I feel helpless and heartbroken watching the news about the latest school shooting. I watch from the living room of our home in a quiet suburb in Virginia, where we moved last year after multiple shootings in the alleyway of our beloved rowhouse in NW DC traumatized us into searching for a safer place to live. A place where we ...READ MORE »
Over the past 15 years that I’ve been providing therapy to teens and families in the Washington, DC area, the topic of psychiatric medication has come up frequently. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I don’t prescribe medication and I always recommend discussing questions and concerns with your primary care doctor or psychiatrist; but often I find that I have ...READ MORE »
One of the most common problems I have encountered through my years as a school social worker and now as a child/teen therapist in private practice in Washington DC is families reporting significant struggles with behavior and self-regulation at home, while school reports great behavior and positive social emotional skills. This issue can be particularly frustrating for families who are ...READ MORE »
“Am I doing therapy correctly?” is a question I’ve heard more than once from many of my teen and young adult clients in my psychotherapy practice in Washington, DC and nearby Bethesda, MD. My answer is that there is no “right” or “wrong” way to do therapy. Honoring your own process and journey is important. Although your therapist may challenge ...READ MORE »
From our last two posts, we can begin to teach our kids that asking for and accepting help are actual key skills in learning to advocate for their own learning. But parents often want to know what to do when their child resists asking for help or refuses help when it is offered. Here are a few concepts to ...READ MORE »
This post is the second in a series of three posts on how to help your child self advocate for him/herself both in the classroom and with his/her homework tasks. As a parent/family therapist, I am often helping parents with strategies on how they can help their children grow skills in a certain area. Here are some questions that ...READ MORE »
March and April are the months when our families take spring break, and our students manage parent-teacher conferences. At TSG, we work with students all year long on how they can learn skills to help them cope better and manage school pressures with greater confidence. Yet, many parents ask us how they can teach kids self advocacy skills, specifically ...READ MORE »
In a previous blog, I talked about how to recognize what we value as a way to reframe and manage stress. In this blog, I would like to talk about how I use my values to get motivated. In my work as a child/teen, and family therapist in Washington DC, I utilize Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help my ...READ MORE »
In my first entry of “Anxiety in Grief”, I explored the idea that anxiety is a common experience within the grief process. This concept is presented and discussed in the book Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief, by Claire Bidwell Smith. As a child and adult therapist in Washington, DC, I have experienced anxiety as a part of grief in ...READ MORE »
Have you found yourself wondering lately why you are still so anxious? With the pandemic subsiding some, do you worry about why you don’t feel better yet? Have you felt some of these symptoms below recently? A sense of panic Heart racing/palpitating Obsessive worry Dizziness Insomnia Nausea/Unsettled stomach This is what grief looks like for those of us thriving and surviving in the midst of so much worldwide! ...READ MORE »
