Blog
Why Can’t We Get Along?
Helping Couples Build a Stronger Connection Why is it so hard for couples to build successful relationships? Imagine the following hypothetical counseling conversation between husband and wife. He says, "Every time I try to relax,...
A Better Way to Approach the New Year
January is about beginnings! It’s the start to a new year, and many of us have already established goals and resolutions to accomplish over the next 12 months. Most of us are eager to put 2020 behind us and hoping for the best in 2021. ...
Counseling Reflections on Attachment, Spirituality, and Trauma
December causes a lot of people like me to stop and think. Annual holidays bring a pause in our daily routines, while the year end draws us into meditation. Questions arise around how we can go into January prepared with new learnings. As I...
Stress and Relationships – Part 2
This year our world has experienced an unprecedented pandemic that drastically changed life for millions of people. Adjusting to a new normal has tested many relationships, most notably over the past eight months. The first article in this series...
Stress and Relationships
As of November 2020, it has been eight months since a global pandemic forced our nation to shut down, altering our lives in unforeseen ways. Jobs, education, sports, religious attendance, shopping, and social get-togethers have been halted or...
Trauma Resiliency in Children and Adolescents
Trauma Resiliency Model (or TRM) therapy is designed to teach wellness skills to children and adults experiencing traumatic stress reactions using a mind-body approach. Over the past several weeks, we reviewed two major elements of TRM. Post...
Five Factor Resiliency Enhancement: The Body
Two weeks ago, I introduced a new blog series on the topic of resiliency. More than ever, as a result of living during such stressful times, I believe we need mechanisms for getting unstuck. There are so many sticky situations holding us back...
Build Resilience: Awaken Hope
Has 2020 made you feel overwhelmed? Stuck? You’re not alone. Across the world, we have all experienced this disruptive global pandemic. It’s effects vary widely. For this reason, I have chosen to write a three-part blog series on TRM...
Healing the Child Within: Integrating to Become Whole
Goal: To live from your true identity. In parts one and two of this blog series, I gave an introduction to understanding unresolved childhood pain and an overview of the process of healing. In this third article, I will present the concept of...
Healing the Child Within: Processing the Pain
The reality of childhood pain is that it doesn’t go away until it’s healed. In my first article of the Healing the Child Within series, I mentioned several things that I will review here on the topic of processing pain. First of all, it is...
Healing the Child Within: Identifying Unresolved Pain
Over my 15+ years as a professional mental health counselor, I have repeatedly heard phrases like these from my clients. “What happened to me as a child doesn’t bother me anymore.” “I’m over it now; it was so long ago.” “Are you kidding? That was...
Pornography Addiction: An Insidious Affliction Part 3 Recovery from Porn Addiction
Warning: this blog series is going to talk about sensitive material that may not be suitable for youth or adolescents without parental supervision. Insidious: adjective; proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects. Affliction:...