Have you found yourself lately comparing your life to what you see on social media? Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. make it easy for us to portray the type of life we want others to see. We show off when we graduate, get engaged, get pregnant, all exciting transitions and experiences in our lives. I can think of many times I am scrolling through my phone and then suddenly feel down. I feel like I’m not doing enough with my life and aren’t matching up to my peers in their milestones. We see ...read more

As a counselor who works with children and teens, I frequently see clients who struggle with expressing themselves. Some children become frustrated and angry more easily than others and their parents have no idea what to do with them. I see teens who have trouble being vulnerable with others and have requested counseling to get some support. Parents often describe their teens as “closed off” or “they keep to themselves”—and yes, most teens do this at some point or another. We all remember that ...read more

You’re driving at night. Headlights guiding through the winding roads, illuminating your path. You notice your vision becoming obscured by an ominous fog. You are driving down a road that you have gone down hundreds of times to get back home. The fog thickens and you begin to worry as your headlights can no longer guide you. So, you slow down, begin to question if you actually know the way the road is supposed to go. Your feelings of anxiety and uneasiness strengthen, and your confidence ...read more

I’m currently training for a marathon which, believe it or not, is a lot less dramatic than it sounds.  When I hear “marathon runner,” I typically think of some sleek, fast, athlete type who zips along with a 7:30 mile time and barely breaks a sweat.  Personally, I can’t walk the next day if I try to run a full mile in one go (and, believe me, I am not fast - my mile time is barely at 10:30).  I am about as far from that stereotype of a marathon runner as one can get.  I hear you wondering how I ...read more

“I think I’m going to throw up.” “I think I’m having a heart attack.” “I can’t breathe.” “It’s like a wave of despair.” “I was seeing red.” All these statements, made by past clients of mine, have something in common:  all are related to experiencing intense, sudden emotions that may come out of nowhere or may have a clear trigger.  In either situation, they are overwhelming and make it incredibly difficult to function as one needs to.  These intense waves of emotion can be disorienting and ...read more

If you’re a parent considering bringing your child to counseling, you might be wondering how a counselor can possibly help your child. You might be wondering what to tell your child or what you should expect. You also might be wondering what your role will be—or if you will have a role at all! If you’re considering counseling for your child, I want to commend you because it is never easy to ask for help, and beginning this process can be confusing. Because I work with kiddos of all ages, I’d ...read more

We hear the term self-care all the time. More often than not, we are probably joking about our lack of self-care, but something I see so often is a misunderstanding of what self-care really means. And let me tell you, when I finally realized its true meaning—woah. It was like a switch flipped. I was surprised at all of the self-care that I had been unintentionally doing in the past few weeks—because I didn’t realize what basic self-care was. Spoiler alert: It’s not just about bubble baths and ...read more