Co-parenting is a special case within the broader category of parenting and family therapy. Two situations are most common to co-parenting difficulties: (1) where separated parents get help maintaining coordination and consistency in their parenting strategies without being in romantic [...]
Difficulty paying off debt and living within your means can show up in other areas of your life, causing an emotional toll. The fear of your inability to provide for yourself can manifest in many ways for an extended period of time. Poor decisions with money can lead to a poor credit rating, which [...]
Grief is one of those universal life experiences from which a person never really recovers but learns to cope with and grow through. When we lose people we love, the world is permanently changed. This is the price we pay as humans for the richness that our loved ones bring to our lives. Although[...]
Gender identity is a spectrum that describes to which degree a person perceives and recognizes their inner knowledge and outer expression of gender. Generally, this is the consistency between anatomical sex and the person’s internal maleness or femaleness or combination or neutrality. There are [...]
It’s my responsibility as a mental health professional to remember the history of the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual. Sexual orientation and identities were considered diagnoses that came with stigma and suffering. Homosexuality was considered a diagnosis until 1973, and [...]
Social expectations of being the perfect parent can be overwhelming. It’s common to feel useless over the thought of not being able to cope with your new responsibilities, or hopeless when the natural motherly feelings you expected aren’t present. Women and men across all socio-economic [...]
Life is a process of constant change. Sometimes, major life transitions can throw us out of balance to the point where we lose access to some important aspects of our experience, we lose our sense of grounding and routines, or we disrupt our connections to others. Very brief, highly targeted [...]
Humans experience stress as a natural reaction to meet a demand or challenge. This “fight or flight” survival mechanism slows normal bodily functions like immunity and digestion to focus on breath, alertness, blood circulation, and muscle movement. The degree to which we react can be [...]
Your parenting decisions have a tremendous impact on your child’s emotional and social development. Their belief systems are modeled by your example, and they will pick up moral values, discipline, and manners from what they see. It’s vital that parents give their children a healthy basis for [...]
Trauma can stem from various causes and sources. It can be a personal tragedy, a natural disaster, a violent event, or any other type of unusual event. Trauma can take an emotional toll on the individual regardless of age. While it should be emphasized that there is no right or wrong way to feel [...]