Whole Connection

Many of you have been reading our blogs over this past year and we thank you for joining us in our exploration of many themes and areas of interest.  We have tried to engage with topics reflecting the current atmosphere of our society and broader world.  Our posts were written with the hope of providing helpful information during tough times, supporting the development of new skills while working with our own struggles, and sparking insights on certain situations. In 2019 we’re striving to provide more. First up is a commitment to create video content on our new YouTube channel. We hope to provide mini practices and instructional videos that may help our viewers build new skills. In addition, I will be writing each week on a variety of topics as well as inviting guest writers from both inside and outside the clinic to share their expertise. I believe that we can heal through our community connections, just like we do in groups, so sharing information, teaching new skills, ...

Many of you have been reading our blogs over this past year and we thank you for joining us in our exploration of many themes and areas of interest.  We have tried to engage with topics reflecting the current atmosphere of our society and broader world.  Our posts were written with the hope of providing helpful information during tough times, supporting the development of new skills while working with our own struggles, and sparking insights on certain situations. In 2019 we’re striving to provide more. First up is a commitment to create video content on our new YouTube channel. We hope to provide mini practices and instructional videos that may help our viewers build new skills. In addition, I will be writing each week on a variety of topics as well as inviting guest writers from both inside and outside the clinic to share their expertise. I believe that we can heal through our community connections, just like we do in groups, so sharing information, teaching new skills, ...

The question of "Who am I?" is one that is asked so many times in life.  It helps shape our directions and who we surround ourselves with, it also draws certain people to us.  There are so many intersecting pieces that not one answer is ever going to fully define who we are, but so many of them define how people see us and our society treats us.  So, it is good for us to know as much as we can about them, because they are defining us even when we don't want them to be.  I can state that, because I am White, the world treats me with certain privileges and usually most circumstances are presented in a positive way for me.  And this is just one of my identities that grants me this privilege and how the world defines me, consciously or unconsciously. As a psychotherapist it is important for me to understand my identities as they affect the clients I work with everyday.  They can create more power and oppression in the client therapist relationship. ...

The realization that we are alone in life can often be scary, depressing, and frankly, overwhelming if we consider the existential aspect of it all.  In this month of love, in which Valentine’s day can feel as though this realization is essentially thrown in your face, it’s common for feelings of loneliness to spring forward. There are many ways in which we can feel alone.  One way could be the lack of connection to others through relationship, in which we are simply not in real touch with other humans. Then, there is the loneliness in which  there’s an estrangement from oneself. This inability to connect to one’s innermost self in a deep way is often what can lead one to reach out for connection to another human -- whether that be through family, friends, a romantic partner, a therapist, or a cozy animal friend. I wish to speak today to the aspect of aloneness from ourselves.  How is it that we can feel so deeply alone, and not stop to consider if we are seeking...

  AS things continue with COVID-19, I wanted to share a few techniques that might help each of us in this time of stress and fear. The following are all things you can do on your own. Please watch the video as it will give more details and allow you to follow along. BREATHING COUNT To slow our mind and to bring some ease back to it there are a lot of different breathing counts that can help us relax. This short breathing count can do just that. It might take several times or even minutes long version of this. Start by breathing in over a count of 7 Hold that breath for a count of 3 to 5, depending on what feels good for your lungs Release over a count of 5 with intention of letting go extremely slow to start WALKING MINDFULNESS Walking Mindfulness is much like walking meditation. The difference here is that this can happen at any moment in the day and we are attempting to be mindful of our speed and what is around us as we walk. We can do this in sev...