This election has elicited strong emotions and passionate debates. I’ve noticed much of the language used in conversations, both in the media and behind closed doors, incorporates victim/blaming language instead of language of curiosity and connection. “I might as well be a sitting...
“I’m just confused and hurt! I have been friends with my contractor for years. We had multiple meetings about my home addition and I thought we were in agreement about the project. But all of a sudden he’s refusing to finish my...
“You really, really don’t want kids, do you?” Bert leaned forward in his seat, pointing his finger at his wife. “You work 60 hours a week and in the evenings you always want to go out. You don’t have time for children!”...
Part of my job is obtaining Continuing Education Credits to renew my license and keep a variety of certifications current. The last couple of weeks I started sharing little bits of wisdom and provocative questions from my recent American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy...
Part of my job is obtaining Continuing Education Credits to renew my license and keep a variety of certifications current. Many I earn locally but I try to choose one conference every year that is 1) in a different part of the country near...
Part of my job is obtaining Continuing Education Credits to renew my license and keep a variety of certifications current. Many I earn locally but I try to choose one conference every year that is 1) in a different part of the country near...
The first three things Rosemarie told me when she met me. One, she was a fine, fierce black woman old enough to be my mother and I better never forget that. Two, she was HIV positive which was not AIDS, and I should...
It’s been almost two months since the Cold Springs Fire and it has ignited quite a bit of controversy in our mountain community. Official and grassroots meetings, Facebook and in-person groups, local and national media attention—it appears that anyone and everyone has an opinion...
“One of my best friends left a marriage where her husband beat her, and a man at my church found out his wife was cheating on him for fifteen years. Nothing like that is happening in my marriage, so I should make it work,...
In the course of counseling I hear certain charged words over and over again. Part of getting to know a new client is learning, what do these words mean to them? Often people will express frustration with me. How can I not...
