Reflections by Dr. Barbie Hessel
Founder Series:
Please be advised that some of the content below includes sensative material.
I Understand…So Why Haven’t I Changed?
One of the things I've found myself thinking about more over the years is how much my understanding of therapy has changed. When I first became a therapist, I was deeply drawn to insight. That probably isn't surprising. I've always loved ideas and theories, and I...
Meet Dr. Barbie Hessel: Nashville’s Leading Trauma Therapist and the Heart Behind Simply Being Therapy
There is a particular quality to the air inside the Simply Being Therapy office in Berry Hill, Nashville. It is the kind of space that seems designed not just for comfort, but for permission — permission to slow down, to exhale, to arrive exactly as you are....
On Turning 50
I've been thinking a lot lately about getting older. I turned fifty this year, and somehow I'm already almost fifty-one. That seems impossible because in my head I was just having my 40s birthday celebration not that long ago. People ask me what fifty feels...
Why I Can’t Stop Thinking About “From”
The season finale of From is over. Some pieces fell into place. Many didn’t. There are still so many questions, so we are left where the writers clearly intended us to be—waiting in the Lake of Uncertainty. All us From fans are anxiously waiting for the next season....
Why Are We So Fascinated by Obsession?
If you know me as a friend or as a client, you know I love engaging with a good story. Specifically, I’m drawn to darker films or books that ultimately are about an aspect of the human experience we often don’t care to look at. So, I watched the indie films...
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy vs. the Medical Model: Understanding the Difference
As ketamine treatment has become more widely available, I’ve noticed that many people assume all ketamine treatments are essentially the same. In reality, there can be significant differences in how ketamine is approached and what providers believe is responsible for...
Holding Complexity in an Overstimulated World
As the child of immigrants, I have always understood identity as layered. Culture, language, history, and generational story shaped my early understanding of who I was long before I encountered the simplified categories often used in broader American conversations....
Unbinding From the Past: The Journey Toward Wholeness
There comes a point in healing when survival no longer feels like enough. We begin to sense the weight of our history—the stories, patterns, and wounds that once kept us safe—now holding us back from truly living. To unbound from our past is not to erase it; it is to...
Anxious for the Holidays? Here’s How to Help
Why your mental health is worse during the holiday season and what to do about it. BY SARAH AND MICHAEL ZELLER To read the actual article as it appeared in Nashville Lifestyles Click Here. Gone are the days of daydreaming about what might be awaiting us under the...
Four Ways to Build Resilience & Begin to Heal Anxiety.
“Human beings are extremely difficult to kill,” said the nurse practitioner I was seeing at the time. She was trying to convey to me how resilient we are as a species and provide some reassurance. I struggled then with illness anxiety. And, if I am totally honest, I...
Hack your Anxiety in 5 Easy Steps with Mindfulness.
Staying in my head had been my best survival tool until it wasn’t. I thought that if I could stay with my thoughts, I could fix things or, at least, understand the why behind each problem. And it worked for a while. Wow, did it work! I thought it helped ward off...
“I was Raped”: 4 Ways to Respond when a Sexual Abuse Survivor Confides in You.
When I first started working with survivors of sexual abuse, I struggled with the vivid images my mind created when listening to their stories. I remember having difficulty staying present, not to mention being triggered, with client after client and story after...