Therapy for the Apocalypse

creating connection during collapse

You don’t have to abandon yourself to survive.

When the world is collapsing, you learn to cope by performing. You stay small, comply, people-please, abandon parts of yourself to survive systems and relationships that might crush you otherwise.

It works. Until it doesn’t. Until the exhaustion catches up and you realize you've spent so long performing that you don't know who you actually are anymore.

You can be awake to what's breaking — inside you and around you — without collapsing into shame, numbness, or performing “okay-ness.”

You can grieve without pretending you're fine. You can take up space without apologizing for it. You can live in alignment with your actual values, even when the world makes that hard. Healing doesn't mean fixing yourself or "getting over it." It means learning to be with what's true — messily, relationally, and without abandoning the parts of you that need room to exist.

What if you could stop performing, and start being? — Even in the middle of collapse?

I'm Dr. Caryn Zaner, and I work with people navigating identity, grief, systemic harm, and the overwhelm of trying to make meaning in a world that won't hold still. I offer therapy that's relational, politically aware, and built for depth — not just symptom management.

How we work together

Traditional weekly therapy is powerful for ongoing support and long-term growth. But when you're navigating collapse — personal or political — it can feel like you're trying to process the unraveling of your world in 50-minute increments. You spend the first half catching your therapist up on your week. You leave sessions with things unsaid. You circle the same insights without breaking through.

The ways I work offer more: more time, more contact, more space to go deep without rushing.

In a chaotic world, regular therapy prioritizes pacing for convenience, not depth. Sometimes you need focused time to move through something big. Other times, you’re craving real contact — someone in it with you — as you navigate loss, change, or disconnection. Group Therapy and Therapy Intensives make space for what traditional sessions often can’t: emotional movement, clear-eyed reflection, and the experience of being deeply met.

  • Group Therapy with Dr. Caryn Zaner

    Group Therapy

    Healing happens in relationship.

    Weekly Group Therapy isn’t just “cheaper than 1:1 therapy.” It is a fundamentally different kind of healing. In group, you practice being yourself in relationship with others — which means you get to see your patterns in real time, not just talk about them after the fact. You receive reflection from multiple people, not just one therapist. You learn how you show up in conflict, what you do when you're vulnerable, how you protect yourself when things get hard. You’ll notice your patterns in real time and build capacity for conflict, repair, mutual care, and vulnerability. It’s therapy, in motion — and it often gets to things individual work can’t.

    Find a group →
  • Therapeutic Intensives with Dr. Caryn Zaner

    Therapy Intensives

    Focused time for meaningful change.

    When you're in the middle of a major transition, or when you keep hitting the same relational wall, or when you're carrying grief that needs space — 50 minutes a week can feel like trying to dig a well with a spoon.

    Therapy Intensives (3-18 hours over 1-3 days) let you go beneath the surface without the slow build of weekly sessions. You don't spend half the session catching me up on your week. You don't lose momentum between appointments. We create the emotional conditions for breakthroughs, not just insights.These extended, tailored sessions help you slow down and move through what feels too complex or overwhelming for weekly therapy.

    This is for pivotal moments: grief that won't wait, transitions that need processing now, relational patterns you're finally ready to see underneath, decisions that require clarity you can't get to in weekly therapy.

    Each intensive includes a workbook to help you prepare and integrate, so the work doesn't end when the session does.

    Learn About Intensives →

  • Values Intensives

    Get clear on what actually matters

    Using the values card sort, we spend focused time identifying what you truly care about—not what you've been taught to care about, not what keeps you safe or acceptable, but what feels aligned and true.

    Then we look at what's been getting in the way. Where are you abandoning your values to survive? Where are you performing someone else's version of a good life? Where is the gap between what matters to you and how you're actually living?

    This isn't about willpower or discipline. It's about clarity. When you know what matters, decisions get easier. Boundaries get clearer. You stop living on autopilot.

    Learn More About Values Work

  • Workshops

    Be Messy, Have Fun

    I offer rotating workshops designed to help you practice the things that feel hardest—being seen while uncertain, taking up space, letting go of the need to get it right.

    Current offerings include Improv for Anxiety, where we use play and improvisation to practice failing in front of others and surviving it. This isn't about performing better or learning to "manage" your anxiety through techniques. It's about learning that you can be messy, awkward, and imperfect—and that being witnessed while vulnerable doesn't destroy you.

    See Current Workshops

What Brings People Here

Sometimes it’s something clear: a transition, a loss, a moment of rupture.
Other times, it’s harder to name—just a sense that you’re stuck, overwhelmed, or out of step with your life or relationships.

Here are some of the things we can explore together:

  • Anxiety, burnout, and existential overwhelm

  • Navigating identity, neurodivergence, and self-trust

  • Conflict, emotional expression, and boundary repair

  • Relational patterns, attachment, and rupture/repair cycles

  • Life transitions, decisions, and stuckness

  • Meaning-making, values, and direction

Where We Begin

If you’re curious about working together, the first step is filling out a brief CONSULTATION REQUEST FORM. I’ll follow up to schedule a free 20–30 minute consultation over Zoom so we can talk through your questions and get a feel for whether we’re a good fit.

I know reaching out can bring up a lot—uncertainty, self-doubt, even a little dread. You don’t need to have the “right” words, or even know exactly what you’re looking for. You just have to start. I’ll meet you there.

Depth Work, Without the Therapy Frame

Some people want reflective support without the structure or limitations of therapy. Others are looking for different kinds of spaces for growth and connection.

Through Felt Not Fixed, I offer values-based coaching, community support groups, and virtual workshops designed for growth beyond the clinical therapy framework—rooted in care, authenticity, and community.