Mental Health Blog

What is Positive Parenting?

“Because I said so!!”How many times did your parents say this phrase to you? How often were you spanked as a child? How much yelling was there in your house growing up?It’s safe to say that parenting styles have changed over the years. While spanking may have been deemed okay years ago, most parents agree now that hitting a child...[ read more ]

Parenting After a Divorce

Parenting After A Divorce When a marriage ends, and the couple has no children, there are only two people that need to heal, regroup, and move forward with their lives. However, if you introduce children into the equation, the situation becomes far more complex.  I have worked with a number of children from divorced families, and many factors can impact...[ read more ]

Parenting a Teenage Girl

Parenting A Teenage Girl A roll of her eyes, sighing, “attitude”, arguments, pushing limits.  If you are the parent of a teenage girl, you may be all too familiar with these themes. What happened, you may think to yourself, to the sweet girl who used to love going to the park with me, having tea parties, and snuggling on the...[ read more ]

Benefits of Co-Parenting (And How to Do It)

When two people decide to separate or divorce, the first question they usually must answer is, “What’s best for the children?” Well, according to the Third International Conference on Shared Parenting, co-sponsored by the National Parents Organization and the International Council on Shared Parenting, children need both parents in their life, no matter how those two adults feel about each...[ read more ]

How Family Therapy Can Help During This Lingering Covid Crisis

It has been almost a year since the world changed with the Covid-19 virus. After months and months of being locked down, many families are experiencing burnout from being forced to be home together so much.While the vaccines are being rolled out, we are still getting mixed reports and messages from the media as to when life might return to...[ read more ]

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury

It is a common misconception that if someone is cutting themselves, that they are trying to kill themselves. Sometimes when people hurt themselves, they are trying to relieve some sort of emotional pain or tension. When they are experiencing negative and emotional thoughts, they may self-harm to regain a sense of control of their bodies and pain. Some may self-harm...[ read more ]

Helping Kids Cope with Divorce

Divorce isn’t easy for anyone, but children can take it particularly hard. Many children don’t understand what is happening and many more feel the divorce is somehow their fault.  Here’s how you can help your child cope:Communicate OpenlyThe divorce should be explained in simple and straightforward terms. If at all possible, both parents should be part of the conversation. Your language...[ read more ]

What Determines Gender Identity and How Can Parents Help?

What makes someone feel they have been born into the wrong body? Gender identity is a prominent topic these days thanks to the transgender movement, yet many people are still uncertain about what causes this issue.What is it, exactly, that determines whether an individual thinks of themselves as “male” or “female” or something else or neither of these two options?...[ read more ]

How to Bring Up Resilient Children

Have you heard the phrase “helicopter parent?” It describes a mother or father that ‘hovers’ around their child 24/7, overseeing their life to keep them from every potential danger, pitfall and mishap. It looks good on paper, but this kind of parenting forgets one important fact of reality: life happens.Adversity happens to all of us. Those children who engage with adversity...[ read more ]

How to Talk to an Angry Teenager

It's well known that the teen years are the most trying time for parents. It may seem like their rebellion is personal, and that they're determined to make your home life miserable; but in reality, this is a natural process. Your teenager is maturing both physically and emotionally, and their brain is still developing. When their frontal cortex develops in...[ read more ]



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