Seasons of Growth: A Fresh Way to Understand and Heal Your Mental Health
Written by Dr. Yvonne Larrier, LMHC, LPC, BCC, NCC, NCSC
Professor of Counseling & Human Services
Founder & Director of GCSCORED, Inc.
May 30, 2025
Introduction
As we come to the close of Mental Health Awareness Month, 2025, we’re reminded that true mental wellness can’t be confined to a single month or moment. It’s not a campaign—it’s a commitment. And at GCSCORED, Inc., that commitment is year-round.
This month, we’ve had powerful conversations, community gatherings, and quiet moments of introspection. But now, the question is: How do we carry this awareness forward?
GCSCORED’s answer: The Seasons of Growth: A Guided Mental Health Journey.
This journey, rooted in our CSS Framework® and RUMERTIME Process®, offers more than inspiration—it offers transformation. It teaches us that mental health is not about perfection, but process. Not about always blooming, but knowing which season you’re in—and what to do in that season.
❄️ Winter: The Uprooting Season
“Growth begins with letting go.”
In nature, winter appears lifeless. Trees are bare. The earth is still. But beneath the surface, vital processes are unfolding. Roots deepen. Soil replenishes. And while it might look like “nothing is happening,” winter is doing essential preparation work.
In mental health, the uprooting season mirrors those moments when we feel stuck, quiet, or even overwhelmed. It might show up as sadness, burnout, or numbness. But this isn’t the end of the story—this is where transformation starts.
Key Reflection: What thoughts, relationships, habits, or beliefs have overstayed their welcome in your life? What are you holding onto that’s holding you back?
The CSS Framework® teaches us to see our emotions not as disorders, but as indicators—signposts telling us where something in the soil of our life needs attention. Through the RUMERTIME Process®, we begin to Recognize and Understand our TIME® so we can respond with clarity and care rather than fear and judgment.
Winter Mindcare Practice:
• Journal about a belief or mindset that feels heavy. Ask, “Where did this come from? Is it still serving me?”
• Make space for rest. In winter, rest is not laziness—it is restoration.
Winter Soulcare Practice:
• Reflect on Psalm 1:3—“Like a tree planted by streams of water…” You are still rooted, even when it’s not your blooming season.
• Ask God to help you release what needs to be uprooted so your soul can breathe again.
🌱 Spring: The Cultivating Season
“Plant the life you want to grow.”
Spring is the season of hope. The cold begins to thaw, and the soil softens. Seeds go into the ground. But planting takes effort. It’s not just about hope—it’s about intentionality.
In your mental health journey, this might be when you begin therapy, seek support, start setting boundaries, or commit to healthier habits. It’s exciting—but it’s also tender. You’re planting new thoughts and ways of being, often while the old ones are still fighting for space.
This is why we ask powerful questions in this season—not just “Is this thought irrational?” but:
“What cultural, relational, or environmental conditions gave rise to this thought?”
“Is it adaptive, given this person’s lived experience?”
This respectful, client-centered orientation supports healing without blame. (Larrier, 2025)
Spring Mindcare Practice:
• Identify one Relationship Cultivation Competency (RCC) you want to grow: empathy? self-awareness? resilience?
• Use the “Understand” step of the RUMERTIME Process® to explore where your current beliefs and behaviors came from.
Spring Soulcare Practice:
• Plant a literal seed or plant. Watch it grow over time as a reminder that change doesn’t happen all at once.
• Declare a Scripture or affirmation over yourself daily: “I am becoming.”
🌿 Summer: The Growing Season
“What you’ve planted starts to stretch toward the light.”
Summer is vibrant. Seeds have sprouted. Branches are reaching. Growth is happening—but here’s the truth: growth can be messy. Real change doesn’t always feel graceful. Sometimes it looks like crying in the car after setting a boundary. Sometimes it looks like revisiting your journal and noticing that you don’t think the same way you did a month ago.
This season is where emotional management and relational pruning take center stage. It’s where the “Manage” and “Express” steps of the RUMERTIME Process® help you regulate your TIME®—not by ignoring hard feelings, but by facing them with grace.
Summer Mindcare Practice:
• Notice which tools are helping you manage stress or emotional triggers. Breathing? Movement? Boundaries?
• Express your emotions constructively—whether through journaling, art, prayer, or sharing with a trusted friend.
Summer Soulcare Practice:
• Read Galatians 5:22–23 and ask: What fruit is the Spirit cultivating in me this season?
• Lean into vulnerability. True growth requires exposure to light.
🍂 Fall: The Flourishing Season
“Celebrate your growth—and prepare for the next cycle.”
Fall is rich with color, abundance, and harvest. It’s the time to gather what’s grown, to look back and say, “Look what made it through.” But fall is also a time of preparation—of releasing what’s no longer needed, so the cycle can begin again.
This season reminds us that healing is not a linear path. It’s a rhythm. A cycle. And we honor it best through reflection.
The final step of the RUMERTIME Process®—Reflect—asks us to look back at our journey and integrate what we’ve learned. What patterns have changed? What still needs tending? What fruit are we carrying into our relationships and communities?
Fall Mindcare Practice:
• Write a gratitude list focused on internal growth, not external outcomes.
• Celebrate even the small wins. They matter.
Fall Soulcare Practice:
• Share your story. Someone else may be in their winter, and your harvest might be their hope.
• Rejoice in this truth: you are flourishing—not because everything is perfect, but because you are rooted, resilient, and being renewed.
🌎 A New Paradigm for Mental Health: GCSCORED’s Seasons of Growth
At GCSCORED, we believe healing should be holistic. That’s why we created the CSS Framework® and RUMERTIME Process®—to give individuals, families, schools, and communities tools that honor lived experience, cultural identity, and emotional intelligence.
Our Seasons of Growth model isn’t a one-time event. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a framework that meets people in every season of their journey—whether they’re uprooting trauma, cultivating self-awareness, growing healthy relationships, or flourishing into purpose.
And here’s the most important part: You don’t have to do it alone.
🌟 Join the Journey
If you’re ready to take a step—any step—toward understanding your mental health, your relationships, and your resilience, we’re here to walk with you.
Visit www.everypiecematters.com to learn more about how Seasons of Growth can support you or someone you love.
“You don’t have to be blooming to be growing.”
“You don’t have to be okay to begin healing.”
Let’s uproot shame, cultivate compassion, grow together, and flourish—one season at a time.