Desiree S Howell, Ph.D.

🎉My online therapy business is 3 years old today!

🎢Entrepreneurship is such a roller coaster and yet, I am brimming with gratitude for the privilege to create a business that works for me and the amazing people I serve.

💙I’m thankful for the friends and coaches along the way who have shown up for me and the folks who’ve trusted me to show up for them.

🌊Here’s to everyone feeling loved, safe, healthy, wealthy, and fulfilled!

Credit to Autistic Callum

Self-care and setting boundaries to heal from trauma, burnout, perfectionism, anxiety, people-pleasing will continue to be an uphill battle as long as women's self-abandonment is continually rewarded, expected, and celebrated. And I'm sick of it!

💻If you’re interested in reading more, check out the blog post on my website!

🦸‍♀️Check out my new blog on breaking the superwoman syndrome for high-achieving women!

Why prioritizing pleasure so important for HSPs (highly-sensitive persons) in the battling of burnout and sensory overwhelm on the quest for inner peace. Blog post link in comments!

☯️ My approach to therapy is collaborative & personalized to your unique needs. You are the expert of YOU and I appreciate hearing ongoing feedback with what you want & need as that changes over time.

🌊I offer online therapy to adults in New York, Iowa, and all PsyPact states. My approach is trauma-informed (EMDR trained), relational-cultural, feminist, & solutions-focused.

🔮Empowering burned out HSPs (highly-sensitive persons) to heal, recover, & recalibrate life for more joy and alignment is my passion.

💻Check out the link in my bio for more info on working with me to awaken, align, & prosper!

❄️Happy Winter Solstice❄️

Martyrdom will leave you burnout and resentful. Show up for yourself if you want to show up for others.

💐Blessed Beltane🔥

🔮How do you know when you are out of alignment in your life? When what you need, value, and want aren’t exactly matching up with how you’re spending your resources (time, money, attention, energy)?

🔮I asked myself these questions during my burnout recovery journey. I wanted a way to visually hold space for creating alignment in my post-burnout life.

🔮I created the Aligned Goddess Living wheel of Mystical Life Balance so I could have an organizing framework to conceptualize my healing journey.

💻If you’re interested in learning more, check out the blog post on my website!

🌊I believe in your power!
🌊I know empowerment is easier said than done
🌊You don’t have to travel this journey alone

💻Check out my website for more info & a calendar link to book a 20-min phone chat to discuss you needs and see if working together would be a good fit!

💜Not sure how to make that a reality?
💔Feels impossible?
💙That’s understandable.

💔Our society rewards martyrs and vilifies women (especially mothers) who take care of themselves.

💜How to matter while still showing up for the ones you love is something I work on with my clients who are recovering from burnout, abuse/neglect, perfectionism, and people-pleasing.

💙Everyone can matter and thrive. It’s possible.

🌹What if you’re already enough?
🌹What if you’re already lovable?
🌹What if your needs matter too?
🌹What if self-love didn’t feel selfish?
🌹What if you choose to be rebellious?

🗝️Self-compassion is a huge part of burnout recovery, HSP acceptance, and building a life you love.

🗝️Self-love/compassion/acceptance is a major area I focus on in my individual therapy work with HSPs in Florida & PsyPact states.

🌊Hi! I’m Dr. Desiree Howell, a counseling psychologist offering teletherapy to adults in Florida & all PsyPact states. I specialize in burnout recovery and mystical life alignment for highly-sensitive persons. I am EMDR-trained and focus on interpersonal and body-based interventions as well as challenging the status quo of unhelpful societal systems. I am an OON provider with daytime availability.

💻Check out my website for more info & a calendar link to book a 20-min phone chat to discuss you needs and see if working together would be a good fit!

🫧The life you want is possible!

🔥Lighting ourselves on fire to keep others warm doesn’t work for long.

🔥No one I’ve helped through the burnout recovery process did it without increasing their self-worth, knowing and claiming their values/desires/needs, and then taking action to create their aligned life that included setting/maintaining new boundaries to have healthier relationships with work and loved ones.

🔥You deserve to love your life. Your needs matter.

🗝️ Lasting burnout recovery is more than life hacks and self-care tips that keep you barely functioning enough to be “productive.”

🗝️ Nervous system functioning has been a game-changer in creating more self-compassion, empathy towards others, grace/understanding/forgiveness, coping & self-soothing strategies, advocating for my needs, not feeling guilt or shame in having needs and feelings (especially as an introverted HSP), and self-awareness for what I actually need and want since I’m better able to listen to, honor/respect, and make decisions from body-based wisdom.

🗝️ Using our body’s wisdom and nervous system functioning unlocks healing, growth, safety, and thriving.

🗝️My therapy clients and I explore nervous system wisdom every day. Trust your body. Trust your intuition.

🔵Avoiding tough conversations (boundary setting, honest feedback) avoids the responsibility and emotional labor of communicating clearly with loved ones.

