SoulPaws Magazine

Motherhood and Mental Health in a COVID-19 World

Last week I woke up, scrolled social media in bed and came across a video of a man in Barcelona playing “My Heart Will Go On” from his balcony, while a neighbor played along with a saxophone nearby. Dozens of onlookers watched and cheered from their isolated balconies. I played the video over and over again, […]

Say It Brave

Emotional Beauties ~ Say It Brave

Dear Friends, Our dog, Simba, died last Friday. After almost thirteen years here in the world, we eased our golden boy out of his tired body. We kissed his nose and head for the last time, watching his final breath leave his chest, crying so hard we couldn’t breathe. As I type this, I’m staring […]

Eating Disorders

How I Learned to Move Through Life’s Pain to Make Room for Joy

When I first started working at the San Diego Humane Society, I was twenty-four and fresh out of eating disorder treatment. By some miracle of the universe, my job was essentially to love on the most adorable shelter dogs—one of which was Stewie, a miniature poodle mix. Our Humane Investigations Officers rescued Stewie after his owner […]

Inspiration

My Last Session

Today, I had my last therapy session with the therapist I’ve been seeing for ten years. She is the one who helped to get me into treatment, who taught me how to break my rigid patterns of self-hatred through awareness and compassion. When I couldn’t afford her services, she accepted community service hours as payment. […]