A lot of couples who come for therapy usually cite frustration with their partner as one of the major issues they face. This frustration usually stems from unmet expectations. Expectations play a huge role in relationship satisfaction. Couples who are frustrated say things like ‘You weren’t very supportive of me when I quit my job to freelance’ or ‘You didn’t...[ read more ]
Hey, New Dads! Need Some Help Embracing Your New Role? Fatherhood is more than providing food, shelter and enforcing discipline. Fatherhood is the consistent presence of strength, wisdom and love in your child’s life. Many dads struggle to be more involved in their child’s life, confused by old ideas of gender roles that conflict with their desire to connect and...[ read more ]
How Sports Can Benefit Your Mental Health Suffering from depression can cause you to feel hopeless, worthless, irritable and tired. You may have difficulty falling or staying asleep, and your disrupted sleep patterns will increase fatigue and negatively impact your already low mood. Your depression will have you believing that there’s no hope in sight, but help may be right...[ read more ]
Recognizing Your Emotions "What did you feel?" This is probably the most common question counselors ask. So much so that it is part of the comedy of being a counselor. Many times, after I tell someone I am a counselor, they ask me, "how does that make you feel?" But we ask this question because it is uniquely important. We...[ read more ]
3 Essential Listening Skills to Improve Your Relationship One of the most important aspects of a healthy relationship is communication. When both partners understand how to communicate properly, they feel loved, connected and secure. But when effective communication is lacking, both people can become defensive, and the relationship can be mired down in distrust, misunderstanding and resentments. When couples are...[ read more ]
3 Ways to Communicate Better with Your Partner If you’ve ever been in a romantic relationship, you know firsthand how frustrating it can be. Once two people start sharing more and more time together, perhaps even begin living under the same roof, arguments are bound to happen from time to time. Sure, you both started out on your best behavior...[ read more ]
Is Stress Tanking Your Relationship? As the research continues to grow, we are realizing how much impact stress can have on our lives. Stress not only affects our minds and emotions, but it also affects us physically. Headaches, muscle aches, digestive problems, and more have been shown to have high correlations with stress levels. A Stressful Time to Live We also have...[ read more ]
Self Differentiation Part II: Recognize Emotions I believe this is one of the most difficult things for people to do. Next time you feel something change for you, emotionally, try to name the emotion you are experiencing. I spend a lot of time on the front end of counseling sessions talking about this issue. This is so important because emotions...[ read more ]
Self-Differentiation: Part I (This series will be multiple parts and lay out the basic understandings of Self-Differentiation from Family Systems Theory and suggest strategies to grow in this area. I have seen this knowledge and these tools be a huge help in my clients’ lives in all types of relationships. I hope you find it helpful too!) I remember when...[ read more ]
Are You Playing the Blame Game? Here's Why You Need to Stop Blame and game – two words that should never be joined together. The truth is, the blame game is no fun to play and there are never any winners. And, perhaps, the biggest loser of all is the one who is doing all the blaming. When we blame...[ read more ]