The Cloud 9 Newsletter

by Chris Cantergiani on January 19th, 2026 Last week a couple sat on my couch doing the emotional equivalent of defusing a bomb by guessing which wire to cut. I'd been working with them for about a month, and we were at that Stage 1 moment where I was asking the husband to share what he was feeling underneath his frustration. He paused, looked at his wife, then back at me, and said with the confidence of a student who definitely didn't study for the exam: "I feel... seen?" Hi

by Chris Cantergiani on January 5th, 2026 She was about thirty minutes into our session when she stopped mid-sentence, looked at me, and said, "I want to bolt out of this room right now." I nodded. "Tell me about that." She continued, "I can feel it. My whole body is telling me to just... run. To race out that door and put as much distance as possible between me and my whole life right now." She paused, her eyes widening slightly. "Is it weird that I'm noticing this?" Actuall

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