Implicit or unconscious bias refers to attitudes we have but are unaware of about people and the stereotypes we associate with them. They constitute our preferences or aversions, often around — but not limited to —race or ethnicity, and are...
How to Stay When You Want to Flee Relationships are hard. Maintaining a happy coexistence with another human being – even someone you care deeply about – has its challenges. Like any living thing, relationships change over time and are...
“What’s for dinner?” can be the most depressing and difficult question for busy parents to answer. After all, dinner is relentless. Night after night, whether you’re hitting the fast food drive-thru on the way to your kid’s lacrosse practice or...
Moving Out of a Fixed Perspective through Compassionate Discourse You made it through the holidays and those challenging, awkward, possibly heated dinner table discussions about the election. Some of those people you may not see again for another year, yet...
The need to be right is a common human trait. We all want to look our best in front of others, but when does that need cross over to being more destructive than constructive? And is it useful in the...
Our therapists often hear from clients that, in relationships of many kinds (with bosses, coworkers, significant others, partners, friends, family) they lack the confidence to ask for what they need. In an effort to avoid being seen as pushy, demanding...
Purposeful Parenting: Summer Playtime Carving out meaningful time with each of your children every day can simultaneously sound like a no-brainer and — in the midst of all the scheduled activities and day-to-day responsibilities — a daunting task. As parents,...
Keep the Fireworks in Your Marriage – And Be a Good Parent New parents, as well as those who have been at it for a while, can find themselves drifting apart as they put more and more effort into caring...
In popular culture, mothers are often revered as both the backbone of our families and vilified as the source of all our problems. For better or worse, mothers shape who we are. And this Sunday, we honor them. It’s been said that motherhood...
Teen Dating Few words spark more concern for a parent. The realities of dating make teenagers uncomfortable as well. Parents worry about an increase in risky behavior and the drama that can come with dating. Teens face all the social...
By Marta Oko-Riebau This post is about your right to communicate your thoughts, wishes and intentions in a clear manner. It is about assertiveness. Most of us occasionally forget about this important right and then have to suffer the consequences...
By Marta Oko-Riebau Ava always wanted to have a house with a garden and a Siamese cat that she would call “Sphinx”. Growing up at her parent’s apartment she was not allowed to have pets because her parents considered them...
by Claudia Gray, MA, LPC On many levels, it is a really good thing to know how to defend ourselves. However, too much of a good thing can get in our way and make life harder and less joyful. When...
by Hazel Field Melmed, LCSW We have all heard that communication is a key ingredient for good relationships, yet many of us struggle to express ourselves in the best way possible in order to get what we want or need....
by Chris Lewis, Ed.S., LPC Parent: Pick up your room! Child: I will, I will. Parent: Pick it up NOW! Child: Okay, okay! Parent: I said NOW, YOUNG MAN, and I MEAN NOW! Child: Okay! Get off my back! Parent:...
by Lisa Ransford, LPC, CAC II Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are. — Bernice Johnson Reagon There are two things in life that are certain: aging parents and...
by Chris Lewis, Ed.S., LPC Leo Tolstoy, in the classic novel Anna Karenina, said that “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” While I am not willing to say I completely agree that...
by Joel Silverman, MA, LPC “Please put the cell phone away!” I hear myself say with more than a little irritation to my teenage son as we make yet another attempt to sit at the dinner table for more than...
by Chris Lewis, Ed.S., LPC There are actually a lot of rules that govern unhappy families, but here are three that I come across often while working with families, going to (eavesdropping at) the grocery store, eating (spying) at restaurants,...
Chris Lewis, EdS, LPC Trust me. I know what it’s like. You’ve just had the billionth phone call from the ex about why he can’t take the kids again this weekend after you’ve made, and cancelled and made again, plans...