Children do their best to put on brave faces to cope with life’s stressful or daunting situations, assimilating to the best of their abilities. Starting a new school year or having a conflict come up with a friend can cause normal anxiety. In fact, if navigated well, these circumstances can help them to build the […]

Most of us are logically aware that we don’t know what the future holds. We make our plans and put one foot in front of the other, hoping things will turn out relatively close to what we envisioned for our lives. But what about those bumps in the road-those things we didn’t see coming as […]

As I said in the practical blog on this topic, I never learned about self-care in school. In fact, I didn’t really learn about self-care or what we as therapists call “positive coping skills” until I was a young adult. Sure, I had ways to cope and I even had some positive skills in my […]

In grade school, at least when I was growing up, we all took sex education class. I remember they separated the boys from the girls and talked to us about our bodies and how to protect them. They even showed us anonymous pictures of people with diseases so that we could know what the diseases […]

As a first-time mom coming back to the work force, the experience is both terrifying and exciting for me. Exciting to be going back to work and doing something I love and terrifying as I now have an entire other human to worry and think about while at work. It can be hard to go […]

Many of us love family get-togethers and the opportunities they present to be generous, find peace and have fun. While spending time with family members can bring joy and a sense of fulfilling togetherness, it also brings a unique set of challenges that we may not face in our independent, every day lives.

Most people are aware of the debilitating and sometimes exhausting nature of addiction. We often view addicts and alcoholics with pity, criticism or some combination of both. But what about the people around the addict? For every person struggling with alcoholism or drug addiction, there are family members and friends struggling with how to help. […]

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Honestly, I am a combination of the two, but if I had to pick just one I am more of an introvert than an extrovert. This means I recharge better alone. And it also means that I tend to inwardly process my thoughts, feelings and ideas before sharing […]

A few weeks ago I came home from work, sat down at my laptop to check my email and sat there stunned for a good ten minutes after my computer fired up. On the home page that pops up before I go to my email I saw that Anthony Bourdain had died by suicide. Even […]

When I ask the question of how a couple would like to improve their relationship, I almost always recieve an answer involving “we need to communicate better”. This theme of improving communication shows up frequently when working with couples, and often those I work with are wanting quick solutions to improving their communication skills with […]