In crisis? Call or text 988 — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7.

Erika Mitchell Therapy

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A working library

Worth reading,
trying, and knowing

****PLACEHOLDER**** Write two or three sentences introducing this library in your voice: what a reader will find here, and who it is for.

Note

Structure demo. Every row marked ****PLACEHOLDER**** below is a proposed piece that has not been written yet — the title and one-line summary are a content plan, each targeting something people in Los Angeles actually search for. The page structure, internal linking, and schema are already built. As a piece is written, replace its row with a real link; delete any row that never gets written, rather than shipping an empty promise.

01  Start here

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Do I need therapy, or is this just a hard season?

The difference between a rough stretch and a pattern — and what usually tips the balance.

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What actually happens in a first therapy session

A plain walkthrough, for people who have never done this before.

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How to find a therapist in Los Angeles who is a real fit

What to ask on a consultation call, and which answers matter.

02  Trauma & the nervous system

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Why insight isn’t enough

How you can understand a pattern completely and still live inside it.

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Somatic EMDR vs. traditional EMDR

Companion piece to the full somatic EMDR guide.

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Freeze, shutdown, and numbness

The most misunderstood trauma response — when nothing is the response.

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Childhood emotional neglect in high-functioning adults

What it looks like when nothing obviously bad ever happened.

03  Relationships & attachment

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The pursue–withdraw cycle, and how couples get out of it

An Emotionally Focused Therapy view of the argument you keep having.

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Why asking for what you need feels dangerous

Where the risk was learned — and how it gets unlearned.

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Repair after conflict

Rupture is inevitable. Repair is trainable, and it predicts whether couples last.

04  Practices to try

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Orienting: sixty seconds for a nervous system on alert

Slow, deliberate looking around the room — and why it works.

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Where do you feel it? A short body-scan script

Written, with a recorded version planned.

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Naming feelings when you can’t find the word

A printable feelings-and-needs sheet.

05  Books & listening

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On trauma and the body

Three or four titles, a sentence each on who each one is for.

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On relationships and attachment

Same treatment — short, opinionated, not a syllabus.

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Podcasts & talks

A handful of episodes worth an hour of your commute.

06  If you need support now

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Immediate crisis

  • 988 — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text, 24/7
  • Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741
  • 911 for a medical or safety emergency

Los Angeles County

  • LA County Dept. of Mental Health Help Line — (800) 854-7771, 24/7
  • 211 LA — housing, food, and social services

Specific support

  • National Domestic Violence Hotline — (800) 799-7233
  • The Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ youth) — (866) 488-7386
  • SAMHSA National Helpline — (800) 662-4357

Lower-fee therapy

  • Open Path Collective — reduced-fee private practice sessions
  • Community mental health and university training clinics across LA
  • Ask me on a consultation call — I keep a referral list

Next step

Reading is a fine place to start.
It isn’t the whole thing.

If something here landed, a free consultation call is the next step. Fifteen minutes, no cost, no commitment.

Book a free consultation