A couple will get to the point where they have tried everything—their friends’ therapist’s suggestions, the latest book, whatever they found on google—and are feeling desperate. That’s when they come to my office. (Might I take a moment to suggest it really is...
So there we all were going about our daily lives, getting used to the kids being back at school, talking about if winter would be mild or hard, deciding if we needed to buy wood this year or if we had enough...
A family comes into my office visibly upset; their six year old was threatened on the bus two mornings ago. A few days later I get called because a teenager was pulled into the principal’s office for hitting a classmate who, it turned out,...
After a successful year with Lynn Harnack as our first Naropa Counseling intern, Peak to Peak Counseling has accepted two new interns to provide sliding scale counseling sessions to our mountain community. Moon Myerson and Gen Morley will volunteer with Peak to Peak Counseling...
“Oscar Wilde said: ‘Each man kills the thing he loves.’ And it’s true. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of an ordinary person with guilt. We look around us at those who have failed to get what...
A mother and daughter have been working on communication skills for the past few weeks. We’d worked through “I statements” (don’t talk about the other person, talk about yourself) which eliminated much of the assumptions, blaming and escalation. Now we’re working on feelings....
This morning my ex-husband called to let me know his grandmother had died. I met her seventeen years ago when she still lived on her own in Chicago. At that time she was a spry, sharp woman clothed in bright colors and chunky...
“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth....
“Oh Amy, you don’t understand how bad my life really is. If you did you wouldn’t believe in change; you wouldn’t have hope for me.” I hear some version of this sentiment at least once a week. When I started as a...
As I’m walking a family out to the waiting room the front door bursts open and a friend announces I’ve left the dome light on in my car. It’s late in the afternoon and I haven’t driven since early that morning; it was a...
