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Paula Gonzalez MA, LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is more widely known as DBT and is an evidence based therapy that teaches a broad range of behavioral skills. The skills DBT teaches are to help clients reduce their symptoms and change their behavior. DBT is a form of talk therapy that resembles Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) but more of the focus on is changing behavior than on changing cognition. DBT is used to treat borderline…
Read MoreMadissyn Fredericks, Licensed Professional Counselor, Symmetry Counseling We are all guilty of it. Many of us overuse Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat to fill most of our free time. If there is some extra down time at the office, on the commute home, or on our days off it feels basically automatic to pull out our phones scroll through social media. According to Social Media Today, the average person is spending approximately 2 hours per day on social…
Read MoreMatthew Cuddeback, LCSW When you experience trauma, there are a lot of ways that it takes a toll mentally. Frequently people experience agitation, mistrust, anger, depression, and many other symptoms. One of the most difficult results of trauma is often described as not feeling like yourself, feeling distant from your life and others, or a lack of feeling. When this occurs, people sometimes lose track of time or may not remember how they got to where they…
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Steven Losardo, LMFT It was November 28th, 2014, or Black Friday 2014, and somehow, I got an internal nudge to begin my 2015 New Year’s Resolution (NYR). Looking for any excuse to avoid shopping, I decided to stay home to review what drives me to sign up for NYRs each year, NYR planning, and benefits to even having resolutions. First, I reviewed my 2014 “highlights.” ⦁ Despite my good intentions to make the change life-sustaining, my NYR lasted…
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Amanda Gregory, LCPC, EMDR You’re entering into a new romantic relationship and you want to do everything you can to start on the right foot. You want to promote a relationship that is healthy, supportive, and thriving. How do you accomplish this? Here are four guidelines to consider in order to support a new relationship: Be authentic. When you first meet someone, you naturally want to put your best foot forward. Dating can sometimes feel like a…
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Amanda Gregory, LCPC, EMDR In my blog An Inside Look: Symmetry Counseling’s Therapists Reveal Their Self-Care Practices, I spoke with five therapists who practice at Symmetry Counseling, Chicago’s mental health and relationship specialists, to discover how they practice self-care. This time we’ll hear from a few more Symmetry therapists to discover more of their personal self-care methods. Podcasts Matthew Cuddeback, LCSW, listens to podcasts to manage stress. “The most helpful way I have found to practice self-care…
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Maggie Reynolds, LCPC, NCC We often talk about our creations, our decisions, our opinions, and our beliefs without looking further into the processes that led us there. Mindfulness has become a big part of mental health treatment and life for many people. An important component of mindfulness can be identifying and understanding the way your mind works and not just what thoughts or emotions you may be experiencing. What follows are some common mental processes: Concentration Flow…
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Kaitlin Broderick, LCPC You just got back from another amazing date with a new person. You have been texting back and forth, having late night phone calls, and receiving the physical and emotional attention you had been fantasizing about just a few weeks earlier. Feeling giddy and euphoric, you can’t wait to call your friends and tell them the good news — you finally met “the one.” However, even though this exhilarating feeling is fun and new…
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Mindfulness has been practiced in Eastern cultures for centuries in religious, non-religious, and traditional ways. Like a tree with strong roots, mindfulness has become rooted in Western society. Mindfulness is quickly being integrated into our culture to help physicians care for their patients, in schools around the country, and by mental health professionals. Mental health providers use mindfulness as a tool to treat anxiety, depression, to reduce rumination, or for emotional and attention regulation. There are numerous…
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Effective communication is not as simple as it might seem on the surface. It is a skill that takes time, energy, and practice to develop. Effective communication is more than just talk. It involves active listening and appropriate, honest expression. Following are some helpful tips for the two elements of communication: expressing and listening. Expressing Effective expression will not put others on the defensive or escalate conflict. Try some of the recommendations below: Use “I” messages instead…
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