Family Counseling
Toxic positivity is not a phrase many of us are used to hearing. Isn’t positivity, well, positive? Some of the time yes, and some of the time no. To better understand, it’s important to know the definition of toxic positivity. “Toxic positivity is the idea that we should focus only on positive emotions and the positive aspects of life. It’s the belief that if we ignore difficult emotions and the parts of our life that aren’t working…
Read MoreBy: Emily Brennan, MA, LAC, NCC As adults with busy schedules and a full slate of responsibilities, it is easy to forget about our inner child. The inner child is beneath our consciousness and holds unmet needs, suppressed emotions, traumas, and pain from our past. Our inner child also holds joy, creativity, curiosity, and the ability to play. When we become adults, we are told to grow up and forgo the inner child within us all. The…
Read MoreKaitlin Broderick LCPC Do you constantly find yourself saying “yes” to activities that you don’t even really want to do because you are afraid of hurting someone else’s feelings? For some of us, turning someone down and saying “no” can induce feelings of guilt and anxiety. Our automatic response may be to say yes to everything even when we’re already feeling overwhelmed, because we want to be liked and want others to see us as a competent…
Read MoreBy: Emily Brennan, MA, LAC, NCC You have probably heard the phrase, “It’s nice to be nice.” An accurate statement, indeed. What about being nice to ourselves? It may sound cheesy, but how “nice” we are to ourselves and our ‘self-talk’ in general is more important than we think. Self-talk is our inner dialogue and it can sound harsh and critical or tender and loving. For many of us, it is much easier to be self- critical…
Read MoreAs we have had the past few months to reflect back on 2020, it has really opened by eyes into what habits and routines I have been engaging in. These habits can both be identified as positive and negative but focusing on the positive habits is very important. One habit that I have really stuck on to is meditation. Gaining an understanding of why meditation is helpful and important is key to also engaging in meditation. I…
Read MoreBy: Bridgette W. Gottwald, LPC, NCC “In an age of research when it is tempting to reduce emotions to biochemical reactions and to rely heavily on the technology of medicine, it is refreshing to find that a person’s health and well-being may be improved by prescribing contact with other living things.” — Michael J. McCulloch, MD, co-founder of Pet Partners When it comes to mental health, research proves that there are many benefits behind pet ownership and interaction.…
Read MoreBy: Bridgette W. Gottwald, LPC, NCC “Today is a wonderful day…I haven’t seen this one before” – Maya Angelou Recently, I listened to an insightful podcast titled “The Anatomy of Gratitude” with David Steindl-Rast, a ninety-three-year-old Benedictine monk and teacher on the subject of gratitude. He makes useful distinctions about experiences that are “life-giving” and “resilience-making.” He shares interesting perspectives on the ideas of gratefulness, joy and anxiety. If you haven’t listened to it yet, I highly…
Read MoreBy Eric Dean JD, MBA, MA, MA, LPC, CADC This is the third and final installment of this blog series on recognizing your triggers for substance use and/or emotions such as anger. In this post, I will present some more common internal triggers and ways to cope with them. This post’s acronym is FINE. FINE stands for: Fearful: Fear is a powerful and universal human emotion, which is often driven by uncertainty, lack of control, and lack…
Read MoreBy Eric Dean JD MBA MA MA LPC CADC To create plans for how we are going to achieve our goals, we need to know our starting point. SWOT Analysis, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, is a tool used by organizations and people to evaluate their current positions. SWOT analysis can help elucidate information that would otherwise be hard to uncover and provide a baseline assessment for evaluating progress. Here are a small sample…
Read MoreIf you read my last blog post titled, Simple Stress Guide Part 1, referencing The New York Times article, “How to Be Better at Stress” by author Tara Parker-Pope, you may be wondering about the additional tips about how to better manage stress. Below are the remaining key points from Tara’s article touching about tips and tricks on how to manage stress better. Body Movement. As mentioned in the first part of this blog post, moving your…
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