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Riley Strauss, LMHC, LCPC, LPC

@calmingpathways

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Compassionate Psychotherapy.
Accepting New Clients in FL, ME, & WI 🩵
Therapy is a gift we share. Let’s begin!

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4 months ago

WELCOME TO CALMING PATHWAYS!

I am a Licensed Psychotherapist - and my private practice is officially open!

This space has lived in my heart for years - shaped by a lifelong curiosity about our inner worlds and the belief that we are not meant to do life alone. Healing happens through connection.

Calming Pathways is dedicated to depth, clarity, and meaningful change. My work is relational and psychodynamic at its core, integrating IFS, CBT, and DBT to cultivate both insight and practical skills for daily life.

I am now accepting new psychotherapy clients throughout Florida, Wisconsin, and Maine, with consultation services available nationwide.

With gratitude to my family, friends, colleagues, mentors, and my own therapist - your support made this moment possible. To each of my clients I have had the honor to learn from and grow alongside - thank you.

#MiamiTherapist #CalmingPathways by @calmingpathways

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7 months ago

If this resonates, I am here - accepting new clients in Florida and Wisconsin.

#CalmingPathways by @calmingpathways

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6 months ago

Take note of who your system softens around. Where no part has to earn its place.

#DearYou #CalmingPathways by @calmingpathways

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8 months ago

What if the goal was never to fix you?

Maybe your “symptoms” are simply stories - parts shaped by what you’ve carried, lost, endured.

What if the anxious part, the shut-down part, the perfectionist part, aren’t problems - but protectors that formed in response to life?

Curiosity softens what shame tries to harden, and compassion makes space for understanding and change.

We’re all made up of parts doing their best - in the only ways they know how - to keep us safe, loved, and okay.

We don’t have to pathologize. We can listen for what each part is trying to do for us and what it needs. Healing can be meeting our parts with care.

#RichardSchwartz #InternalFamilySystems #IFS

#FloridaTherapist #CalmingPathways by @calmingpathways

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8 months ago

Pathways to Peak Performance - Winter.

If curious, please inquire!

#TennisWorkshop #CalmingPathways by @calmingpathways

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9 months ago

More Pathways Workshops 🎾

Group offerings for adolescent tennis players to reflect, learn, and connect.

Offered nationwide! Feel free to reach out if interested.

*This is a coaching & mentorship service. It is not psychotherapy or a substitute for treatment.

#TennisWorkshops #CalmingPathways by @calmingpathways

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9 months ago

Hi! I’m Riley 🩵

Therapy is a gift we share.

I look forward to welcoming you. by @calmingpathways

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9 months ago

Calming Pathways. by @calmingpathways

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10 months ago

A long-held dream begins soon.

Thank you for being here. by @calmingpathways

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10 months ago

SO excited to share something new!

While chatting with my high school tennis coach, we spoke about one key area many players still struggle with - the mental side of the game. Competing under pressure requires more than physical skill. It calls for tools that strengthen composure, focus, and execution.

I am launching a 4-week Pathways to Peak Performance workshop designed to help athletes prepare mentally - using science-based strategies to build presence, confidence, and resilience, on and off the court.

This is such a passion project of mine! As a former state tennis champion and lifelong advocate for mental wellness, it is a meaningful full-circle moment to bring this kind of work to the next generation of athletes.

While this first round will be exclusively offered to his players, I would love to collaborate with other individuals, teams, schools, or organizations interested in bringing this curriculum or similar speaking engagements to their athletes. I am also available for one-on-one mentoring sessions for those seeking a more in-depth experience.

If you would like to learn more or explore future offerings, please reach out directly to Riley@calmingpathways.com.

Important to note: I will be stepping out of my psychotherapist role and into my coaching & consultant role. This is a non-therapy group designed for educational and coaching purposes, and is not psychotherapy or treatment.

Typo alert: This series is taking place on Sunday evenings from 11/30-12/21. My apologies the initial mistake!

#TennisWorkshop #CalmingPathways by @calmingpathways

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a year ago

Defense Mechanism: Projection.

Projection is when the mind protects itself from emotions that feel too uncomfortable to hold - anger, envy, shame - by imagingin they belong to someone else instead.

As children, this helps preserve connection. A child who feels angry at a parent may not feel safe showing it, so the mind reverses it: “Mom is mad at me.” The feeling is pushed outward to protect the bond.

As adults, projection can look like assuming others are judging us, when it is our own inner critic. Or believing someone is angry, when the anger lives within us.

And yes - I am sure you notice that car revving in the background of me filming. My perfectionist part thought, “Everyone will judge this.” That is projection in real time - not everyone else judging - but me judging myself. Letting that be okay felt like a small practice in being good enough.

In therapy, projection often comes alive between therapist and client. Rather than correcting it, we explore it - because what we imagine others feel toward us can reveals what we have learned to exile in ourselves.

Projections protects us from shame and fear, but awareness heals. When we notice it, we begin to reclaim those feelings with compassion. And slowly, we notice what once lived outside of us can be brought back home.

#Projection #DefenseMechanisms #Psychodynamic

#FloridaTherapist #CalmingPathways by @calmingpathways

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a year ago