September is suicide awareness month. Suicidal thoughts can affect anyone, any age, class, or gender. Typically, suicidal thoughts are impacted by mental health issues including depression. If you know someone struggling with depression and are uncertain whether they may be having thoughts of harming themselves, don’t hesitate to ask them. A common myth is that...
I wanted to follow up last month’s blog post with one about empathy and its impact on children and their development. In our last blog, we talked about how empathy is the ability to see things from another person’s perspective, to put yourself in their shoes, and went over some couples counseling exercises to practice...
Have we become so busy and consumed by our own troubles and worries that we no longer have room or capacity for empathy? One of the very traits that distinguishes us from other creatures is our ability to have empathy. Put simply, empathy is the ability to see things from another person’s perspective, to “put...
A common question people tend to ask is how to know when to see a therapist. People often begin professional therapy when their anxiety becomes overwhelming, depression worsens, or they hit their breaking point and need support. And this makes sense! However, a common misconception is that life has to be unbearable to do therapy....
Leaning Towards Values in the Face of Uncertainty: A Focus on Value Based Decision Making By Sarah Walls, LCSW The COVID-19 pandemic and the stay at home orders have changed how people live out their day-to-day lives. Office meetings are now held in the living room (possibly with children or pets attending) and we are...
The COVID-19 pandemic can be a very stressful and anxious time. Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems and the current news cycle can make it even worse. There are some things we can do to help the overwhelming feeling you might have during this crisis. There are steps you can take...
Group therapy can at first sound fairly intimidating to people, but the reality is that group therapy can actually be more productive and powerful than individual therapy for many people. During group therapy individuals meet with a group who all have similar concerns. Therapy consists of learning effective tools while relating it to your experiences...
Anxiety is a very common experience for people and can be quite unnerving at times. Typically, the more we expose ourselves to these situations the easier they tend to get. Whereas the more we avoid these things that bring us anxiety the larger the anxiety can get. Although avoidance can feel good in the short...
This month we focus on how you can connect more with your husband, wife, spouse or significant other with one simple weekly task. It’s called the couples check-in. When you think about it, anyone who has worked a job has likely had to attend weekly meetings, huddles, or get togethers with co-workers. This time is...
Active listening is a method of listening and replying that improves understanding. It can be one of the first steps we take to reduce tension in a situation and where we can begin to find solutions to problems. Active listening is when we do not only hear the words someone is saying, but we process...
