Blog
The Tree of Life Counseling Center blog is dedicated to educating and empowering individuals on their journey toward mental well-being through culturally responsive, social justice-oriented content.
Discover the Value of Working with a Clinical Mental Health Graduate Student at TLCC
At Tree of Life Counseling Center (TLCC), we are deeply committed to fostering the next generation of healers. Through our graduate student program, we offer individuals a unique opportunity to receive counseling services from bright, passionate students in their clinical mental health programs. Under the supervision of licensed professionals and faculty, these students provide high-quality, compassionate care to our community.
We Can’t Normalize This: ICE Raids, Mental Health, and the Urgency of Collective Resistance | No podemos normalizar esto: Redadas de ICE, salud mental y la urgencia de resistir colectivamente
ICE raids are not routine. They are not “just part of the system.”
Las redadas de ICE no son rutinarias. No son “parte del sistema”.
They are state-sanctioned violence—dehumanizing, destabilizing, and traumatic.
Son violencia avalada por el estado—deshumanizante, desestabilizadora y traumática.
Healing in Relationship: Celebrating the Silent Support of Our Animal Companions
Mental health matters—for all of us. At Tree of Life Counseling Center, we know that healing doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in relationships—with people, with the land, with community, and sometimes, with the quiet (or not-so-quiet) presence of animals.
Finding My Way Back: A Journey of Healing and Resistance
I did not enter the mental health field with ease—I fought my way in. The journey was not just about acquiring degrees, credentials, or professional titles. Initially it was about survival and a relationship with capitalism and colonialism I had to work my way through, with little guidance from institutions of learning or empathy.
Signs vs. Symptoms in Mental Health: A Culturally Responsive Approach
Understanding the difference between signs and symptoms is foundational in mental health work, yet these concepts are often shaped by cultural context.
Toxic Masculinity: A Social Construct in Need of Change
The concept of masculinity refers to a social construct with some basis in human physiology. However, how we define what is masculine depends on several cultural and historical contexts.
We Are the Future They Feared: Rising Beyond the Empire of Greed
I watch as those in power shamelessly parade themselves as the saviors of America while deepening the dystopian reality they’ve crafted.
Those who see you for what you are didn’t fall for it a hundred times before, and you won’t force us to now.
A Hornet’s Nest: A Reflection on the Journey Toward Healing, Recognition, and Safety
“As I prepare to travel to Houston today, I can't shake the feeling that I'm walking straight into a hornet's nest. I'm traveling alone as a brown-bodied woman through Texas—a state with a troubling history of police brutality—for a DEI award on a weekend marked by unrest. To top it off, I’ll be accepting the award in front of a room full of white bodies.