relationship challenges Archives

two clear hands held out in front of a face that is blurry to communicate boundaries and saying no

How Do I Set Boundaries?: Learning to Care for Yourself by Advocating for Your Needs

March 18, 2022

anxiety counseling, boundaries, communication challenges, depression therapy, family challenges, family dynamics, poor self-esteem, relationship challenges, self-care, self-image

While the term boundary gets used often these days, it doesn’t mean it’s easy to understand what boundaries are necessarily, or what it takes to establish and reinforce them. My eldest started playing basketball this year, and while I’m typically not a huge sports fan, I was invested when it came to watching her play. One of the things that I quickly learned was when…

Why Does This Keep Happening to Me?: How Our Attachment Styles Can Impact Our Relationships

February 23, 2022

communication challenges, coping patterns, family challenges, family dynamics, poor self-esteem, relationship challenges, self-image, trauma

I’ll be honest, when I decided to pursue a career as a therapist, one of the motivating factors was the desire to better understand myself and my own relationship patterns. Yes, I wanted to offer others support and care, but I also wanted to learn how to better engage with others and finally figure out why I was drawn to the same type of dating…

Am I Codependent If I Enjoy Having My Needs Met & Meeting The Needs of Others?: Interdependence 101

February 17, 2021

communication challenges, coping patterns, family dynamics, relationship challenges, social support

What does it mean to “need” others (and to be needed in return) the exact right amount? Even though I’m a therapist myself, I’ve struggled with this in my own relationships. When I was younger, I sometimes relied on my romantic relationships for validation and sense of self, and was often crushed when I didn’t feel supported enough. Now, I’m in a different place: I’m…

Can I Move Towards My Goals While Resisting Perfectionism?: Getting Past the Inner Critic

January 16, 2021

anxiety therapy, coping patterns, depression therapy, relationship challenges, trauma therapy, work stress

This past fall, we moved some things around in our previously neglected backyard. We thought having a dedicated play space would help our kids, as well as afford us more breathing room during the pandemic. I began starting evenings with vision boards, shopping lists, and poring over Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for deals. I wanted to make sure anything we bought fit the greater “vision.”…

How Do We Keep Going In Hard Times?: Recognizing Our Own Resilience May Help

December 16, 2020

coping patterns, depression, relationship challenges, social support

Our resilience increases as we recognize the magnitude of what we have already accomplished. -Patricia O’Gorman Do you remember last December? I do, but it feels like a million years away. This has been a year of many adjustments. Only a week ago, I felt like I was staring down the barrel of another lockdown. Today, I’m still reeling, but feel a glimmer of optimism…

Do You Worry That You’re A Burden?: 5 Tips for Learning How to Accept Help

September 18, 2020

communication challenges, family dynamics, relationship challenges, social support, work stress

“I don’t want to bother anybody.” “I don’t want to be a burden.” “I should be able to do it myself.” We are currently experiencing many layers of loss and overwhelm. For most of us, it’s a loss of normalcy in general: we don’t have the activities or the routines we’re used to. We may be feeling stretched by new work demands and remote school…

Can I Tell My Therapist When They Get It Wrong? The Short Answer: Yes

August 20, 2020

anxiety therapy, communication challenges, coping patterns, depression therapy, family dynamics, relationship challenges, social support, trauma therapy

I’m a therapist, but I’ve also been in and out of therapy since I was quite little. I’ve worked with some therapists that were helpful, some that were unhelpful, and some that, looking back now, I can see did more harm than good. In my teens and early 20s, what I would often do if my therapist said something that hurt me (or they seemed…

Calling Them In: Talking to Your Non-Black Parents about Anti-Black Racism

July 20, 2020

coping patterns, culturally affirming therapy, family dynamics, relationship challenges, social support

I wasn’t looking forward to Father’s Day this year. While I missed my father and planned to see him, I knew we would have to take additional precautions– wearing masks for the duration of our time together, meeting outdoors, and maintaining six feet of distance. This makes it hard to connect, especially with my children present. And given that I had been thinking about the…

Start Where You Are: The Lifelong Commitment to Being An Ally

June 8, 2020

coping patterns, culturally affirming therapy, family dynamics, relationship challenges, social support

I will be the first to admit that I have had to do some hard work recently, and that until the past couple of weeks, I was not always actively thinking about or challenging my own privilege. While I considered myself a feminist and an ally, there was a lot that was happening in our country and that happened in our history, that I didn’t…

To Touch and Be Touched: Physical Connection and Mental Health

February 17, 2020

anxiety counseling, coping patterns, depression therapy, relationship challenges, social support

When you think of troublemaking middle schoolers, you might picture them doing things like smoking or talking back to adults. When I was in the 6thgrade, while those things were happening too, we often got in trouble for– wait for it – excessive hugging. That’s right, our school administrators had to reprimand us for being late to class because we were busy giving each other…

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