How Can a Therapist Help Me Overcome a Phobia?

By: Danielle Bertini, LCPC There aren’t many people I know who love spiders, let’s be honest. But what happens when that fear is so strong that it causes symptoms like hyperventilating, nausea, an overwhelming sense of doom, and dizziness? These are some common symptoms of a phobia. Phobias affect 9.1% of Americans, from fear of…

Read More

Grief vs. Mourning: What’s the Difference?

As I reflect on my experience with grief after losing my mother suddenly in August 2021, my thoughts were: was she in pain; did I help her to feel comfortable; was she aware of my presence. Grief and mourning are natural parts of healing after the loss of a loved one or friend. While grief…

Read More

How Can a Therapy Consultation Be Helpful for You?

By: Zana Van Der Smissen Hello, and welcome back to another blog! Today, I am going to be talking through therapy consultations before going into intake sessions and how they can be useful in learning if the therapist you are talking to is a good fit for you and your needs.  Firstly, what is a…

Read More

5 Things Dating and Engaged Couples Can Gain from Couples Therapy

I want to introduce a few facts regarding relationships, which may help you see how couples counseling can be an important resource for dating and engaged couples. 71% of singles say they’re more interested in long-term relationships now than they were before the pandemic 22% of you “aren’t sure” about monogamy, and… 18% of you…

Read More

How Does Social Comparison Affect You?

By: Bridgette W. Gottwald, LPC, NCC Social comparison — it’s a “pervasive social phenomenon.” Not only do we utilize comparison to judge the standing or ranking of ourselves and others, but we also use it to evaluate current and past outcomes, as well as future prospective outcomes. According to Brene Brown, this means that “significant…

Read More

What Are the Benefits of a Healthy Marriage?

By Plascilla Foster, LPC, NCC You are in a long-term relationship, and you have been with your partner for some time. You are single and dating. You could be a divorcee or a widower. In all of these different scenarios you may have asked yourself the question, “Should I get married?” For some individuals, it…

Read More

5 Steps to Giving an Effective Apology

Jeremy Parker MA, M.Ed, LAC, NCC Apologizing can be very hard to do. Our minds naturally try to talk us out of apologizing, telling us things like, “you didn’t do anything”, “you’re going to look weak”, or “apologizing won’t change anything, what’s done is done.” This is often just our pride and ego talking, which…

Read More

How to Breathe When You’re Trying to Relax

By Karin Luk, LGSW It seems like an obvious thing to say that breathing is important. It comes naturally to us and we do it because it’s necessary for our survival. There are many studies on the benefits breathing can have in reducing stress, anxiety, irritability, and tension. But would you believe that most people…

Read More

How Do I Avoid and Repair Burnout?

By: Bridgette W. Gottwald, LPC, NCC We all know that familiar feeling of burnout – when we are pushed to our breaking point and are about to snap. Burnout is defined by the World Health Organization as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” The pandemic has…

Read More

Can I Find Hope In Times That Feel Hopeless?

Jessica Pontis, LCSW I don’t know about everybody else, but recently I found it very difficult to remain hopeful. It feels like every day switching on the news, checking social media, there’s something that’s going on, some loss, some mass collective trauma. We try our best to cope after incidents that leave us rocked. We…

Read More