• Jack the Gay Dull Boy: Overcoming Overwork
    Is that you, Jack, your eyes bagged, that outfit you picked out so carefully … was it yesterday? … a wrinkled mess, your nose firmly pressed to the grindstone? Everyone who’s heard the story of the ants and the grasshopper knows that work is a good thing. If that’s so, more work must ...
  • Premarital Counseling Can Provide the Tools for Marital Success
    Creating your perfect wedding together – the cake, the flowers, the dresses, who’s going to sit next to whom – is exciting, exhausting, and fun. It also takes a great deal of time.  Preparing for your future happiness deserves some time too. Realistically speaking, no marriage (not even yours) will ever be perfect, ...
  • 7 Ways Anxiety Can Cause Weight Gain
    Today’s society places a good deal of pressure on the social status of the way we look: Luxurious hair (and not one had better be gray!), long lashes, the trendiest fashions, and probably the most important of all…how much we weigh. Ugh! The love/hate relationship we have with our bathroom scale has been ...
  • 7 Ways to Protect Your Child From Bullies
    Despite awareness campaigns and celebrity admonishments to “do something,” there is a kid out there somewhere who will choose to intimidate or humiliate another child today. Again and again, that bully will use anything he or she can to control another child: a cell phone, a laptop, or an old-fashioned face-to-face confrontation will be ...
  • Life Without Colour: Recognizing Depression Symptoms
    Depression isn’t really about feeling blue. It’s worse than that. Depression is gray. All the colour and interest is sucked out of life. Everyday is low contrast and low energy. It’s as though the details of your life are no longer vivid and meaningful, but cloaked in a hazy, restless fog. Is this the state ...
  • 5 Tips to Prepare Your Relationship for Baby’s Arrival
    Ready or not, babies insist on arriving. You’ve probably already done a lot to be ready for the newcomer. You’ve read a stack of books tracking the fetus’ life day by day. You’ve run through the exertions of labor with a room full of panting strangers in Lamaze classes. You’ve hung just the ...
  • Couples — Take These 5 Steps to Better Communication
    Hey, you know how to talk, right? You’ve been doing it since you were two years old. You talk all day long, so what’s wrong with your partner that you have to take on a miserable-sounding chore like “communication” to keep things happy? Well, of course you don’t have to change a thing, ...
  • 7 Ways Stress Can Damage You Physically
    Stress takes its toll in countless ways. It is commonly found to be at the root of many emotional, cognitive, and behavioral problems. Stress can also cause physical damage. When a person is stressed, a physical reaction is triggered. The body’s natural response to stress is a release of chemicals designed to protect. This ...
  • Overcoming Sexual Abuse: Take These Steps
    Memories of sexual abuse can feel like a screen that separates you from all those around you. They are leading normal, safe, intact lives and you are forever damaged by what was done to you. You live in a lonely land populated just by yourself. Isolated as you may feel, you are far from ...
  • Have You Suffered a Loss? 5 Ways to Get Past the Pain
    If you’ve lived even the smallest portion of your life, you have suffered a loss. You may not yet have suffered a devastating loss, but even losses that may seem trivial to others can throw us off our equilibrium – How could your best friend just dump you like that? It wasn’t the ...
  • Childhood Sexual Abuse: Don’t Let the Past Destroy Your Future
    Maybe you’ve always known or maybe you only recently were shattered by the realization that you were sexually abused as a child. The degree of your trauma depends on factors like your age at the time, the degree of the violation, and the number of times it occurred. Most damaging though, is how ...
  • Grief Counseling – A Healthy Way to Move Through the Pain
    If you have lost a loved one, let me begin by saying that I’m sorry for that present pain. We’re told that grief makes us stronger, and that is so, but nothing makes it an easy journey. Even if you are one of the rare individuals who haven’t yet lost a loved one, ...
