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  1. Reacting to the “Button Pusher”

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    Back in the day, people used to write letters to each other. It would take 2-3 days or even a week before the message arrived. Knowing the time lapse that took place, I would imagine people might have taken a few moments to pen their thoughts. This would be especially true if they were angry about something. The point is, I'm thinking there was probably more thought into the letters. In the age of…Read More

  2. How To Connect With Your Teenager

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    Waiting in a pickup line outside the school, I admired the sunset-tinted clouds and watched students emerging from the high school.  Noticing movement in my rearview mirror, I glanced up to see a woman pull to a stop behind me.  She hurriedly reached for one of the piles of paperstacked on her dash and began to sort.  Her son must have been watching for her, because he climbed i…Read More

  3. Self Harm – Help For The Parents

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    Finding out your child/teen is engaging in self-harming behaviors can throw any parent into a whirlwind of emotions- fear, anger, sadness, and confusion (just to name a few).  Understanding why your child would harm their body can be very difficult.   I intend to shed a little light on the why here, but I, primarily, would like to give some feedback on how you, as the parent of someone w…Read More

  4. The Best Parenting Advice I Can Give

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    It wasn’t the first party I had been to. In fact, I had been to lots of parties before this one. But this is the first one I drank at. It had all the necessary ingredients for youthful adventure and stupidity: Lots of unsupervised teenagers, miles of forest, a bond fire, bb guns, and of course a keg. This was the last day of school for the year and the celebration was a classic campout party i…Read More

  5. Is There An Expiration Date On Grief?

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    We look for them on food items in the grocery store, grumble about them when a good sale ends, or hurry to catch up/complete/cover ourselves when deadlines catch us unawares.   But what if the expiration date is grieving someone’s death?   Not only does our culture measure how long it should take to grieve, common advice centers around the idea that even the loss of a child or a spouse …Read More

  6. Your best Marriage

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    Valentines Day has come and gone. Perhaps you had a wonderful hallmark-level evening filled with rose petals and chocolate, or perhaps yours reflected a bit more reality that may have included sick kids, busy work schedules, sports practices and total exhaustion. Maybe you think it’s just a silly holiday and you spend everyday making sure your valentine is fully appreciated or something like tha…Read More

  7. STATUS OF MEN TODAY

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    I recently had the privilege of addressing a group of 40 men at a men’s retreat at which I was asked to speak on the subject of “Brotherhood”. If you are a man, married to a man, or connected to a man in your world, this might be of interest. One of my favorite things to do is to observe people: (men in particular) In malls, at restaurants, at church, with their families and in my office as …Read More

  8. Gratitude’s Core Is Practice

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    Gratitude is a guide to happiness. We all have so many things we can express gratitude for when we are asked directly; but typically the things we want to change or the things we don’t like remain on the forefront of our minds. Of course this thought pattern will lead to a more negative mindset. We have all heard that practicing something is what makes you better; and two key components are bein…Read More

  9. Introduction to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) 

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    As a therapist, my approach is somewhat eclectic, however, I draw a great deal from, and have been trained in, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT helps with exploring our thought life and underlying beliefs about ourselves. This aids in better understanding distressful emotions and changing undesirable recurring behaviors. There may be times when our immediate thoughts discount other possibil…Read More

  10. Why Does Taking Care Of Your Trauma Matter?

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    Today, I am going to speak about trauma. It’s tricky; you know? Trauma is one of those things that people, generally, want to forget (individually and as a society). However, although it is not an easy or popular topic, it is significant.   According to sidran.org (online resource(s) for survivors and loved ones of PTSD), “an estimated 70% of adults in the US have experienced a traumatic eve…Read More