Sequoia Counseling Center
Blog

Conversations about healthy masculinity, particularly during adolescence and young adulthood, have become increasingly urgent. Across education, work, mental health, and social life, many young men appear to be struggling. Boys now lag behind girls on several academic and professional indicators, and mental health outcomes tell an equally sobering story. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, roughly one in ten men experience depression or anxiety, ye

I’ve been noticing a lot lately that so many of us have the idea that we’re supposed to be perfect before we deserve good things. We’re supposed to be more regulated, less anxious, more confident, more assertive, less negative, bounce back from hard things in a minute, and so on.  It seems like these messages sneak in slowly and quietly through conversations with well-meaning friends and family members, movies, books, advertisements, and what I think might be the biggest culp

The human brain is inundated with vast amounts of data every second. To manage this overwhelming influx, the brain employs various shortcuts such as chunking (grouping information) and unconscious bias—tools that help us quickly determine what is relevant for our survival and what can be disregarded. As a result of these mental shortcuts, what we consciously perceive is only a small, filtered portion of the reality that originally enters our minds. This selective awareness me

As humans, we are all connected by what are called universal longings or universal needs. Examples of these needs might be safety, stability, connection, love and belonging, and purpose. When these needs struggle to be met whether due to societal culture, isolating events, or relationship issues, technology presents as a seemingly harmless solution. We might turn to social media apps, designed to interact with the reward centers in our brains, stream a movie or TV series for

We all carry pieces of our past with us. For some people, those pieces are light and warm, shaping happy memories and a sense of “I’m...

When we begin therapy, we often want to focus on what's happening right now — the anxiety, the relationship struggles, the patterns...

“He’s such a narcissist.” “Stop gaslighting me.” “That triggered me.” “I’m OCD.” “She’s bipolar.”  In recent years, conversations around...