This time of year will always be special to me. Attending the University of Central Florida for over 8 years and 3-degree programs, I had many starts to the Fall semester. While most universities follow the same schedule of having a Fall, Spring, and Summer semester system, anyone who goes to higher education institutions will […]

My blog this month is about one of my favorite topics, and it is one of those topics where my clients tend to slump in their seats when I mention it, roll their eyes, stop making eye contact and even sigh in resignation. What is it you ask…drum roll please, Emotional regulation! I love talking […]

“What do I have?” I have heard that quite a few times in counseling sessions from clients who are interested and/or worried about their mental health diagnosis. While in a medical doctor’s office this question is often asked with little preconceived knowledge of what condition may be suspected, in a counseling office most people have […]

One of the things I never thought about until I started my own mental health journey several years ago was healthy boundaries. Growing up in a chaotic household as I did, it is not going to be the place where we learn about healthy boundaries. If our parents were never taught about them, how on […]

Bibliotherapy, the use of books in the treatment and management of psychological disorders, is one of the oldest and most well-known tools in a therapist’s toolbox. Most people who have not ever been to therapy or even known someone who has are familiar with this concept. Most clients are open to this as a method […]

When I started my own mental health journey twenty years ago, I had my therapist ask what I was doing for self-care. I responded with showering, brushing teeth and hair, eating right. I remember her smiling and she said while it was good, I was taking care of my physical body, what was I doing […]

It has always interested me how different sources seem to have conflicting opinions on anxiety attacks and panic attacks. Some medical and psychological publications and sources treat them as synonyms, meaning the same thing and only being a matter of preferred name. Other sources that are legitimate treat them as separate experiences, with panic attacks […]

If you have ever seen a therapist, watched a therapist on TV you have probably heard the term cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT for short. CBT is based on the cognitive model of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps people learn how to identify and change destructive or disturbing thought patterns that have a negative influence on […]

There are few things in life that are harder to deal with than chronic pain. Pain, chronic or not, is one of the most intense motivators of anxiety, frustration, anger, and depression. Chronic pain has been one of the most studied challenges that human’s face and yet, finding good ways to manage it has been […]

During my undergraduate program, in one of my textbooks I read a paragraph that has stuck with me. It talked about self-esteem and how our self-esteem is rooted in our childhood, that if we had a childhood filled with chaos, neglect or abuse that our self-esteem would be low, on the other hand if we […]