Dealing with Disappointment
I hate feeling disappointed but bad news arrived this past week and I felt very blue. There is a verse that says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but...
Experiencing Grief
In working with clients, I have discovered the topic of grief is a tough subject to tackle. It is typically avoided until an unfortunate event forces a discussion to occur. ...
Therapeutic Depression
It’s always a puzzlement to me whenever I experience depression. Not that I shouldn’t be depressed or am somehow exempt, due to my professions as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor...
What Exactly Is Healing?
Often in my office I will sit across from a client who says to me “I just want to heal”. When we begin to dive into what that means, we...
Self-Injury Awareness
It is “Self-Injury Awareness” month so I wanted to take the opportunity to focus on what defines self-injury and how to recognize it in friends and family. There are...
The Upside of Shame (Part II)
Since writing my last blog post about shame, I’ve had a lot of interaction with different people and spent more time thinking about this topic. I realized my last post...
Celebrating a Loss
As I sit here contemplating all the issues I would like to blog about, something about this day cannot escape me. Though the world moves on, thrusting its urgency upon...
Failing is an Option – Now What?
“You passed.” Those words held so much meaning to me. All the months of studying, attending extra classes, and worrying had culminated into those words, “You passed.” I could check...
Dealing with Loss and Depression
It was around two months ago when I learned that my daughter was moving, along with her husband and two children to Chicago. For the last nine years, Beth was...
How Fear Causes Us to Sin
So far my blog posts have been neutral on issues of faith. I do this intentionally so as not to alienate those who are looking for good counseling advice but...