Children and teens needs to feel heard and understood just as much as adults. With teens it is particularly important to listen more than speak in order to give them time to be understood. When parents do decide to speak, it can be most helpful to relate and empathize instead of teach or criticize. All […]
I have worked with individuals and couples who were in open relationships and the reality is that each person and relationship is unique and much like clothes, relationships are not "one size fits all." I have come up with 4 questions to ask before starting an open relationship to help people decide if it is a good choice for them. Do I think […]
In grad school, I had a professor that gave us an assignment that required us to put ourselves in situations in which we are the minority and we were not allowed to tell people it was a school assignment. While I dreaded the task, I also appreciated the challenge. I am a white, heterosexual with […]
Click here to read an article I contributed to on stopping your panic attack in his tracks.
There are probably and infinite number of things not to say to someone who is/was hospitalized but here is a short list: You don’t look sick! Did you catch up on your Netflix binging? My dog had that! Once we treated her, she was so much better!! I’m so sorry you’re not feeling well! I […]
Webster’s defines assertive as disposed to or characterized by bold or confident statements and behavior. From my perspective, assertiveness is the blending of the ‘best’ qualities found in aggression and passivity, expressing your feelings but doing it in a way that does not degrade the other person or yourself. It seems that being assertive in […]
I have been working with addicts for several years and I have learned that as unique the disease of addiction is, it is also startlingly similar to other diseases. As with other diseases and public health concerns, prevention is always easier and cheaper than treatment to eliminate the disease. So if you are asking yourself […]
Do you procrastinate? I do. After recently putting something simple off for about a week and laughing to myself when I finally forced myself to deal with it, I started to think about why I did that to myself. I do not enjoy doing things that I think will be annoying. It sounds simple but […]
In a culture were we talk about just about everything, we have stopped talking about HIV/AIDs and other STIs. Sex is in ads for soda, sex is a topic for political debate, sex is on social media, tv, billboards, etc. So why aren’t we talking about STIs? Condom and lubricate ads are commonplace, promising more […]