  • Stress Management Tool: Mindful Meditation
    Being stressed out is no picnic. You’re jumpy and distracted. Your mind runs over and over the same worrisome situation without ever reaching a useful plan to move forward. Your head aches and so do your muscles. Your heart pounds and your stomach churns. Your intestines – well, never mind. If it gets ...
  • Anger Management: When Counting to Ten Won’t Work
    Counting to ten is a nice idea– when anger wants to play nice. Unfortunately, when your anger is triggered, the only counting you’re inclined to do is a countdown…10,9,8,7… Right before you explode. Anger is fine when you need to fight back, protect, and defend. Your anger needs to be managed, however, if your fights are constant, ...
  • The Many Ways Children React to Divorce
    If you think you have a lot of feelings to deal with during your divorce, imagine what your child is struggling with – fear, resentment, grief, anger, frustration – and all of it filtered through a mind not yet ready to handle such adult issues. Parents can make the process less traumatic in a ...
  • 7 Signs of Anxiety in Children
    Kids worry. It’s great big world, and every once in a while, unexpected events, unknown people, and unfamiliar things may be reason for alarm. Usually, their self-confidence is temporarily shaken and their distress is fleeting. Lately though, do you sense that your child is in the grip of something more? When your child’s momentary distresses ...
  • "We Don’t Talk Anymore" — Communication Tips for Couples
    Helpful ways to restore loving connection How “good” was the last good conversation you had with your partner? Did you talk about how much you care about each other? Check in on each other’s long held dreams? Encourage one another, laugh together, or praise each other? Did you really talk? Don’t you want to? When couples complain ...
  • How to Help Your Child Battle Anxiety
    Every one of us suffers from anxiety at some point; it’s a natural reaction to frightening or stressful situations. Anxiety becomes a problem, for adults and children, when it is irrational, excessive, and persistent. The unhappy fact is that at least one in eight children suffer from problem anxiety and girls are more ...
  • 6 Ways to Handle Power Struggles With Your Teen
    If there is a child who glides smoothly from childhood through the teenage years and into adulthood, you don’t know her. That child, rare as a Higgs boson particle, doesn’t live on your street and certainly not in your house. You, and most of us, are most familiar with the garden-variety teen – ...
  • Am I a Good Parent? 5 Signs That Say, "Yes!"
    Every parent asks this question at least once, more likely every day. Your child’s answer may vary widely depending on when you last let her have an ice cream cone. Your best friend will likely give you a positive answer but the stranger in line behind you at the grocery when your child ...
  • How to Tell if a Loved One is Suffering From Clinical Depression
    Warning signs for friends and family members When someone you love is in pain, you sense it immediately. Something in the way he or she talks, moves, or looks at you alerts you and spurs you to reach out. You can see that this is more than the blues or a bad couple of weeks. ...
  • 6 Things You Should Know About PTSD
    Do you so badly want to move on, but feelings of fear, powerlessness, shame, or anger keep dragging you back through one of the worst experiences of your life? Have months, or even years, gone by, but you still feel stuck thinking about– and trying not to think about– that terrible time? You may be ...
  • Between the Trigger and the Response – An Opportunity to Choose
    You may feel sick about what you said. You might be embarrassed by what you did. You may still be anxious, uncertain you won’t fly off the handle again. It’s okay. You can still make choices that will help you change the way you manage anger. Learning to manage anger means widening that small space ...
  • Is Our Marriage Worth Saving? Finding the Answer with Counseling
    It’s an awful question to have to ask yourselves: Is our marriage worth the effort and expense of trying to preserve it? Do we have the energy to stay together for one more day? The answer is one that only you and your partner can decide upon. There was a time, in the beginning ...
  • Social Anxiety? Look for These Signs
    Are thoughts of office parties, public speaking, or even a simple introduction to someone new enough cause to send your heart racing, your stomach turning, or your mind scrambling with fear, worry, and self-doubt? Do many good times, interesting people, and adventures seem out of reach because social dread, apprehension, and fear of judgment ...
