Some couples find that they naturally develop rituals like a hug or a kiss when they part ways at the start of the day and when they reunite.  It’s easy to get caught up in the busy-ness of the day, however, so many couples can benefit from developing intentional rituals in their day. One such ritual developed by John and Julie Gottman at The Gottman Institute is known as the “Stress Reducing Conversation.” 

According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is, “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” Based on this definition alone, you can see that mindfulness can be incorporated into our daily lives without consuming additional time.

As a therapist, I’m often helping people take steps to initiate hard conversations with someone close to them. I often hear people delay these conversations because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, because they think someone will respond poorly, or because they’ve made an assumption about how the other person will respond. While all of these concerns are valid, avoidance of hard conversations prevents important issues from being addressed and resolved.

Women are often raised with messages about being caring, nurturing, thoughtful, and family oriented.  These communicated values, as well as the behaviors that we have observed in the women before us, sometimes result in continued patterns of taking care of others while putting our own wants, needs, and self-care on the back burner.

How do we destigmatize mental wellness and self-care in the workplace? This is a hot topic in the Human Resources world today. For a long time, mental health was not prioritized in the workplace. In fact, it can often be ignored or go unrecognized. Workplaces across the nation are pushing to reform mental health care and improve employee’s overall well-being.

Work related stress can trickle into home life, relationships, and overall well-being. Vice versa, stress at home, relationships, personal matters, etc. can affect your job performance. If you feel like any of these resonate with your current situation, I encourage you to reach out and speak to your Human Resources department!

Pride month may be coming to a close, but we continue to encourage everyone to stay informed, connected, and spread resources to those close to them!

If you, or someone you know, is looking to learn more, or is in need of additional support or services, here are some local and national LGBTQIA+ resources we want to share with you!

This blog will dive into non-verbal communication, or, body language, and the way this can enhance or detract from communication with your child. Awareness around the different elements of non-verbal communication can help set a conversation up for success and build a sense of closeness in a relationship. Strategic use of non-verbals can also enhance the effectiveness of communication and support memory and comprehension.

The phrase “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it'' has become a cliche at this point, but for good reason! There are many factors outside of the actual words being spoken that affect how communication is received. This blog will focus on paraverbal communication.

When you are engaged in communication with someone, you are either receiving information or sharing information. Different situations call for different balancing of these roles. Parenting often focuses on the sending, or speaking, role. In the course of giving directions and reminders, and sharing information we can unconsciously dominate the conversational space. Children are often relegated to the receiving, or listening, role. It is incredibly impactful when you create opportunities for your child to express themselves while offering yourself as an active listener.

How often are you met with a blank stare after asking your child how their day was? Are you tired of getting shrugged off when you ask questions, or knowing you’ve lost their attention when you’re trying to check-in? A desire for connection is at the heart of parent/child relationships, but dysfunctional communication can make us feel further apart than ever. To help close that gap and make you feel more empowered as parents, we’re going to share different strategies to help you build your communication toolkit.

As a Chinese therapist, I understand how it can be difficult to share our emotions with our family or to be emotionally vulnerable with our therapist. When we start therapy, we talk about what has been going on in life, what we have experienced, and ways to manage our feelings. When I introduce Brainspotting to my Asian American clients, many seem interested in the modality.  However when these individuals try to utilize the technique, many find it hard to connect with their own body or to feel their emotions…

There are a variety of things that can influence how motivated someone is feeling such as being overwhelmed, burned out, anxious, depressed, perfectionistic, rigid, fearful, and many more. One’s motivation (or lack thereof)  may depend on a number of factors. Here are some tips that you can use to help you increase motivation. 

College finals are an extremely stressful period of time. Final exams can be daunting, given the culmination of a semester’s worth of information. Multiple exams can add to the stress of finishing a semester. How you prepare for finals can have an impact on how you make it through them. Having a game plan and strategy for your finals can make a difference in how they go. If you are looking for some guidance to approach your finals exams, then keep reading!

Imagine that you are standing at a podium on a stage in an auditorium. The seats are filled. There are bright lights illuminating you. All eyes are on you. There is silence as the audience waits for you to begin. Before you open your mouth, you notice your heart racing and your body sweating…

You’ve taken the first step and signed up for talk therapy, and now you’re finding that you’re having a hard time sharing. If this is your experience, just know that you are not the only one. As therapists, we see this quite frequently and know that this lack of sharing can be present for a number of reasons. In this article, I’ll talk about some of the common reasons people have difficulty talking in therapy and some things that you can do about it.

If you’ve signed up for therapy, there’s likely a reason for it. It’s possible that you haven’t been feeling well, that you need support or coping strategies, or that you’re going through a difficult season in life. Despite having made that initial decision to sign up for therapy, people can still struggle to open up and bring up the most sensitive topics with their therapists.

If you’ve ever been in therapy, then you know just how important it is to have a good working relationship with your therapist. A good working relationship often means that you feel comfortable with the therapist, have a good connection with them, and trust that you can share personal information without being judged. A good working relationship also means that there is good communication on both ends.

If you are suffering from anxiety and/or depression, you may be relieved to know that there are many effective treatments that do not involve pharmaceutical medications. A combination of lifestyle changes and therapies can help alleviate these conditions and improve overall health and well-being.

Stress tends to seep into every aspect of our lives. When it is present, our day-to-day life can begin to feel increasingly overwhelming. It can take a toll on our relationships, mental health, and even our physical well-being.

At times, it may feel like you have no other choice but to endure the stress and brush it off as best as you can. You may want to push it down and ignore the problem, hoping it will just go away on its own. Other times, this stress may consume every waking moment and completely take over your thoughts. Making it hard to do anything else. Either way, addressing the stress and figuring out a healthy way to manage it is key to protecting your mental and physical health.

A client once said to me…
Maybe the purpose of life is finding your purpose
Otherwise you’re not really living, just waking up.
Those lines have always resonated with me
Because maybe life really is that simple
Simply living so that eventually I could find me…

An original poem by Dereka Ross, LCPC