Today was a long day. The kids are back to school and the early morning coupled with the restart of all of their activities means I spend a lot of time in the car. In Houston, for me, the car means aggravation, frustration and a little bit of road rage (maybe more than a littleContinue reading “Time in the car…”
Tag Archives: DBT Skills
Emotions with a point…
I’ve been thinking about mental health a lot lately. We use words like diagnosis and disorder pretty freely in working with clients. We’re trained in school to think in terms of pathology and symptoms. To look for disorder or illness. To search for dysfunction. In my DBT skills group the other day, we started talkingContinue reading “Emotions with a point…”
Readiness to change
When I’m working with a client, one of the first things I have to assess is how ready they are to change. There are formal questionnaires that can be used to measure how ready an alcoholic is to give up drinking or how ready an addict is to give up their drug of choice. ForContinue reading “Readiness to change”
Sports Parenting Part 2
We’ve all been there. You’re at the game, watching happily as your child plays their chosen position. Then they do it. They make the worst decision they could possibly make. In soccer, which my daughter plays, they do a soft cross in front of their own goal when playing defense. Your heart sinks. The otherContinue reading “Sports Parenting Part 2”
Food and love…
Food is love. For me and for a lot of people, food is a way to offer myself care and rewards. It’s one of the ways I show my kids I love them (hello rainbow cakes). When I was a child and I did something good, my mother would take me to Dairy Queen. ThisContinue reading “Food and love…”
The tyranny of the blank page – ALSO controlled breathing skill training
Today was a difficult one for a lot of different goals. For example, it’s 10:12PM and I’m just now sitting down trying to figure out what I want to write. I also woke up at 4AM, my heart racing and my breath short – for no reason that I can come up with, other thanContinue reading “The tyranny of the blank page – ALSO controlled breathing skill training”
Sports Parenting
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about sports parenting. Or really activity parenting. My own parents drove me to whatever sport I wanted to participate in, but were never the team mom or all that involved. They attended games, but never had an opinion on how I played – or really even knowledge. My dadContinue reading “Sports Parenting”
Back to school
Back to school. When I was younger back to school was the best and the worst day of the year. Best, because I loved the smell of freshly sharpened pencils and new notebooks. Worst, because of the early morning after a summer of lazy sleeping in or, when I got a little older, working oddContinue reading “Back to school”
The spinning
We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. Walt Disney There was a ride that I loved at Valley Fair, an amusement park near where I grew up, when I was a kid. It was called the scrambler, it would beContinue reading “The spinning”
Serenity Now!!!
When I was younger, I loved the first day of school. I loved picking out school supplies; choosing the perfect first day of school outfit at the mall; and the smell of new backpacks and those highlighter markers that smell like blueberries. I couldn’t wait to see my friends after a long summer (even theContinue reading “Serenity Now!!!”
Running for Disney 