Relationship Patterns: Understanding Why You Keep Reliving the Same Dynamics

Most people who seek relationship patterns therapy fall into one of two groups: some have a strong awareness of the patterns they keep repeating — shutting down, over-giving, fixing, choosing emotionally unavailable partners — and feel frustrated that they can’t seem to change them. Others arrive without any clear sense of a “pattern” at all. […]
Self Esteem & Self Criticism Therapy: Healing the Parts That Keep You Small

People often begin self esteem and self criticism therapy after noticing something familiar inside — a sinking feeling after a small mistake, a tightening in the chest when someone offers feedback, or a quiet inner voice that speaks more harshly than they ever would to anyone else. These reactions can feel automatic and overwhelming, but […]
Life Transitions & Personal Growth Therapy — When Life Changes Faster Than Your System Can Keep Up

Life transitions and personal growth therapy is often sought not because something big or obvious happened, but because something inside you feels unsettled, unfamiliar, or heavier than you expected. And sometimes, the opposite is true — a major loss, a sudden shift, or an unexpected change arrives and your whole system feels overwhelmed. Whether the […]
Perfectionism & People-Pleasing Therapy — Understanding the Parts That Work So Hard

If you’re considering perfectionism and people pleasing therapy, you already know how tiring it is to hold yourself to impossible standards or keep everyone else comfortable. The pressure shows up in your chest, your jaw, your stomach — and somewhere inside, a part of you is tired of doing it all alone. These patterns didn’t […]
Anxiety Therapy in Calgary — Understanding the Parts Behind the Overwhelm

Most people assume anxiety shows up only as worry, panic, or racing thoughts — but anxiety therapy in Calgary with Connect Heal Grow Psychology often starts with something far quieter: the parts inside us that are trying their best to keep us safe. Anxiety rarely comes from nowhere. It is usually a response from protectors […]
Trauma and PTSD: Why Your Body Still Reacts (and Why Some Parts of You Can’t Relax Yet)

Most people don’t realize that trauma and PTSD rarely show up as memories — they show up as sensations, sudden reactions, and parts of you that feel scared, guarded, or overwhelmed. In trauma and PTSD therapy, we gently explore these reactions as the body’s way of remembering what it once had to survive. Maybe a […]
The Body’s Story: How the Nervous System Holds Trauma When Words Can’t

(IFS + Somatic Healing at Connect Heal Grow Psychology) Most of us have moments when our body reacts before our mind catches up — a familiar sign of how trauma stored in the body can show up in everyday life. You’re washing dishes and your chest suddenly tightens.You get a text from someone and feel […]
When Pleasing Others Means Losing Yourself: How People-Pleasing Affects Relationships

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything right in a relationship — being helpful, accommodating, easy to be around — and still ended up feeling lonely or unseen, you’re not alone. In this post, we’ll explore how people-pleasing affects relationships, and why this protective part of you can unintentionally block the very connection it […]
Recognizing People-Pleasing in Adulthood — From the Inside Out

In our last post, we explored the roots of people-pleasing — and in this one, we’ll look at what people-pleasing looks like in adulthood, including the behaviors, emotions, and relational impacts this pattern often carries. But what happens when that same protective part continues into adulthood? Have you ever found yourself saying yes with a […]
How People-Pleasing in Adulthood Begins — and Why It Makes Sense

People-pleasing in adulthood often feels automatic. You say “yes” before you’ve had time to check in with yourself. You offer support, soften your voice, suppress your needs — not because you want to manipulate, but because some part of you learned that keeping others happy felt like the safest path to connection. This post explores […]