  • Spruce Up, Dude: Make an Effort to Entice Your Partner
    Spruce Up, Dude: Make an Effort to Entice Your Partner Remember how much time and effort you put into looking good for strangers, back when you were unattached? Now that you’ve found the guy, doesn’t he deserve at least that much attention to detail? You don’t have to develop an addiction to your ...
  • The Signs and Symptoms of ADHD: Some May Surprise You
    Would you recognize the symptoms of ADHD if you saw them? The indicators that suggest you or your child may be dealing with ADHD are sometimes very clear. Other times, a confusing mix of emotion and behaviors point toward ADHD one day and something completely unfamiliar the next. Consider the following list of prevalent ...
  • Three Steps to Preventing Your Teen from Becoming a Bully or a Mean Girl
    Would your teenage son or daughter ever willingly intimidate or encourage the intimidation of another person for his or her own benefit? No? Maybe? As much as it disturbs us, a bully’s aggression and a mean girl’s cruelty are often a surprise to their parents. Is there anything you can do as a parent to influence your ...
  • The 5 Most Common Anxiety Symptoms
    Are you suffering from anxiety? The list of symptoms is so long and diverse, it almost seems that the answer is always, “Yes!” In fact, everyone suffers from anxiety on occasion – nerves when an important meeting is looming, jitters before even the keenest performer steps on stage, butterflies or heebie-jeebies or cold ...
  • Conflicts at Home? 8 Steps to Family Peace
    Home, the place of safety, where you’re surrounded by the people who love you most. Home is where the comfort is, the place where you can relax after a day of doing battle with the real world. When home turns into something different, a place of anger and shouting or silence and withdrawal ...
  • Beyond Sadness: How to Deal With Depression
    The heroine of the novel died. Someone else got the promotion. Your favorite restaurant is closing. A friend forgot your birthday and you are TOTALLY depressed. No, you’re not. You are sad, you feel lousy for a few hours or days and you get over it. You may think sadness feels like depression, but ...
  • The 5 Most Common Relationship Problems
    Understanding these obstacles to long-term love No relationship is perfect. Lasting love is hard work and each partnership has its share of unique obstacles. Still, you and your partner aren’t as alone as you may feel. There are several key issues facing many couples that can pose significant challenges and compromise your connection. Are the following 5 relationship ...
  • Take Time for Your Relationship ­– 5 Tips for Carving Out Time For Two
    You made your relationship formal so you could spend more time together. So why has spending time together become such a struggle? So many life changes demand a piece of your day. Your jobs want their eight hours – plus! The commute may take another chunk. The house, the kids, your friends, your ...
  • Severe Depression ­­– Know the Danger Signs!
    When you’re feeling sad, your first inclination probably is to find a sympathetic ear and vent – “… and then he just broke it off with no good reason”, “You know how hard I worked on that project and to have it dismissed like that in front of everyone …”, “My poor dad ...
  • Seniors –7 Tips to Beat Depression On Your Own
    Practical Ways to Knock Out Sadness, Pain, and Isolation ‘Depressed’ was not the word you imagined would describe your senior years. You certainly did not count on this heavy, listless feeling weighing down your life. Take heart. You don’t have to suffer the drain of depression forever. You can survive the sadness and pain, reawaken your motivation, and ...
  • What is EFT?
    What you should know about Emotionally Focused Therapy Relationships can be confusing and complicated. They can tap into our deepest and most basic needs and emotions. They can stir up deep feelings we never knew needed to be explored. How do we connect and manage our emotional dots when it hurts or when it troubles us? When ...
  • 5 Tips to Help You Get Off the Anxiety Roller Coaster
    Living with anxiety isn’t a straight and clear path. Plagued by tension, worried thoughts, and a whole host of physical reactions, people who fall victim to anxiety experience something more akin to a theme park ride. With severe anxiety, symptoms are debilitating on a regular basis to the point that performing daily activities is ...