🔵It puts the burden on them to correctly guess your needs/wants while you avoid giving them direct information.

🔵It’s like you being a professor who is mad that the student didn’t earn an A grade in your class but you didn’t create or give them a syllabus.

🔵Honest communication and boundary setting is giving your loved ones a syllabus for how to love you.

🔵Would it be easier for you to have a syllabus of expectations, boundaries, and preferences for the ones you love? You’d more clearly know what is and is not acceptable, helpful, or appreciated.

🔵I know it can feel scary but it’s truly much more kind, responsible, mature, and thoughtful to be clear and honest than avoid feedback to be “nice.”

🌊More fun, less dread
🌊More peace, less tension
🌊More rest, less hustle
🌊More witnessing, less isolation
🌊More playfulness, less outrage
🌊More boundaries, less exploitation
🌊More acceptance, less judgement
🌊More understanding, fewer assumptions
🌊More compassion, less harshness
🌊More “hell yes, of course!”, less “I guess so”
🌊More certainty, less doubt
🌊More laughter, less yelling
🌊More flow, less force
🌊More creativity, less stuckness
🌊More trust, less fear
🌊More integrity, less manipulation
🌊More self-care, less martyrdom
🌊More regulation, less overwhelm
🌊More alignment, less imbalance
🌊More love, less indifference
🌊More courage, less caring what others’ think
🌊More authenticity, less ‘status quo’

🔮My lap is covered in Goddess cards because I’m working on something cool and helpful for my fellow HSPs looking for more alignment and less overwhelm. 🔮Let’s banish the burnout & embrace our inner wisdom. ✨

🔮There is a better way
🔮Your body communicates its wisdom
🔮A solution always exists
🔮You can’t miss what’s right for you
🔮Most things are repairable
🔮You already have what it takes
🔮You can ride the waves of life

❄️Happy winter solstice! 🕯️

Whether you are feeling the pull to rest and cozy up with a blanket + fire/candle + warm beverage to welcome the wintering season,

or the urge to embrace the Capricorn energy of career achievement and meaningful work,

I hope you honor your body and trust the divine guidance of your inner wisdom as we enter the dark half of the year.

Happy sacred dreaming time 🔮

⚪️Can you trust the good?
⚪️Do you feel panicked when things have been going your way so you start to wonder when the “other shoe will drop?”

⚪️Our nervous systems are designed to keep us alive, not necessarily joyful. So we notice and remember the negative/threatening/scary stuff WAY MORE than the positive/peaceful/loving parts of our life.

⚪️So we need to intentionally build the habits of gratitude, noticing the good, and trusting ourselves and the cycles of nature to help our brain/nervous system soak in the safety and peace so we can actually enjoy the lovely times and be fortified (not drained/depleted) for the rough times.

🚙I too can still feel a little skeptical when things are aligning really beautifully. I am still intimated by my own power to make change and alter my reality. Through my burnout & trauma recovery, I’ve had to remind myself that this version of myself is allowed to have ease, joy, and alignment. I don’t have to struggle or suffer to earn my keep or prove my worth.

⚪️Too much fear and preparing for the worst outcomes steals your joy but is comforting if that’s what you’re used to. Being optimistic, hopeful, and working on personal growth can feel so vulnerable, unfamiliar, and unsafe.

⚪️Being in safe relationships (including therapeutic ones) where your nervous system can experience the positive situations it needs to start noticing, labeling, and responding to things in your life differently, is the most powerful way to heal and grow.

🌊Creating safety for sensitive, achievers to heal, grow, and prosper is what I love to do. If you live in Florida or any PsyPact state (https://psypact.site-ym.com/page/psypactmap) And are looking for online therapy, check out my website for more info & next steps.

🎄Is it worth it?
🎄Do you have to attend every event?
🎄Do you have to follow the tradition, even if there is more obligation than enjoyment?
🎄What events/activities truly bring you and your loved ones joy?
🎄What pace & space do you need to actually embody the connection, joy, & gratitude you might want to soak in and reflect upon at this time of year?
🎄Do your needs matter less than those of folks you might disappoint?
🎄What compromise & boundaries could create a lovely time for everyone involved?
🎄How does pushing yourself to exhaustion & overwhelm impact your loved ones?

🎄Wishing you a peaceful December ✨

😌 Mantra for today: Let it be easy 😌

Whatever “it” is. I hope you can take a breathe, let your nervous system know you are safe, and see how “it” can be easier.

Sending gentle vibes your way!

Soul Whispers deck for today’s cars pull. The guidebook asks good questions like: “What makes you think you are not worthy of the beauty and abundance that was meant for you?” 🔮Open your heart to receive

🧐Just saying…

🍂 All glammed up for a friend’s beautiful autumn wedding. Not used to my face looking like that! Or my hair 😄

🍂It was so nice to see old friends, celebrate love/connection, and enjoy the crisp air and colorful leaves in Massachusetts.

🍂 How has your autumn season been so far?