Find the Right Word July's Intention from CFBL Letters from the Practice
Dear friends,
July has a way of loosening things. The school calendar falls away, the evenings stretch out, and the pace that carried us through spring finally eases. For many of the families I work with, summer is the first real chance in months to exhale. It is also, quietly, a season of noticing. When we slow down, we begin to feel what we have been carrying.
I have been thinking a great deal lately about the words we use for what we carry. In my evaluation work, I sit with people who have spent years trying to name their experience, reaching for language that almost fits but never quite does. Sometimes it does. Often it points them in the wrong direction.
There is real relief in being understood precisely. The right word opens a door. It tells you where to go, what kind of help to look for, and what you can reasonably expect. The wrong word, even a gentle one, can quietly close that same door.
This is not about policing language. It is about the difference between something that is hard and something that is genuinely interfering with a life, and about giving each its due. Both deserve compassion. They simply do not call for the same response.
My hope this month is that when you reach for words to describe your own experience, you let yourself be precise. Clarity is its own kind of care.
This Month at Center for Balanced Living
A few things we planted earlier this year are beginning to take root. Rooted & Rising, Amanda Foxwell's art therapy group, now has a name and a date: in person on Friday, July 10, offering a way to understand the nervous system through creative expression, with no art experience required.
Our Pet Loss Support Group is also open for registration, offered both in person in Townsend and virtually for anyone in Delaware. The grief that follows losing an animal is real and often quietly carried, and this group makes room for it.
Staff Spotlight: Welcoming Brittany Heitmann, LPCMH
We are glad to introduce a new member of our clinical team. Brittany Heitmann is a Licensed Professional Counselor of Mental Health who joins us with a strong foundation in family systems and years of experience helping families move through trauma, grief, and the communication breakdowns that so often travel with them.
She is trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Trauma-Focused CBT, and the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention. She believes every person carries a unique reason, a "why" worth taking seriously, and works from a solution-focused stance to help clients turn that into plans they can actually live.
Featured Blog: The Difference Between Clinical and Just Being Hard
Our newest piece on Make It Make Sense asks what separates a clinical condition from ordinary human difficulty, and why our most popular words fail to tell them apart. Terms like neurodivergent and high functioning were built for community and dignity, not diagnosis.
Featured Resource: Naming What You Feel
The resource we want to share is one of the simplest and most evidence-informed practices we know: affect labeling, sometimes called "name it to tame it." Putting a feeling into specific words actually lowers its intensity. The next time you notice distress, pause and ask what this actually is — not just bad or stressed, but disappointed, anxious, lonely, grieving, depleted. Precision, here too, is a form of care.
Upcoming Events
- Rooted & Rising — art therapy with Amanda Foxwell. Friday, July 10, 5:00 PM, in person. $25, all supplies included.
- Pet Loss Support Group (In-Person) — Townsend. Free. Open for registration.
- Pet Loss Support Group (Virtual) — online for anyone in Delaware. Free. Open for registration.
Register on the Wellness Groups page →
Closing Reflection
If there is one invitation in this letter, it is to let yourself be precise — with your feelings, with your struggles, with the words you use to describe your own life. You are allowed to wait for the word that actually fits. And if you are still searching for it, that is part of what we are here for.
Warmly,
Dr. Niki Serravalle