According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), one in five school children in the United States suffers in their mental health: anxiety, difficulty focusing and social challenges. As NPR has been reporting in their Mental Health in School series, many schools don’t have the resources to meet their … Read More
Leaking is a Toxic Behavior Parents should Avoid: Part 1
What is leaking? Leaking is a term coined by Dr. Patricia Papernow, step-family and post-divorce expert, which describes what parents do and say to blame and/or undermine the other parent in the presence of their children. In my practice, I hear examples of leaking from many parents contemplating a divorce. … Read More
Complain, but Don’t Criticize
If you are in a committed relationship, you are occasionally going to complain about your partner. Valid complaints help us grow and become better partners. But how do you complain without it resulting in a fight? The key is to soften how the complaint is voiced. In Dr. John Gottman’s research, … Read More
Helping Your Child Through Your Divorce
No one wants to go through a divorce, especially when there are children involved. Unfortunately, divorce is a reality for many couples. If you are going through a divorce and you have children, you have a responsibility as a parent to do what you can to protect your child. It’s … Read More
Tips for Developing Confidence in Children: Part 2
In part 1 of this blog series, I wrote about the importance of developing confidence in our children. I highlighted the fact that self-confidence is essential for all aspects of healthy human development and that children with confidence are more likely to learn more, achieve more and are generally all … Read More
Your Child & A Scar – How to Help Address Differences in Appearance
Recently, I had a mom contact me with a specific scenario in which she needed help for her daughter. Her elementary aged child had recently had surgery and was refusing to go out in public due to her new, very visible, scar. The young girl was worried how people would … Read More
Tips for Developing Confidence in Children: Part 1
Self-confidence is essential for all aspects of healthy human development, especially in the development of children. Confidence makes children more likely to be resilient and to pursue individuality, and less likely to develop emotional problems later in life. They learn more, achieve more and are generally all around happier in life. … Read More
Experiencing Positive Change in Your Relationships
As a marriage and family therapist, the biggest hurdle that I see individuals and couples face in realizing the goals for their relationships is that they keep doing what they have been doing, in spite of having learned a better way. So, as the Nike ad says, “Just do it.” … Read More
New Ideas for Resolutions
It can be easy to get stuck in the same routine where you make the same resolutions year after year. I can’t count the number of times I have promised myself to drink less caffeine! If you have tried the same few resolutions each year, why not try something different … Read More
Good Pictures Bad Pictures
Some researchers are citing the age of 8 – eight years old!! – as the average age of exposure to pornography. And – that’s an average. Meaning that kids also encounter pornography at ages even younger than 8. Prior to the Internet era children typically didn’t discover porn until age … Read More