THE BLOG 

Ah, the holiday season! A time filled with laughter, food, and the occasional family squabble. For many, family gatherings are a mix of joy and a dash of dysfunction. But with a little perspective and some therapeutic tips, we can transform these gatherings into memorable experiences. Let’s explore how to put the “fun” in dysfunction.

The holidays are often dubbed "the most wonderful time of the year," but for lots of us, spending extended periods with family can bring as much stress as joy. Whether it’s navigating complex dynamics, managing differing opinions, or just enduring the sheer amount of togetherness, family gatherings can quickly become overwhelming. However, with a little preparation and the right mindset, surviving the holidays with family doesn’t have to feel like a survival challenge.

Boundaries are a frequent topic in therapy spaces during the period leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. And while it makes perfect sense that we need good boundaries to have happy relationships, creating boundaries can be frustrating and confusing. Add in other people’s reactions, and you have the recipe for more than turkey and stuffing.

Family gatherings often come with a range of expectations, from the pressure to participate in every tradition to dealing with difficult conversations or old unresolved conflicts. Without clear boundaries, these situations can quickly become overwhelming.

How we move forward in victory or defeat, will have a profound impact on our relationships, our mental health, and our ability to have a positive impact on the world.  In the aftermath of this election, it is time to hold ourselves to the highest standards in how we show up to our (virtual and real) communities, our relationships, our places of work, our places of worship, and our families.  No matter who the elected leaders are in this country, we have a lot of work to do to repair the damage we have done to each other during this election cycle and work to foster a culture of decency and respect.

As you prepare for the aftermath of this election, I encourage you to stay grounded in these principles:

While the death of a loved one, the death of a dream, or the reality of life’s painful limitations requires that we let go of things that we have cherished, grief can become fertile ground for discovery of meaning and connection to that which is most valuable to us.

 Grieving the loss of what you thought your life would be can be a painful part of approaching middle age. This form of grief can come up when reality differs from the life you envisioned for yourself. It can stem from unfulfilled dreams, unexpected life changes, or the realization that certain goals or aspirations are no longer attainable.

Grief is the feeling that occurs when you lose someone or something important to you. The loss can be through death or change related to a friend moving away or even changing schools.

Grief is often associated with death, but it can also be a response to other kinds of loss. When you go through a major life transition, even positive changes can bring about feelings of grief.

Suicide awareness among our senior citizens is a unique challenge with its own set of risk factors including isolation, health issues, and loss.

Teenage depression can be difficult to detect sometimes. Teen therapist, Cathy Birden, shares some helpful ways to talk to kids about depression and provides information for parents about the warning signs to look for.

Launching your kids into the world can make you feel lost, often searching for purpose and meaning in life as your roles shift within the family. Therapist, Nancy Cofran, offers some helpful tips to discovering joy and meaning in this new phase of life.

Are you struggling with rumination and worry? Do you feel like you are on a vicious loop in your mind and you can’t get a break? Therapist, Beth Dean, shares some practical tips to ease your mind and find some relief from obsessive thoughts.

We engage in therapy because something hurts and we hope to see it change. The safety and ease we once felt in a relationship is gone. Our outlook on the world has changed from rosy to gloomy. Perhaps we feel stuck in a traumatic moment or notice lingering anxiety in our minds and bodies even after a threat has passed.

Holistic therapy is an integrative, progressive form of therapy that combines different tools and approaches to fit the needs of the individual client. The therapist’s goal is to empower clients to take control of their mental, physical and spiritual health to reach their goals through inspiring wellness. This unique approach looks at how healing the body heals the mind and how healing the mind heals the body.

EMDR is ‘short’ for eye movement, desensitization and reprocessing therapy. It is a comprehensive type of therapy, not just the part most people associate with it: which is the eye movement back and forth (bilateral stimulation). The eye movements can be achieved through finger movements, watching a light bar, holding the buzzers, tapping on knees, or audio tones through headphones. It is an eight phase treatment created by Francine Shapiro for addressing traumatic memories which includes such steps as: history taking, practicing re-stabilizing your emotions, the actual processing of the trauma, the closure step, logging your reactions, and then re-checking the memory during the next session.

As a parent, watching your child grieve can be an incredibly painful experience leaving you feeling helpless, heartbroken, and lost.  For some families, grief shows up after a transition:  a divorce, a move, or an illness.  For others, the loss of a family member, a friend, or a beloved pet initiates the grief process.  During these times, parents struggle to talk to their kids about the difficult emotions commonly experienced with grief.  Although periods of grief in a family can be incredibly difficult, they can be invaluable in creating intimacy in close relationships and building strong coping skills throughout the emotional process.