ache.
Holding a grudge is really just reliving the story on repeat.

Gratitude doesn’t excuse what happened.
It just releases your body from living inside that old script again and again.

www.neardeartherapy.com

11/10/2025

Today’s Reflection: The Stories Gratitude Rewrites

Every brain runs on stories. Not fairy tales — internal scripts.
They shape how we interpret everything: a text left unanswered, a glance that feels cold, a setback at work.

When the nervous system is dysregulated (as it often is with anxiety or ADHD), those stories tend to default to danger:

They don’t like me.

I’m falling behind.

It’s always my fault.

That’s not just “negative thinking.” It’s your survival circuitry trying to predict pain before it happens.

Here’s what’s happening in your brain — and what it feels like in your life:
The amygdala flags uncertainty as threat. Dopamine dips, cortisol spikes, and your brain fills in the blanks with the worst-case scenario.
It feels like heaviness in your chest, restlessness in your gut, and thoughts that loop without resolution.

Gratitude interrupts that loop.
It doesn’t erase pain — it reframes prediction. It teaches your brain that not every gap in information means danger. That safety and connection can exist right here, in the same breath as uncertainty.

When you practice gratitude, you’re not just being “positive.”
You’re updating the story your nervous system tells about the world — one that ends not in fear, but in trust.

11/08/2025

Gratitude for the Detours Caption: Some detours aren’t mistakes — they’re redirections.

If you look back, you may see how the “wrong turns” led you to the right lessons.

Prompt: Finish this sentence — “If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have learned…”

www.neardeartherapy.com

11/08/2025

STEM Day Reflection

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math have changed our world in miraculous ways —
but I sometimes wonder…
have we evolved enough to truly appreciate the responsibility that comes with such power?

Innovation without reflection risks losing the very humanity it’s meant to serve.
Let’s honor not just what we can create, but what we choose to create —
with awareness, ethics, and care.

www.neardeartherapy.com

11/07/2025

Compassion for the Past Self

The younger version of you did the best they could with the tools they had.
Instead of rewriting them out of your story — write them a letter.
Thank them for surviving long enough for you to get here.

www.neardeartherapy.com

Address

1460 Maria Lane #300
Walnut Creek, CA
94598

Website

https://www.neardeartherapy.com/

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