M. Elizabeth Doub LCMHC

03/03/2026

Friendship was never meant to feel like performance or a competition. It was never meant to feel like hierarchy. Colonization didn’t only shape nations. It shaped how we relate, to ourselves & to each other.

If your friendships feel heavy, confusing, or one sided, it might be worth asking why???

Here are 5 patterns I see often:

- You over give but call it loyalty
- You avoid difficult conversations to “keep the peace”
- You center comfort over truth
- You confuse proximity with intimacy
- You fear being “too much” so you shrink

If any of these sound familiar, dont worry, you aren’t broken.

It just means you learned how to survive inside systems that were built on dominance, scarcity, &  control.

Healthy friendships require:

- Reciprocity
- Repair
- Accountability
- Room for growth
- Space for difference

If you cannot tell the truth in your friendships, then they are NOT safe. If only one of you is stretching, then it is NOT equal. If love requires your silence, then it is NOT love.

Decolonizing your friendships will cost you comfort. It may cost you access but it will never cost you your integrity.

If this stirred something in you, I invite you to sit with it. Journal on it. Talk about it with someone you trust.

We will save us.

It’s time.

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02/25/2026

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Happiness is not something you chase at the end of a long to do list. It is something you practice in small, ordinary moments throughout the day. It lives in the way you let yourself rest before you are completely drained, in the way you stretch and release tension instead of carrying it in your shoulders for weeks. It grows when you allow playfulness back into your routine, when you stop overthinking every detail and simply experience what is in front of you.

Peace begins when you trust your body. When you eat because you are hungry and stop because you are full. When you seek warmth, sunlight, and quiet without feeling guilty for needing them. When you notice your environment without turning every thought into a story that exhausts you. Your nervous system learns safety through repetition. It learns that you will listen. It learns that you will protect your energy.

Joy also requires boundaries. The courage to leave spaces that overwhelm you. The wisdom to create a corner that feels like your own. The humility to reset after stress instead of pretending you are unaffected. The bravery to follow curiosity slowly and intentionally, without rushing yourself to prove anything.

True happiness is not loud or dramatic. It is regulated. It is gentle. It is the calm confidence of someone who honors their limits, listens to their needs, and allows themselves to exist without constant negotiation.

02/09/2026

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i know i keep saying put your attention somewhere local, here’s what i actually mean, and a bunch of real ways to build a village right where you are.

a few things to keep in mind as you scroll this list:
- it’s intentionally comprehensive, no one person can do all of it. start with one thing you can actually keep doing.
- when the news cycle makes you feel helpless, turn that feeling into one concrete action. support someone physically close to you, and let yourself depend on people too.
- a lot of these can be done discreetly and anonymously if you don’t have the bandwidth to lead or organize right now.
- if you’re unsure where to begin, pick something that reduces friction for someone else: food, rides, childcare, paperwork, showing up.
- alongside any of this: call your senators, reps, and local council members. show up, leave a clear message, and follow through.

sending love to you and yours — whatever you can do counts!!

11/20/2025

11/06/2025

11/04/2025

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Community care, not c0ps.

As our beloved communities are navigating the escalation of state violence, we see ways that we’re coming together to protect and resource one another.

We invite you to check out our updated Crisis Resources, continuing to center collective care and safety.

Please visit our website for resources including:
• Crisis Warmlines and Resources that Avoid the Police
• Responding to Crisis Through Community-Centered Support: Understanding Su***de Hotlines, Peer Support, Anti-Carceral Care

We keep one another safe. Please feel free to share widely and keep them handy too. 🔗

In solidarity for collective liberation and healing. ❤️‍🔥

11/03/2025

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When someone is struggling or grieving, even the smallest tasks can feel impossible. Asking them to “let you know what they need” adds yet another layer of responsibility: one more decision, one more message, one more emotional effort. Most of the time, they don’t even know what they need, let alone be able to ask for it. Real kindness moves without being prompted. It shows up gently, in the quiet ways that say: “you’re not alone and you don’t need to be okay for me to stay.” 💛...

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09/05/2025

🦋 7 Indigenous Teachings That Psychology Missed

🦋 This carousel isn’t about comparison.
It’s a reminder: Indigenous ways of knowing are sacred technologies.

✍🏾:
🎨:

❤️ The Medicine Wheel
Pan-Indigenous (widely used)
Common among Plains and Woodland Nations, including:
• Anishinaabe (Ojibwe)
• Lakota, Dakota, Nakota (Sioux)
• Cree
• Blackfoot
• Dene
• Cheyenne
Many others

❤️ Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk)
Mi’kmaq Nation (Eastern Canada, Nova Scotia)
Introduced by Elders Albert and Murdena Marshall.
•Now embraced in Indigenous education, health, and research across Turtle Island.

❤️ Lateral Kindness as a Response to Lateral Violence
Pan-Indigenous response to colonial trauma
Particularly emphasized by:
• Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (Inuit communities in Canada)
• First Nations Health Authority (British Columbia)
• Aboriginal communities across Australia

❤️ Storytelling as Emotional & Behavioral Teaching
All Indigenous nations
Deeply in oral traditions of:
• Diné (Navajo)
• Tlingit
• Haudenosaunee
• Hopi
• Seminole
• Coast Salish
• Many more

❤️ Relational Accountability
Cree (Nehiyawak)
• Articulated academically by Shawn Wilson, Opaskwayak Cree.
• Concept is rooted in many Indigenous research

❤️ Ceremony as Sacred Technology
Varies by region and tradition
• Sweat Lodge: Lakota, Dakota, Cree, Anishinaabe, and other Plains Nations
• Vision Quest: Lakota and other Plains Nations
• Plant Dieta: Indigenous Amazonian nations such as the Shipibo-Conibo, Asháninka, and Ingano
• Pipe Ceremony: Plains Nations (Lakota, Blackfoot, Cree)

❤️ The Self as Collective
Haudenosaunee, Diné, and others
• Haudenosaunee: Emphasis on the Seventh Generation principle and clan-based identity.
• Diné: Hózhǫ́ a concept of harmony, beauty, and relational existence.
• Many other tribes hold identity above individualism.
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09/02/2025

When the world feels like an unsafe place our neuroception shifts... we become primed to scan for danger and our nervous system locks itself into a state of hyper vigilance, armouring and protection.

And this state.. it disconnects us from things. Things like joy, creativity, sexual flow, glimmers, compassion & connection with others.

Now more than ever, in order to be of service, in order to be mentally healthy, in order to hold space for love and joy - it is important that we create micro moments of safety in our lives.

We can make the mundane magical, we can dose micro moments of joy or ease, and we can do this in ways that are bite-sized so as not to overwhelm ourselves or add to our to-do lists... but so that they stack up on top of one another. Small things become big things.

Which of these moments do you like the look of?

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08/10/2025

If you advocate for everyone, you don’t have to advocate for yourself because EVERYONE includes YOU.

Credit:

08/06/2025

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💚 Please share to raise awareness - this part of trauma is so often overlooked
👇Comment below: What’s your experience of this? How does trauma impact you in social situations?
📘

07/29/2025

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🍓 Trauma bonding occurs when a survivor of abuse develops a complex bond consisting of dependence and loyalty despite abuse and enotional manipulation to their abuser - not a fun word that describes bonding over traumatic experiences.
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🍓 While using ”trauma bonding” to describe bonding over trauma can feel innocent, it can simultaneously make it harder for survivors to understand and talk about their experiences & dilute the meaning of the term.
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🍓 What other terms do you often see misused?
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