David Suguitan, MA, LMHCA

You don’t need to get over it. You don’t have to focus on the positive. You aren’t choosing to let it bother you.

To feel deeply is to be deeply human. When we ignore our feelings, we deny ourselves our own humanity. But feelings can also be messy, and facing them often means facing messes, which is scary! That’s why it’s easier to throw a blanket over a mess than sort through it.

The problem is, disconnecting from our feelings doesn’t solve mental health issues. It creates them.

For most of us, it’s a struggle just to recognize our own feelings. How many times have you heard someone say they’re fine when they’re clearly not? How many times have you yourself done this? It’s very normal. We do it for lots of reasons. Sometimes we disconnect because it’s the only way to survive through a traumatic or harmful situation. Sometimes we grow up with disconnected adults and never learn other ways of being. Sometimes our cultures bestow values and expectations around feelings that end up conflicting with our own personalities.

You need space to sort through these things. Work and school will not afford you this space. Family and friends might not either. This is what therapy is for.

I offer a comfortable, safe, non-judgmental space for people to work through distress, reconnect with feelings, integrate experiences, and find balance.