When I work with parents of teens, I notice they often express a desire to support their child in three primary ways: by making a behavior change, navigating a challenge, or connecting with them on a deeper level. While each family copes with its own unique challenges, I usually find myself first coaching parents on the importance of validation. Now, when ...READ MORE »
Trauma symptoms arise when a stressor exceeds our ability to cope in that moment; it is when we move from manageable discomfort that we can respond to, into overwhelming or intolerable pain. In a stressful situation, our nervous system responds by energizing us into fight or flight mode; we confront the challenge, or seek safety. An adaptive response from our ...READ MORE »
As the pandemic has raged around us, we’ve all experienced some form of loss. For some of us, it’s been extreme, such as the loss of a loved one and for others, it’s been the loss of work opportunities, a graduation party, or the third grade field trip. For most, there was a loss of routine and constant new challenges. ...READ MORE »
So often, children come into our office for treatment of symptoms, and we later discover that parents are struggling with issues of their own. This might seem obvious–especially since COVID, what parent doesn’t have some level of stress, overwhelm, or some trauma from the past few years?! I have had so many parents express their fears to me: what if ...READ MORE »
We’ve all heard it- someone saying they are “so OCD” about something. “I’m so OCD about my closet! Everything just must be hung up and orderly.” “Ugh. She’s OCD about her make up. It takes her forever to get ready.” Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is not an adjective. It is a mental health diagnosis- one that is often a part of our everyday vernacular, misunderstood, ...READ MORE »
In the Internal Family Systems model of therapy, the main concept is that we have a core “Self,” in addition to many parts that develop to protect and manage our internal worlds. These parts are your various inner voices or “sides” of you that come out in different situations. We can recognize that symptoms come from parts of us that ...READ MORE »
With the holidays right around the corner, many of us will be spending time catching up with friends and family members. In addition to the time we spend together, our communication within these relationships is our path to closeness and connection. Combining families, planning travel logistics, navigating political conversations, dealing with kids’ behaviors and inevitable sicknesses that are going around ...READ MORE »
This blog post is a followup to last week’s post on THE Parenting “AHA.” It outlines Galinsky’s Stages of Parent Development (plus two of my own suggestions) and aligns it with Erickson’s Stage Theory of Child Development. Why is this important to side-by-side? Because we grow as parents alongside our children as they grow. When we are thoughtful about ...READ MORE »
There’s a movie clip that we joke about in our family about the ups and downs of parenting. Watch it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx2A5j2NjMw For me, this scene reminds me about the hard-earned rewards of parenting “AHA moments.” They don’t come easy, they aren’t always completely recognizable or blissful, and they often are enshrouded by many other feelings and complications. YET, ...READ MORE »
I recently went to Hershey Park with my wife and 5 year old daughter. It was a beautiful mid-October day, temps in the mid 70’s, lovely breeze, and the park was packed. It was probably their busiest day of the year. The weather was perfect. I should not be surprised that people like to do things outside when the weather ...READ MORE »
