The Cloud 9 Newsletter

by Garrett Price on December 7th, 2025 I remember it like it was yesterday: I was at the Oxmoor Center mall in Louisville, KY with my family waiting in line to meet Santa Claus. I was clutching my wish list nervously, hoping I could read my own poor seven-year old handwriting. After what felt like years of waiting, I finally got to see the jolly man in red. He called me up to sit on his lap, and in a husky voice asked me “what do you want for Christmas this year?” I w

It takes 20 minutes for someone to self-regulate. But when you're co-regulating with a trusted partner? Milliseconds. That striking contrast came up during our recent Ohio EFT community call, and it set the stage for one of the most organic and illuminating discussions we've had in months. We'd planned to dig into attachment theory—the foundations, the misconceptions, maybe even Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation . Instead, the conversation took on a life of its own. Kaira Gr

by Chris Cantergiani on November 10th, 2025 Before couples even walk through my door for their first session, I'm already learning about them. As part of intake, I ask new clients to complete an ACEs questionnaire online—the Adverse Childhood Experiences screening that asks about ten categories of childhood trauma, from physical abuse to household dysfunction. Last week, I reviewed a new couple's forms before meeting them. His score: 0.Hers: 7. This kind of mismatch tells m

Over the weekend I heard a phrase that captures something I see regularly in the therapy room: “drip, drip, drip.”  It made me think of couples who can’t point to one big, catastrophic event that broke their relationship. Instead, they describe a slow erosion. A gradual pulling away. A relationship that died not with a bang, but with a whisper repeated over time. Drip, drip, drip. Last month, a couple sat across from me, both looking exhausted. When I asked “what brings you i

By Chris Cantergiani This past Friday marked World Mental Health Day, and a friend posted something on Facebook that stopped me mid-scroll. He shared an AI-generated image of himself with his younger self, explaining that he'd heard a therapist suggest this exercise for anyone struggling with childhood trauma. The idea was simple but profound: use AI to create a picture of your present self doing something fun with your younger self. Even without childhood trauma, he noted, i

by Chris Cantergiani I've been listening to a lot of David Bowie this month. Part of his 1982 song "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" keeps running through my head in particular. “It’s just the fear of losing you”, Bowie croons, in a baritone rumble. “And I’ve been putting out fire…” Dramatic pause…. Then that visceral moment where his voice leaps an entire octave on the words "with gasoline."It's brilliant and unsettling—you feel something shift when he punches those words. It