Free Mental Health Worksheets I’ve created a resource library full of absolutely free mental health worksheets, articles, journal prompts, meditations, and more! These are the self-improvement tools and resources that I’ve put together over decades of work as a therapist and coach. I realized there’s no point in keeping these self-improvement tools exclusively for my clients when they could […]
Why You Need Realistic Expectations and How to Set Them
“Expectations are resentments waiting to happen.” – Anne Lamott Realistic expectations have the power to make you happier. The holidays don’t feel like the “most wonderful time of the year” for everyone. It’s emotionally difficult to join in holiday celebrations when you’re experiencing grief, strained relationships, infertility, divorce, or difficult family dynamics. The single most important piece of advice […]
Tips for Reducing Stress from Your Holiday Celebrations
Holiday celebrations are an opportunity to get together and celebrate the season with family and friends, but they’re also a source of stress, especially if you are trying to maintain your sobriety. Between conflicts among guests to the stress of planning celebrations or deciding which events to attend when your schedule is double-booked, there are many ways the holidays can […]
How to Use Mindfulness to Cope with Holiday Stress
How can you use mindfulness to cope with holiday stress? Do you find you’re frequently trying to squeeze more into your day by multi-tasking? Or do you miss pieces of conversations or opportunities to connect because you’re distracted, rehashing the past, or worrying about the future? In an effort to be more productive, we often try to do […]
14 Gratitude Journal Prompts
We need gratitude more than ever. When we’re feeling discouraged, alone, anxious, or angry, it’s hard to be grateful. We know we’re supposed to feel grateful. It’s Thanksgiving-time after all. But you may be having a hard time tapping into gratitude right now. Our country is in turmoil, leaving us with a heaviness that’s hard to shake. Or maybe […]
My Boyfriend Won’t Commit
Fear of Commitment Do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend who won’t commit? If you’ve never experienced this yourself, chances are that you’ve had a frustrated friend who wants to know: “How long should I wait for him to commit?”. I recently contributed to a column on the website Love Evolve and Thrive about how to cope with fear […]
How to Cope with Election Stress When You’re a Highly Sensitive Person
The election is stressing me out! I think we’re all ready for this presidential election to be over. It’s deteriorated into mudslinging, polarization, divisiveness, hate, intolerance, and plain old immaturity. And it seems like it’s getting worse every week. If you’re a highly sensitive person, as I am, you feel things deeply. You’re not only sensitive to criticism […]
What Causes Codependency?
What Causes Codependency? Once people recognize that they have codependent traits, they often begin to wonder where these codependent tendencies came from. Why are some people susceptible to codependency in their adult relationships? What causes codependency? Why is it so hard to break free from codependent relationships? While the answers aren’t the same for everyone, for most people it begins […]