Melissa Kioko

Body appreciation post 🤎 in a season of learning to accept my changing body
Swipe for an affirmation to practice if you’re learning how to love your body ✨

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Let’s talk about s*x baby! 🎶

One of the things that as therapists we weren’t taught (well at least for me) is talking about s*x in therapy. I think a lot of it has a lot to do with the African culture, purity culture, and viewing s*x as a taboo.

However, s*x is a big part of our clients’ lives and I think it’s important for us as therapists to create safe spaces for our clients to bring up s*xual concerns in session and for us to show up in empathetic, client-focused, and clinically appropriate ways.

Now, I invite you to take the suggestions below as concrete opportunities to make therapy with you a place where the unspeakable is safe to talk about—even when the thing you need to talk about is s*x.

 
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☀️Ukambani chic☀️
Feeling extremely grateful and blessed ✨

Note to self to take more pictures ✨

Today on politely shouting at you 😘


Your shadow self are the parts of you that at some point, you were conditioned to believe were not okay, so you suppressed them and have done everything in your power not to acknowledge them. You don’t actually dislike these parts of yourself though.
So when you see someone displaying one of these traits, it’s infuriating, not because you dislike it, but bc you have to fight your desire to fully integrate it into your whole consciousness.

Swipe to see a few questions you should be asking yourself is you feel like it’s time to change therapists ✨

If you don’t feel like you have the right fit with your therapist anymore, or you’re not getting the kind of support you need, or you feel that you’re not growing anymore, it may be time to move on

But please don’t ghost your therapist when it’s time to change therapists.. you can have an honest conversation with them about your feelings.

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Save this for the next time you feel upset and need to calm yourself down when feeling distressed 🤎

Self-soothing is an individual's efforts or capacity to calm oneself while in a state of emotional distress.

We actually learn many of our self-soothing patterns when we are babies (think sucking your thumb, being rocked by a caregiver). When we are soothed by care-givers, we internalize this soothing and learn how to do it for ourselves. So there are a variety of ways that we might not quite develop this skill well enough and end up having difficulty self-soothing as adults.

Here are different self-soothing techniques and skills which can help you self-soothe and better manage and recover from emotional distress.

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📌 Save this post

1. Befrienders Kenya is a charitable organization focusing on su***de prevention by offering FREE emotional support to those who may be in distress and therefore in danger of dying by su***de.
2. NACADA’s toll-free line offers telephone counseling and referrals for alcohol, drug and substance use disorders.
3. Kenya Red Cross runs a toll-free line; 1199 that provides 24-hour free tele-counselling to the public.
4. The National Gay and Le***an Human Rights Commission offers free therapy services through their in-house therapist
5. The Gender Based Violence (GBV) Hotline 1195 works in partnership with the Ministry of Public Service and Gender, to help victims of Sexual and Gender Based Violence to get rapid assistance to healthcare assistance and referrals.
6. Chiromo Hospital Group’s toll - free line offers 24/7 tele-counseling services
7. The National Helpline 116 is a confidential reporting platform that is accessible to children and adults who have identified or witnessed violence against children

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Not me actually resting.. I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to finally get some time off

I hope the holidays bring you everything you long for & need in this moment 🤎

I wanna thank me 🤎

Identifying therapist green flags is crucial to ensuring that you’re safe and comfortable in sessions and that you’re seeing someone who is indeed a good fit for you and your needs. 💚

Having green flags is fundamental to a safe relationship because it establishes, at least for yourself, that this person is someone that you think you can be vulnerable with. You can then be your authentic self to access the healing that you need.

But knowing exactly what to look for in a therapist (especially if you’re new to therapy) can be difficult to discern. So, swipe to see some green flags to look out for in a therapist 💚