Parenting is a tough job! Each phase of kids growing up comes with its own set of new joys and new struggles. The teen years can be particularly trying, as teens test out different identities, explore newfound privileges and independence, and parents try to adjust to their child getting older … Read More
How to Motivate your Partner to Attend Couples Therapy
Couples therapy, for many individuals, continues to be seen as this mysterious, unforeseeable process that can be very anxiety-provoking to embark upon. Depending on your culture, beliefs and value system, turning to an “outsider” may be a very difficult decision for either partner. As a couples therapist, one of the … Read More
Listening Well: Asking for Support [Without Receiving Unwanted Advice]
Have you ever needed to sort through a problem or share a heavy emotional load with another person, but felt like there was no way to do that, without having to receive another set of opinions, perspectives, or advice that would probably just complicate the issue? So, then you just … Read More
How to Cope When Losing Your BFF
I believe most of us have heard BFF as a commonly used phrase to describe a very close friendship or “best friend forever.” Especially for women, close friendships often serve as a place of refuge or a layer of protection from difficulties in life. Research shows that BFF’s can increase … Read More
Listening Well: An Experiment in Empathy
“An empathic response is restrained, largely silent; following, not leading, it encourages the speaker to go deeper into his or her experience.” Empathy does not mean, as we often think, “worrying about, praising, cheering up, gushing, consoling, or even encouraging. It means understanding.” (Nichols, 2009, p. 84) There are so … Read More
Cognitive Neuroscience Part 4: Teaching an old dog new tricks
Twenty years ago, most physicians, psychologists and researchers believed that the human brain stopped developing after a certain age. The brain could grow and change during childhood or adolescence, but not adulthood. On the surface, this makes sense. It is sometimes difficult to teach an old dog new tricks. However, most … Read More
Making Friends Post-College
Your college years are often an intense, shared experience where you are flooded with peers in the same life-cycle stage, everyone is in a new place, and most people are open to meeting new people and forming new relationships. Bonds are forged over being away from home for the first … Read More
Cognitive Neuroscience Part 3: Scientific Proof that People Can Change
Can people change? It’s a loaded question. If affects our views on philosophy, religion, psychology, sociology and biology – just to name a few. What if I told you there was scientific research that strongly suggests that the answer is yes? Think about that for a second. Think about the … Read More
Self-Care Part 3: Some Ideas to Get You Started
In part one of this short series we defined what self-care is and why it is important. In part two, we talked about the difference between self-care and zoning out. But if spending two hours scrolling through my Instagram feed doesn’t qualify as self-care, then what does? The best place … Read More
Cognitive Neuroscience Part 2: The Brain vs. The Mind
Over the next few posts, we’re going to talk about an emerging field of study called cognitive neuroscience. But don’t worry. We’re going to leave (most of) the 7-syllable words to the textbooks and wikipedia entries. Instead, we’re going to focus on the practical applications of this science on our … Read More
