Therapy as Support During Life Transitions
Ivy Griffin
Life transitions can shake your sense of identity and safety. Thrive Therapy & Counseling in Sacramento helps you navigate change with grounding, clarity, and compassionate support.
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This blog is written by therapists in midtown Sacramento and focuses on the concerns and struggles of highly sensitive people (HSPs), LGBTQIA+ folks, and adults struggling with depression, anxiety or just trying to figure out what they want for themselves. There's help and hope through counseling and therapy!
The questions most people forget to ask before booking a first therapy session
Ivy Griffin
Searching for a therapist can feel like a second job. Here are the questions that actually tell you whether a therapist is the right fit — before you commit.
Read MoreWhen Motivation Disappears: Depression or Nervous System Shutdown?
Ivy Griffin
Low motivation can look like laziness but often signals depression or nervous system shutdown. Thrive Therapy & Counseling in Sacramento helps you understand what's happening and find the right support. Request an appointment today.
Read MorePerfectionism and the Fear of Falling Behind
Ivy Griffin
Perfectionism is often a protective strategy, not a personality flaw. Thrive Therapy & Counseling in Sacramento helps you untangle the fear of falling behind and build a life based on values, not performance.
Read MoreBrainspotting for Chronic Stress and Hypervigilance
Ivy Griffin
Chronic stress and hypervigilance can keep your body on high alert long after the danger has passed. Brainspotting is a trauma-informed approach that helps access and process what your nervous system is still holding. Learn how it works, what sessions feel like, and practical ways to support regulation between appointments.
Read MoreHighly Sensitive People and Emotional Overstimulation
Ivy Griffin
Emotional overstimulation can feel like your mind and body are taking in too much, too fast. For highly sensitive people, it is often less about being "too emotional" and more about a nervous system working overtime. Learn practical ways to spot overload early, recover faster, and build steadier boundaries.
Read MoreBalancing Leniency and Strictness With Your Teen
Ivy Griffin
I don’t have to tell you that being a parent or support person to a teen is HARD work! Teens are in such a unique stage developmentally--not quite an adult but not quite a child either (although you may beg to disagree at times ;) ). They’re developing the capacity to question, explore, and generate their own ideas and beliefs about the world while their growing brains can cause them to crave intensity (loud music, new experiences) and be highly emotional and impulsive. It can be a tricky combination!
Read MoreHow Childhood Emotional Neglect Impacts Adult Boundaries
Ivy Griffin
Childhood emotional neglect can teach you to minimize needs, tolerate discomfort, and over-function in relationships. This post explains how CEN shows up in adult boundaries, what it can look like at work and in dating, and practical, evidence-based ways therapy can help you build clearer limits with less guilt.
Read MoreBurnout vs. Trauma Fatigue: Understanding the Difference
Ivy Griffin
Burnout and trauma fatigue both leave you depleted, but they have different roots and need different care. Thrive Therapy & Counseling in Sacramento helps you identify what's driving your exhaustion and build a recovery plan that actually works.
Read MoreSpring Transitions and Anxiety: Why Change Feels Hard
Ivy Griffin
Spring can bring longer days and new energy, yet change can also spike anxiety. Learn why transitions feel hard, how your nervous system responds, and practical, evidence-based ways to feel steadier through seasonal shifts.
Read MoreWhy you don't have to retell your therapy history, and how Thrive matches you without it
Ivy Griffin
Dreading having to explain your whole story to a new therapist? Here's how Thrive's intake process works — and why most clients never have to start over.
Read MoreSurvival Mode: Fawn
Ivy Griffin
Fawning is a survival mode we are more likely to enter when our mind determines the best course of action for safety and well being is to appease the threat instead of confronting (fight), avoiding (flight), or shutting down (freeze). When one is fawning, the self is suppressed often unconsciously (you may disconnect from your own thoughts, feelings, sensations/experiences, opinions, beliefs/moral code) and there is an attempt to keep the peace in order to avoid conflict by aligning more with the desires or will of the threat. From an outsider's perspective an fawning can look like co-dependence, people pleasing, and poor boundaries.
Read MoreThe Social Hangover
Ivy Griffin
Imagine that you’re at a party or gathering at a friend’s house. As a highly sensitive person, you may have felt some anxiety or dread about going to the party and having to make small talk. Some of the folks in attendance are friends, and you gravitate toward talking to them. But, you notice a couple of people who hang back and don’t seem to know many others. Your empathy kicks in, and you decide to go chat with them to help them feel more welcome. While you’re talking, another person or two joins in the conversation and brings up a political issue you care about deeply. As you passionately discuss the matter, you add in how you cannot understand anyone who thinks otherwise. The person you initially approached quietly says, “I disagree” and wanders away.
Read MoreLearning to Receive Care Without Guilt
Ivy Griffin
Receiving care can feel surprisingly hard, especially if you learned to be the helper, the capable one, or the person who “doesn’t need much.” This post explores why guilt shows up, how to respond to it with compassion, and practical ways to practice receiving support in everyday life and in therapy.
Read MoreInsurance Therapy vs. Private Pay in Sacramento: How to Choose What’s Right for You
Ivy Griffin
Learn the difference between insurance therapy and private-pay therapy in Sacramento. Understand costs, flexibility, and how to choose the option that fits your goals.
Read MoreLGBTQ+ Relationships and Internalized Stress
Ivy Griffin
Internalized stress can quietly shape LGBTQ+ relationships through shame, hypervigilance, and conflict avoidance. Learn how it shows up, how to talk about it safely, and what actually helps, including boundaries, repair, and affirming support.
Read MoreHow Expressive Arts Therapy Supports Emotional Expression
Ivy Griffin
Expressive arts therapy can help you express what feels hard to say out loud. Learn how creative processes support emotion regulation, trauma healing, and self-understanding, plus simple ways to start if you feel stuck or numb.
Read MoreEmotional Neglect and the Fear of Needing Others
Ivy Griffin
Emotional neglect can teach you to minimize needs, distrust closeness, and handle everything alone. Learn how this pattern forms, how it shows up in adult relationships, and practical, evidence-based ways to build safer connection without losing yourself.
Read MoreAnxiety Around Dating and Relationships in Young Adults
Ivy Griffin
Dating can stir up big feelings, especially in young adulthood. This post explores why dating anxiety shows up, how it affects connection, and practical, evidence-based ways to feel steadier, communicate more clearly, and build relationships that fit your values.
Read MoreWhy Intimacy Feels Draining for Trauma Survivors
Ivy Griffin
Intimacy can feel exhausting after trauma, even with someone you trust. Learn how the nervous system, boundaries, and attachment patterns shape closeness, plus practical ways to pace connection, communicate needs, and rebuild safety over time.
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