In recent years, a novel approach to therapy has been making waves in the world of mental health treatment: Ketamine-Assisted Therapy (KAT). This innovative therapeutic method involves the controlled administration …
Loneliness – Trying Something New – Part 2
Loneliness – Trying Something New – Part 2 In the last post, we looked at an overview of loneliness and began the discussion around asking ourselves “where am I in …
Feeling Lonely?
You are Not Alone – Part 1 A theme that keeps popping up for me lately is ‘loneliness’. Loneliness on an individual scale. And loneliness on a societal level. It …
Keeping Mentally Fit in the Summertime
Summer can be a challenging I know that summer can be a challenging time for many individuals who may be struggling with their mental health or who may be wanting …
Creating Space for Self-Care
When we’re really busy in our daily lives, it can feel almost impossible to prioritize self-care. Even hearing the word ‘self-care’ may bring up a variety of responses for different …
Why EFT tapping is a great form of therapy
The daily grind sometimes seems to just build up and build up over time. We often don’t realize how much we are carrying or how much pressure we are experiencing …
The Body Remembers
I am continually intrigued at the role our physical bodies hold in our emotional responses to difficult situations. The fact that two, almond-sized parts in our brains, called the amygdala, …
2 Common Responses to Crisis and Stress
One thing that has become really clear this year is how we respond to stress, uncertainty and overwhelm. Research suggests that most of us fall into one of two camps; …
6 Tips to Stay Motivated When Things Get Hard
I wish I was writing this from some higher level place, where I have transcended struggle and have everything “figured out.” But let’s get real here – does anyone truly …
Emotional Intelligence is the Key to Resiliency – Part 1
One thing that we can count on in life is that things are always in a state of change, fluctuating day to day and moment to moment. As someone who …
3 Things To Do To Strengthen Your Relationship
Relationships with our significant others is more important than ever. We are able to better get through the uncertainties of life TOGETHER than we are alone. We are wired for …
Knowing Your Needs
I recently came across a term called toxic positivity. It is defined as an overly excessive generalization of an optimistic or happy state, where one is expected to remain positive …
Rewriting Your Story
We are living in a time of massive uncertainty and vulnerability. No one has any definite answers and we don’t know what things will look like next week, let alone …
3 Calming Strategies to Help in Uncertain Times
COVID-19 has begun to take over our lives in ways we could have never imagined. Life two weeks ago is much different than right now and it’s hard to know …
Reframing Failure
“There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.” – Tony Robbins It was late spring during the second semester of my graduate program. I was just finishing …
How to Start Prioritizing Yourself
I wanted to take some time to talk about “self-care.” You’ve heard the term before and I think it is often overused and misunderstood. Some people believe it has to …
How to Become More Positive
Is it easier for you to focus on or notice the things that went wrong in your day? The things that made you feel bad? Do negative events from the …
Learned Helplessness; How to Break Free from the Limitations of Your Mind
The concept of learned helplessness began to emerge in psychology in the late 1960’s after being studied by Martin Seligman. His initial studies involved dogs and electric shock – so …
Finding the Root of Your Problem; Identifying the Why vs. the What
I was watching a fascinating documentary the other day about the concept of functional medicine. If you’ve never heard of this term before I’ll quickly break down the differences between …
The 5 Love Languages and Why You Need to Know Them
With Valentine’s Day approaching I thought I’d take some time to talk about love and how to feel more of it in your relationship. The 5 Love Languages is a …
Stories We Tell Ourselves
A few years ago we had a family member who was dealing with some serious medical issues. One day in particular we found ourselves waiting to see if they might …
Overcoming Depression
When someone comes to see me for depression I spend time listening to their story to distinguish whether the depression is situational or not. Almost always there is something that …
Toxic Masculinity and How it Shows Up in the Therapy Office
The term “toxic masculinity” keeps finding its way into social media threads and now even advertisements. This term is widely misconstrued to mean masculinity is bad or toxic, which really …
Why You Should Get Couples Therapy Now
As a couples clinician one of the most common mistakes I see are couples that have waited far too long to work on their relationship. Often one person already has …
Neuroplasticity: Our Brain’s Innate Ability to Heal
Research in the last ten years has disproven the theory that the brain is unchangeable after we become adults. What they have in fact discovered is that the brain is …
How to Transform for Good This Year
“This is going to be the year I finally _________” (fill in the blank). How many of us have said these exact words at the start of a new year? …
Why Therapy Didn’t Work For Me
It was 2008 and I was going to school to get my degree in Clinical Counseling. The program I was in highly encouraged us to seek out our own therapy …
3 Ways to Deal With High-Functioning Anxiety
I didn’t realize I had anxiety for a long time until I got to graduate school. When I was working toward getting my degree in clinical counseling, it dawned on …
5 Things to Know Before Starting Counseling
Maybe you’ve been to counseling before but haven’t been in while. Or maybe you are considering setting up your first appointment ever. Before you make your appointment official, here are …
7 Factors that Build Trust, Part 7
Trust Factor #7: Generous Assumption This is one of my favorite trust factors and one I try to use regularly in all areas of my life. A generous assumption means …
7 Factors that Build Trust, Part 6
Trust Factor #6: Non-Judgment Non-judgment is so important in creating meaningful and deep relationships. It is creating the sense that you can ask for your needs, someone else can ask …
7 Factors that Build Trust, Part 5
Trust Factor #5: Integrity This factor seems like common sense to me and fits in with a lot of the other trust factors. Integrity requires that we do what is …
7 Factors That Build Trust, Part 4
Trust Factor #4: Vault. Vault means you don’t share information that is not yours to share. To build, create and maintain trust we need to know that what we share …
7 Factors that Build Trust, Part 3
Trust Factor #3 The third factor that is a part of creating and maintaining trust is accountability. Accountability seems like common sense but it is not always common practice. This …
7 Factors that Build Trust, Part 2
Factor #2; Reliability. Reliability seems like an obvious factor in creating and maintaining trust with others. It requires us to do what we say we are going to do. This …
7 Factors that Build Trust
This post is inspired by the work of Brené Brown who has dedicated a portion of her research to finding out what creates and maintains deep levels of trust. Factor …
Why Can’t I Let Go of My Past?
Letting go. It sounds so simple yet is profoundly hard for most of us. Try as we might we end up in the same cycle with the same feelings and …
Intentional Living
This is one of the most impactful changes you can start to make in your life right now. Living intentionally. This means having a direction for your life, even if …
How EMDR Helped My Anxiety
I’ve been seeing a therapist for a while to help decrease my anxiety. We generally just talk, but, today, we tried something new. Well, it was new for me, anyway. …