McKenna Counseling LLC

11/01/2026

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This November, notice the little things and be present with a journaling prompt for every day 👇

11/01/2026

Progress becomes sustainable when the next good choice is realistic enough to repeat. Do what you can today and let consistency build from there. Keep going.

10/30/2026

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Check out this interview with Eric Arnold and Dr. George McKenna as they discuss Nihilistic Violent Extremism (NVE), the dangers of online influences, and the importance of recognizing warning signs in young people. Hear why parents need to stay engaged in their children's lives and how early intervention can help prevent violence. Plus, learn about "Stopping Nihilistic Violence: Extremism Before Violence Occurs," a professional learning event happening Wednesday, October 28, from 12:30–4:30 p.m. at the Peoria County Health and Human Services Building.

https://omny.fm/shows/greg-and-phil-podcast/eric-arnold-and-dr-george-mckenna

10/28/2026

10/28/2026

It's Okey to Pause For a While ...

10/28/2026

Happy National First Responders Day! Thank you!

10/28/2026

For many of us, self-abandonment wasn't a conscious choice. It was something we learned to do to preserve connection, avoid conflict, and feel safe in relationships.

We learned to silence our needs, minimize our feelings, tolerate discomfort, and prioritize other people's approval over our own authenticity.

When your belonging has been conditioned on how well you accommodate others, choosing yourself can feel terrifying.

Healing from self-abandonment isn't just about learning to set boundaries or say no. It's also about building the capacity to tolerate the discomfort that comes when others don't like those boundaries. It's learning to let people be disappointed without making their disappointment your responsibility. It's grieving the relationships that depended on you having fewer needs, fewer boundaries, and a smaller voice.

It's also recognizing that being rejected by someone else can hurt deeply, but repeatedly rejecting yourself comes at a cost, too.

This doesn't mean we should celebrate disconnection or pretend we don't need others. We are relational beings. We need love, community, and belonging. But we also deserve relationships where connection doesn't require self-erasure.

The work isn't to stop caring whether people stay. It's to stop abandoning yourself in an attempt to make them stay.

XOXO
🤎🩷
Shenikka Moore-Clarke, MSW, LICSW

Yours in Liberation

10/27/2026

This

Drop a ❤️ if you feel this.

Pay attention to what you do when you’re afraid of losing someone.⁣
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Do you suddenly become more understanding of behaviour that hurts you? ⁣
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Do you start questioning whether you’re asking for too much? ⁣
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Do you apologise just to end the conflict, even when you haven’t done anything wrong?⁣
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Sometimes, what we call love, patience or compromise is actually our fear of rejection influencing our choices.⁣
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And there’s a difference between making compromises in a healthy relationship and repeatedly betraying yourself to keep one.⁣
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You can work through conflict, take accountability and make room for someone else’s needs without dismissing your own.⁣

10/27/2026

Interesting tips in the comments. Go to their page and check out the things that help

When a childhood home is governed by an unpredictable climate—where one person’s shifting mood dictates the emotional weather for everyone else—survival requires constant adaptation. Children in these environments cannot afford the luxury of simple presence; instead, they learn to outrun potential conflict by becoming hyper-aware of subtle shifts in the atmosphere. They absorb the unwritten rules of unspoken tension: mapping the heavy cadence of a footstep, decoding the sharp click of a door, or translating the precise threat behind a heavy silence. Over time, this adaptive defense mechanism hardens into an automatic adult reflex. Entering a room becomes less of an arrival and more of a tactical assessment, a rapid-fire scanning of faces and vocal tones to determine exactly who needs them to be small, quiet, or accommodating before they can safely take a breath.

This deeply ingrained habit is often praised in adulthood as high emotional intelligence or flawless intuition, but its reality is far more exhausting. It is hyper-vigilance masquerading as a social superpower—a relentless tax paid on one’s own peace of mind just to maintain a baseline illusion of safety. When your early environment teaches you that unpredictability is the first sign of danger, resting becomes impossible without first establishing absolute control over your surroundings. True relaxation requires dropping your guard, a terrifying prospect for a nervous system trained to believe that catching an emotional storm-off guard results in catastrophe. Healing means recognizing that while this profound perception served as a necessary shield in the past, carrying the weight of everyone else’s emotional comfort is a burden you are finally allowed to set down.

If this sounds like you, check out the comments section for tips on transitioning from fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest so you can learn to enjoy rest without feeling like you’re always “in trouble”. 🫶

10/23/2026

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