If you’re living with OCD—or even just suspect you might be—you probably know the feeling well: the sudden spike of anxiety, the relentless “what if” thoughts, the pressure to do something right now to make it go away. Maybe you’re checking the stove for the third time, replaying a conversation in your head until it’s worn thin, or mentally reviewing your past to make sure you didn’t do something unforgivable.

And for a brief moment… you feel relief. Until it comes back again.

This is the anxiety-compulsion cycle at the heart of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

If you’ve ever looked into EMDR therapy and thought, “That’s not for me—I haven’t been through anything traumatic enough,” you’re not alone.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is most often associated with PTSD. It’s the go-to therapy for war veterans, survivors of assault, and people healing from life-threatening experiences. But that narrow reputation leaves out a much broader truth: EMDR is a powerful, flexible tool for helping people heal from any experience that’s gotten stuck in the body—and it’s not always the big, obvious traumas that hold us back.

Feeling overwhelmed as summer approaches? You're not alone. For parents, teachers and busy professionals, the weeks leading up to summer can bring intense stress and emotional exhaustion. In this post, we explore how therapy intensives offer powerful, personalized mental health support for burnout, helping you find stress relief before summer begins. Discover how taking just a few dedicated days for deep healing can leave you feeling centered, empowered, and ready to truly enjoy a restful, restorative summer.

Maybe you’ve been carrying quiet questions about your gender for a while now—ones that only seem to get louder with time. Maybe you've felt out of sync with how others see you, or maybe you’ve recently discovered language that feels like home for the first time. Or maybe you’re not quite sure what you're feeling, just that something doesn’t sit right.

Wherever you are on your journey, you’re not alone. At Vivid Mental Health Counseling, we believe everyone deserves a space where they can explore who they are—gently, honestly, and without judgment.

If you’ve lived with anxiety, you know that hearing someone say "just calm down" can feel anything but calming. Your heart races, your thoughts spiral, and your body tenses up like it’s preparing for impact. Even when you want to relax, it can feel physically impossible. That’s because anxiety isn’t just in your head—it lives in your body and your nervous system. And until we understand what’s really happening beneath the surface, it can feel like a constant uphill battle.