While in graduate school, a professor once asked my class this simple question, “When should the therapy termination process begin?”. Termination is the word we generally use in the mental health field to describe the completion of therapy. The answer to my professor’s question was somewhat surprising: the therapy termination process should begin during the […]

Fear is something we all experience. It is a healthy and necessary response to situations that pose a threat to our health and safety. However, at some point many of us learned to fear things that didn’t actually put us in physical harm-we became fearful of situations that “might” be as opposed to situations that […]

Ever heard of fight or flight? If you have ever experienced trauma you know that when people are in highly stressful situations they tend to fight, flight or freeze. I don’t have time to go into all of the science behind why some people fight and others run away or freeze, but “fight or flight” […]

Last week I had the luxury of a few days off. I indulged in a glossy magazine as I often do on vacation and ended up reading a hilarious article on yoga. What I did not know until I reached the end of this fantastic piece is that it was written by a writer for […]

We can be our own worst critics at times. Am I right? Why is it that we can be there for a friend and offer kindness, advice, support, and compassion but when it comes to ourselves, we do the exact opposite? We beat ourselves up over little mistakes or engage in harsh negative self-talk by […]

I recently read a book entitled Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb. It’s the true story of a therapist’s experience attending therapy for the first time. It was a relatable and entertaining read that touched on many of the real experiences therapists and clients share during the therapeutic process.

Emotions can be tricky. They seem pretty straightforward and basic, but humans tend to make things more complicated than they need to be. Most of us grew up hearing various messages about emotions-from parents, friends, society-and we internalize those messages, whether we realize it or not.

Meet my friend Layla. Layla is not her real name, but she is a dear friend who gave me permission to share her story. Layla has a son who she always felt was “very energetic.” He did not attend preschool, but stayed home with her until he went to kindergarten. During his first year in […]

August is all things back to school—clothes, supplies, book bags, lunchboxes, you name it. I am writing this in July and school stuff is already on sale at most of the stores I frequent. Whether you have a kindergartner, a middle schooler or a freshman in high school, navigating the ins and outs of the […]

Self-care is one of those things that we know is important but, time after time again, we tend to not really set it as a priority. I get it though…we get busy. We have got to go to work, we have to go to school, we have to take care of our kids and family, […]