Michele Guidry, LCSW

Not all people are meant to last in our lives a lifetime. Some people are only meant to be with us during the season prior to our growth and healing, and that's okay. As we bloom some leaves must fall.

🩵 Leila

being selfless can turn into disappearing if you’re not careful. somewhere along the way, you learned that your role is to hold space, not to take it.

but your feelings are not interruptions. your pain is not “too much.” you deserve room, too—without apology, without explanation.

Tomorrow, Sunday, April 26th, I will be doing pro bono services at the mall IF you know anyone affected by this tragedy.

Join us for a candlelight prayer vigil as we come together. 🕯️

A patient once looked me in the eye and asked, "Would you do this if it were your mom?"

She didn't want data. She didn't want statistics. She wanted me to be a human being for thirty seconds.

That question changed how I practice medicine.

After decades as a physician, I can tell you this. I learned more from my patients than I ever learned from a textbook. The textbook taught me how to read labs. My patients taught me that normal labs never mean "I feel fine." The textbook taught me how to deliver a diagnosis. My patients taught me that people often know the diagnosis before I do. They just need permission to name it.

A man who broke a 30-year smoking habit at 58 taught me that the body is far more forgiving than most people believe. A woman who walked with her husband every night after dinner for forty years taught me that a quiet habit repeated for decades protects better than most pills. A child in a wheelchair who asked me to race him down the hallway taught me that resilience sounds like play.

Patients near death rarely talk about their disease. They talk about unfinished love. They don't ask for more stuff. They ask for more time. They don't fear death as much as they fear being forgotten.

And the strongest medicine I've seen doesn't come in a bottle. It comes in casserole dishes from neighbors. It comes in a dog walking into a hospital room on four legs. It comes in a doctor who sits down instead of standing at the door.

I wrote 50 lessons my patients taught me. Some are funny. Some will break your heart. All of them changed how I see health, healing, and what it means to live well.

Read them below 👇️

Share this with someone who works in healthcare and needs to remember why she started.

Sometimes growth looks like saying no. Sometimes it looks like finally resting without guilt. Sometimes it looks like just realizing you deserved better all along. All of it counts.

I could’ve handled it better.

I should have chosen kinder words. I should have made better decisions. I should have been more careful.

But it was also a time when I was hurt—when I, too, needed kinder words. Times when I wished I didn’t have to be the one to make the decision, because my mind was a mess. It was also a time when I just wanted to break down all my defenses and lie there with all my vulnerabilities.

Now, the guilt and regret creep in—all in one breath.
If only I hadn’t been so overwhelmed and pressured to act right away,

if only I had been given the time to pause, to piece myself back together and regain my composure—
maybe I wouldn’t have lost what I’ve lost now.
Maybe I wouldn’t have hurt people while I was in pain too.

And I could have handled it better
if only my heart hadn’t been louder than my mind.

I could have handled it better,
but I was hurting too.

- Mica Meñez | if only

people often notice the outcome, not the process. they see what’s visible now, but not the nights, the doubt, and the quiet effort it took to become this version of you. that unseen work is part of your strength, even if no one talks about it.

https://www.zocdoc.com/booking-link/professional/michele-guidry-668160

I am being credentialed with Alma as a provider or online and in person sessions.

not everything needs to be explained or justified, especially when something feels real to you; your reactions, your boundaries, and your feelings do NOT need anyone else’s permission to matter.

Managing chronic pain while in recovery requires careful choices. Our new blog breaks down how medical THC may fit into a recovery plan, risks to watch for, questions to ask your provider, and strategies for safer use.

Read the full article: https://wix.to/c1blNgX

Using Medical THC for Chronic Pain While in Recovery from Addiction: What You Need to Know Managing chronic pain is challenging on its own. Doing so while maintaining recovery from substance use adds an extra layer of complexity that deserves careful, informed decision-making. As more states expand access to medical THC, many individuals in recovery are asking an important question: Is it...