The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Before I started my career as a counselor, I found it difficult to communicate with others what I thought and felt. At that time in my life self help books gave me a safe environment in which I could read a book and be uplifted from my point of view with whatever the problem was. I often read spiritual based self-help books because I felt that God had to be part of positive change. It is not to say that others books that have no spiritual basis are not helpful, but that is what I connected to....
Feeling down from time to time is a normal part of life, but when emotions such as hopelessness and despair take hold and just won't go away, you may have depression. Depression makes it tough to complete daily task from eating to taking a shower to going to work. But no matter how hopeless you feel, you can get better. Learning about depression-and the many things you can do to help yourself-is the first step to overcoming the problem. What is depression? Depression is a common and...
1. Alcohol and drug free climate – One of the biggest indicator of long-term sobriety is whether or not the person of recovery has a substance free environment. In the beginning stages of recovery loved ones can assist the recovery process by removing any triggers for the person dealing with the addiction. 2. Actively listen – One of the biggest things you can do for a family member working on sobriety is listen, don’t judge or be critical, and be available. 3. Encourage healthy lifes...
Child Abuse- Child abuse can result from physical, emotional, or sexual harm; it can even result from neglect. There are multiple causes and connections which can contribute to child abuse such as alcoholism, substance abuse, anger issues, and poverty just to name a few. But child abuse has no limits--it affects all strata of life. It does not see or care about who you are, where you come from, or where you have been. Studies show that one in eight boys and one in four girls are sexually abused...
What makes us motivated to make changes in our lives? Alfred Adler, the father of the Individual Psychology Model, believed that people make choices which bring about pleasure. In other words, find meaning in life. Do you ever feel like you’re stuck and things will never change? That’s true if you never take any action or are too scared to change. We often complain about our circumstance but do nothing to make it better. There are those who believe whatever we speak we will receive. I, too, bel...
First, to make counseling truly Christian we must bring our faith and our counseling together in our mind. Christ-centered counseling requires more than devoted Christians who are expertly trained in the fields of counseling. It is the presence of God and the Holy Spirit into the counseling process that makes Christian counseling. This begins by recognizing Christ as the only wonderful Counselor. He becomes our model. Christian counseling is grounded in the Bible, and most often seeks to help a...
Growing up in a gender-based family, there were distinct roles that my father and mother had, but there was some moderate flexibility ( e.g., my father played with children and my mother disciplined the children). I don't recall any argument concerning parental roles, but I also do not recollect ever seeing my Dad do what is typically considered a feminine role, in a historically Mexican family, of cleaning the home, washing clothing and cooking. My father died at an early age of thirty-nine,...
Some people are born with a more positive disposition while others are born with more of a negative disposition case in point my two little boys. One is often always positive and the other is often thinking negatively, but there is hope. The latest research in neuroscience and positive psychology demonstrates that we can mold our brains and ourselves to be more positive, which is great news for all our children. I believe that positive kids become positive adults and as parents we can play a sig...
A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that more than four out of five parents are concerned that their children are exposed to too much televised drama, sex and violence -- yet millions of youngsters are still enthusiastically watching hours of TV daily, with little or no supervision. That's unsettling news for clinicians and medical professionals alike. American children spend an average of six hours each day watching TV or using other media devices . That's more time than they devote...
I would like to discuss the current trend I am seeing as a clinician in regards to medication not being prescribed to children with mental health concerns. In these same cases, the primary care doctor and/or psychiatrist refused to medicate a child after therapeutic interventions have been tried for several months with little or no success, and have been short-lived due to the fact that the child had not stabilized from symptomatology of a classifiable DSM-5 diagnoses. As a result, the child...
Non-verbal communication: When we communicate, we can say a lot without speaking. Our body posture, tone of voice, and the expressions on our faces all convey a message. If our feelings don’t fit with our words, it is often the non-verbal communication that gets “heard”and believed. Notice whether your body language reflects what you are saying, thinking, or feeling. Communicating clearly in a relationship: Talk to each other. No matter how well you know and love one other, you cannot read...
Boundaries are essential to healthy relationships and, really, a healthy life. Setting and sustaining boundaries is a skill that takes practice. Having healthy boundaries means “knowing and understanding what your limits are. I. Give yourself permission. Fear, guilt, negative life experience, and doubt are possible barriers to preventing one from creating healthy boundaries. If one sets and enforces boundaries, you might feel guilty by speaking up or saying “No” to a family member. One might fea...
Coping with day-to-day stressors such as marriage, kids, work, finances, and life in general, is an important topic to examine. We all go through some type of struggle in our lives. I think the key is to remember that how we respond to those stressors has an impact on what happens next. Most of us tend to focus on what we cannot do and not what we can do. By that I mean, we focus on how horrible the situation is-how we will not be able to get through the problem. We tend to have a negative...
First, let us discuss what the divorce rates are to get a better understanding of the need for counseling or marriage and family therapy. Did you know that fifty percent of all North American children will witness the divorce of their parents? Almost half of them will, unfortunately, also observe the breakup of a parent's second marriage (Furstenberg and others -Life Course-). Did you also know that 24 million children in America—one out of three—live without their biological dad in the hom...
Are you Bipolar? Do you get “diagnosed” by family and friends who think you are Bipolar? Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to function. Different from the normal mood swings we all experience, the symptoms of bipolar disorder are destructive in nature. They can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide. However, there is good news--Bipolar disorder is tr...
Military life can be very stressful for Soldiers and their Families. Soldiers are constantly being bombarded with training, deployment, re-acclimation to the home front, and then repeating the cycle many times over. As the military is gaining more knowledge and researching the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), there are concerns that many soldiers are resorting to alcohol and substance abuse to alleviate the pressure of various transitions as has...
WHY COUNSELING? Are you troubled by your life experiences or traumatic events? Are you having difficulty in a relationship? Do you find yourself having a hard time overcoming a recent loss? Do you drink alcohol, use drugs or medication to take physical or emotional pain away? Do find yourself wanting to improve overall? Counseling/Therapy is a treatment modality that uses specific techniques of caring that have been created to offer effective, long-lasting help for people suffering from a wide...
The name Flakka comes from the Spanish word "flaca," which means "skinny girl." The drug is sold in other parts of the United States as "Gravel." The drug comes in the form of a white crystal (Gravel) or a pink crystal (Flakka) that is foul-smelling. Flakka can be snorted, swallowed, injected or vaped in an e-cigarette. While its effects are generally felt for three or four hours, they can continue for days. This new synthetic drug has increasingly been reported in Ohio, Texas, and several recen...