The Inner Child: What is it and Why is it Important?
Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC No matter who we are or where we are from, we will experience pain- whether through neglect, abuse, death, or disease. We are all human and thus, we will all sustain emotional injury throughout our lifetime. Many of these wounds, however, will be experienced in childhood, as we are at a…
Read MoreCodependency: What Is It and How Can We Heal From it?
Mary-Lauren O’Crowley Sometimes referred to as relationship addiction, codependency is a learned behavior through which an individual comes to rely heavily on their partner, often forgoing their own needs and desires in the process. This gravely impacts the individual’s ability to have a mutually healthy and satisfying relationship. A codependent individual may take on the…
Read MoreWhat Is Attachment and Why Is It Important?
Mary-Lauren O’Crowley, NCC, LPC Have you ever wondered how certain people are drawn to others? What makes an anxious, insecure and often clingy young lady drawn to a self-absorbed and avoidant young man? Why does an unemotional female seem to always be drawn to a man who feels a need to get desperately validated? What…
Read MoreIs Resentment Present In Your Relationship?
To answer this question, one must first ask, how does resentment find its way into your relationship? Resentment is defined as “a feeling of bitterness, animosity, or hostility elicited by something or someone perceived as insulting or injurious (APA, 2020).” An article from BetterHelp (2020) has broken down resentment into three components: persistent anger, unfair…
Read MoreSimple Ways to Develop Assertive Communication
Jessica Pontis, LCSW Everyone wants to have a voice, but sometimes we struggle to connect with our strength and speak our truth. We all wish to be assertive when it comes to standing up for ourselves and what we believe in, though struggle to find the words or are concerned about the perception of others. …
Read MoreThe Importance of a Best Friend
Megan Mulroy, LPC, NCC When I was 20 years old, I was lucky enough to be given a random roommate named Alli who became my best friend. Alli and I have been through thick and thin, and I don’t know what I would do without her. Friendships are so important to our mental health and…
Read MoreThe Case For Mindfulness In All Our Busy Lives
Steven Topper LCPC Over the past few years, we’ve seen a boom in the proliferation of mindfulness. Commodified to apps, businesses have attempted to harness the power of mindfulness to increase productivity. Within that proliferation has been a watering down of the tenets of mindfulness- which is frequently the case when ideas move into the…
Read MoreStrategies For Measuring Growth More Usefully
Steven Topper LCPC Take a moment to reflect on the last few weeks. What has been a struggle? Where has pain showed up in your days and nights? What has gone well? What do you wish could have been different? How do you wish you could have been different? See if some of these reflections…
Read MoreBody Image: How to Talk About It With Your Kids
I remember one of the first times I was introduced to the concept of “fat”. I was a third grader (about 8 years old) when a friend made the comment, “my mom told me if your arms or thighs jiggle, it means your fat.” As a child I remember feeling so concerned that because my…
Read MoreWhat Can I Learn from Reading and Observing Body Language? Part II
By: Bridgette W. Gottwald, LPC, NCC If you read my last blog post, which was part one of this two-part blog series, you learned many things that you would be able to observe from the body language of others. It discussed studying the eyes, facial movements, and proximity of body positioning. Part two includes information…
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