  • Getting Divorced? How to Tell Your Children
    This may be the hardest conversation you’ve ever had, in a long series of really hard conversations. Once you and your spouse have made the difficult decision to divorce, you’re faced with telling the other people who will be most affected – your kids. Following are some suggestions for getting through this difficult conversation ...
  • 7 Signs Your Child has Developed Healthy Attachment
    Determining how well your child trusts, accepts, and connects with the world Parenting is a big job. From the womb, you are well aware of each step in the process, each responsibility, and each milestone. Even the way you look into your child’s face or interpret the things he or she isn’t telling you is important. ...
  • Couples, Has Love Faded? Revive it with Marriage Counseling!
    How Seeking Help Can Keep Your Love from Disappearing for Good Remember when it seemed like the sun shone brighter just because the two of you were together? Has the light of your love gotten dim lately? Is it getting difficult to remember what spark drew you together in the first place? Often the joy, playfulness, and ...
  • Baby Blues? Do You Know These Symptoms?
    You love your baby. So much. After all, you’ve been looking forward to these moments for nearly a year. But. You feel something else too. Disappointment. Anxiety. Overwhelm. Exhaustion. The people wanting to help or visit irritate you. You’ve gone through boxes of tissues, but the tears keep flowing. And after a week or so, you’re just not sure you ...
  • Marriage Counseling: Same Fight, Different Day? Every Day?
    You’d think this argument was the best part of your day. Why else would you go through it over and over and over? Why else would you say the same things each time even when you know how pointless it will be before the argument even begins? Why else would you reach the ...
  • They’re Not the Same: A Look at the Different Types of Depression
    We’re all sad from time to time. Life can batter us and we sink into unhappiness. That’s usually a temporary condition and one that we recover from on our own. Extreme sadness, sadness that doesn’t pass, though, is a different condition. True depression brings sadness, too, but also a loss of interest in things ...
  • Couple’s Counseling: How to Stop Arguing
    There’s nothing like a good argument, is there? Clears the air, clears the pipes, and then there’s the pleasure of making up again. When two people share their lives, eventually they’ll disagree. If they are equally matched in will and determination, the argument can be robust and actually good for the relationship. Annoyances ...
  • Feeding Your Marriage — Finding "Together" Time
    What to do when you’re starving for some undivided attention Do you hear that? There’s a faint rumbling in your home. It sounds like the groaning, grumbling sound of hunger. But it’s not your stomachs that need to be fed. It’s your relationship. How long has it been since your connection was nourished, your friendship fortified, and your ...
  • 10 Signs You Have an Anger Problem
    Do you really have your feelings under control? A chronically angry person is like a roiling pot of mixed stew, randomly popping and snapping the hotter it becomes. If the pot is too full, it soon bubbles over. Steam rises and the heated mix spills onto anything or anyone nearby. What about you? Are you overfilled, angrily ...
  • Internet Addiction? Helping Your Teen Unplug
    For better or for worse, we live in a world where we are surrounded by technology. Devices such as smartphones and tablets make it easier than ever to stay connected for all hours of the day. Teenagers today have grown up in this era and are more prone than older generations to become ...
  • Feel Like Roommates? Marriage Counseling Can Rekindle the Flame
    Well, this is pleasant. You know and respect each other’s habits. You each take care of your household chores without complaint. You politely share the bathroom in the morning and show up at social gatherings together. You make sure your kids are well cared for. You combine your resources to make life comfortable. ...
  • How to Know If Your Family Needs Family Counseling
    The most intimate group we’ll ever belong to is the family. It’s where we learn to share and to do battle, to communicate, to negotiate differences, and to celebrate accomplishments. Family is the safe huddle we come home to after a day out in the larger world. Family members provide the mirror that ...
  • When Love Fades – Marriage Counseling Can Help You Revive It
    We all expect the thrilling days of courtship to continue forever. We look at friends or family members who have been married for years and have settled into a comfortable but mundane relationship and vow, “That’s not going to happen to us.” But, the daily grind has a way of rubbing off the ...