Mental Health Support in Cary, NC
Free and low-cost local ways to support your mental health in Cary, NC: support groups, nature experiences, yoga and meditation, and creative expression.
Blog
Reflections on relationships, mindfulness, and emotional health from Angela McLean, LMFT.
Local Resources
Emotional Health & Happiness
The Dance of Joy and Pain
A therapist's reflection on why running from pain and clinging to joy causes problems, and a truer picture of how the two move together.
Self-Compassionate vs. Selfish
Is taking care of yourself selfish? What The Giving Tree teaches about balancing your needs with those of the people you love.
Comedian on Technology and Happiness
Wisdom from an unexpected place: how overuse of technology can rob us of empathy, the ability to just sit there, and real emotional experience.
The Road to Happiness
There is no way to happiness except through your discomfort. A therapist on why facing difficult feelings is worth it, and what change looks like.
How to Be Happier: What Really Works?
What psychological research says does and doesn't make us happier: mindful savoring, flow, meaning and connection versus wealth and IQ.
Happiness Is Chocolate Cake?
Why quick pleasures and external achievements only bring temporary happiness, and the two principles that lasting happiness depends on.
The Quest for Happiness Begins
An introduction to this blog: Angela's personal and professional quest to understand happiness, peace, and freedom from suffering.
Self-Compassion (An Upgrade from Self-Esteem)
Why self-compassion, being your own best friend, is a steadier foundation than self-esteem, and how to begin practicing it.
Marriage & Intimacy
Creating Lasting Intimacy in a Marriage
Why long-term closeness is hard, and how the 'crucible' of marriage can forge a deeper bond. A marriage counselor's perspective.
Maintaining Marital Intimacy When Life Gets Busy
Five easy, practical ways couples can keep intimacy alive with busy schedules, kids, and work pulling them in every direction.
Cultivating Marital Intimacy: Types of Intimacy
Sixteen types of intimacy couples can build, from communication and conflict to humor, parenting, and spiritual intimacy. A list to review together.
Marriage and Money
Arguing about money, or keeping it completely separate, is often a symptom of deeper relationship issues. Three common underlying problems.
Defining True Love
Robert Sternberg's triangle of love (intimacy, passion, and commitment) and how identifying your type of love can help your relationship.
Mindfulness Skills for Couples
How savoring, gratitude, compassion, and mindful listening can deepen intimacy, plus ways couples can practice mindfulness together.
Mindfulness & Meditation
The Guest House
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teaches that welcoming every emotion, rather than labeling some as bad, is how we reduce suffering.
Mindfulness Teaches Resilience
Why becoming more resilient can also mean becoming more sensitive, and how mindfulness builds bamboo-like strength that bends without breaking.
The Gift of Rest
Why scheduling time to do nothing is healing, plus a simple experiment to rediscover your natural rhythm of activity and rest.
Attitudes of a Peaceful Mind
The seven attitudes of mindfulness from Jon Kabat-Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living: non-judgment, patience, beginner's mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance, letting be.
“The Less You Do… The More You Do.”
How constant striving undermines our goals, sleep, and health, and how the mindfulness principle of non-striving helps us find balance.
Ready to take the first step?
Schedule online through the secure client portal, or start with a free 30-minute consultation by phone, video, or in person.