We all know it's not about the turkey. Thanksgiving is about family, friends, and about counting our blessings: a roof over our head, health, food on the table (and pumpkin pie too), people who care about us, rain after a long hot summer... Thanksgiving offers us a chance to look for the many things we [...]
Anger is something we all deal with. But how we deal with it is different from one person to another. Some of my clients are really good at bottling it up. They turn their anger inward and become depressed, passive aggressive, or ill with inflammatory disease. These are clients who tend to choose their words [...]
Last week I turned 50. I am still letting this sink in but am finding it overall very suitable. You made it, my husband and friends told me. Made what? To mid-life, would be an obvious answer. Closer to retirement. To a point in time where I can see my children making it on their [...]
If you have ever wondered why my counseling practice is called "For You Are Made of Stars", here is why. Nine years ago my family and I visited beautiful Nelson, British Columbia. Exploring downtown, we stumbled across a small French bakery, tucked away on a small back lane. We stepped inside, and while my kids [...]
As I am utilizing quite a bit of EMDR in my work with clients, here is a brief introduction to this unique healing approach. Initially developed for the treatment of trauma, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) has shown high efficacy in the resolution of many mental health problems, sometimes in only one or two [...]
It is summer, the sky is high and blue, and everything and everyone around you seems touched with a smile. Everyone except you. Of course, you are trying to put one on, maybe even practice it in front of the mirror, because a smile, after all, is what one would expect from a new mother. [...]
Did you know that bamboo grown for timber takes three years to germinate and sprout? Three years the bamboo farmer needs to water the seed, every day. For a thousand days, the farmer needs to show up and water the ground, not knowing when a green sprout breaks through the ground or if it [...]
I recently gave a presentation on postpartum mental health to a group of new mothers. Each woman was in different state of attending to her newborn's needs (nursing, rocking, holding, soothing, cuddling, burping) while they were talking with each other, sharing community resources, advice and their trials (and errors). When it was time for my [...]
As a therapist and facilitator of a monthly free support group for women struggling with infertility and/or early pregnancy loss, I bear witness to the full range of grief expressing itself. Not being able to conceive or to keep a pregnancy is a loss like no other. It questions the very fabric of a woman's [...]
Man's best friend has received much praise, and here is more to come, prompted by witnessing our dog's reaction to a recent traumatic injury. Our dog, avid ball catcher and squirrel chaser, managed to jam a two inch piece of wood between two of her front paw toes. Nothing was noticed at the time of [...]