Celal Aydemir, MA, LPC The Turkish word “arkadaş” means a friend, the rock behind your back, as well as someone you are willing to be there for through thick and thin. We may strive to be that kind of friend to...

*Thank you to Karin Bustamante, MA, LPC, for her contributions to this blog post. To contact Karin directly, visit her profile here. The New Year is traditionally a time for resolutions. The start of a new year can evoke a...

“Why are you drinking?” demanded the little prince. “So that I may forget,” replied the tippler. “Forget what?” inquired the little prince, who already was sorry for him. “Forget that I am ashamed,” the tippler confessed, hanging his head. “Ashamed...

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 New Year is a natural time for reflection, for taking stock of where we’ve been and looking ahead to where we’d like to be. More often than not, we are critical of the past and overwhelmed by the prospect...

The holidays are a time for celebration and happy gatherings with family and friends. Some people, however, find that celebrating the holidays in the traditional sense brings anything but peace and joy. Rather than looking forward to it, this time...

The purpose of this blog is to explore through the recent holidays where spirituality and therapy connect and share some information about how that may not be widely known among majority culture. Through this blog, the aim is to examine...

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...

Many people go around feeling that something is not quite right.  They aren’t as happy as they once were or don’t feel at ease the way they used to.  What they typically do to snap out of a slump no...

Labor Day has become known as summer’s last hurrah, but do you know why we started celebrating this day?  Despite evidence to the contrary, Labor Day was not created to mark the unofficial end of summer or to clearly establish...

The term “sandwich generation” was coined by social worker Dorothy Miller in 1981 to describe a new generation of women who were taking care of both their own children and one or both aging parents.  Since then, the definition has...

The oldest baby boomers (the generation born between 1946 and 1964) are turning 70 this year. With an estimated 76 million total boomers, the issues around aging are about to take center stage like no other time in history.  In...

Please enjoy this blog written by Karin Bustamante, MA, LPC, one of our therapists here at Maria Droste Counseling Center. Karin works with clients on a number of issues and areas, including life transitions, grief, anxiety, depression, emotional and/or physical...

“Stop creating a life you need a vacation from. Instead, move to where you want to live, do what you want to do, start what you want to start, and create the life you want to live today. This isn’t...

This story went around the Internet a while ago:  A Harvard psychology professor gave a lecture.  She started by holding up a glass of water.  The students assumed she would ask the obvious question, is the glass half full or...

What is mindfulness? “Mindfulness is a state of relaxed and alert attention of the present moment. It involves focusing just on what’s happening now,” writes clinical psychologist Sophie Henshaw. A lack of mindfulness manifests in several ways: constant racing thoughts,...

It’s a common theme these days: I have everything I need and things are generally okay, but I have an ongoing sense of unease… Something is missing or preventing me from fully experiencing life… I want to feel that there...

Whether you are among the 45% of Americans who usually make New Year’s resolutions, or you are in the 38% who never make them (Statistics Brain Research Institute, 2015), chances are at some point you have wanted to make a...

More than any other time of the year, the holiday season emphasizes family. Images of happy families gathered around a Thanksgiving feast are all over television commercials and magazines. Everyone seems to be making plans to be somewhere with family....

Marta Oko-Riebau, MA Let’s hurry to love people, they vanish so quickly And all that’s left behind are empty shoes, a deaf phone… Only what’s unimportant drags on forever, That what really matters happens much too quickly… Don’t be certain there’s...

By Marta Oko-Riebau Ever since I started studying psychology I began to encounter people’s mistrust associated to my profession of choice. Friends started to joke, “You must have diagnosed all of us already,” (and based on their behavior I knew...

By Marta Oko-Riebau  “I am what is mine. Personality is the original personal property.” – Norman O. Brown I have always been fascinated with personality and its impact on our lives. Personality determines how we interact with the environment, and...

by Lisa Ransford, LPC, CACII What is it that you find most difficult about committing to the process of psychotherapy?  There’s usually some degree of fear – fear of the unknown, fear of what you’ll discover, fear of change.  But...

By Marta Oko-Riebau Note: In psychology there is a differentiation between the terms “feelings” and “emotions”, but for the purpose of this blog I will use these terms interchangeably.   According to George Orwell, “Not to expose your true feelings to...

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...

Matthew Campeau, M.A. What do you want, but are afraid to pursue? Perhaps it is a new career. Or the ability to speak your heart and mind, and not apologize. Perhaps you want to end a relationship to something or...

by Marta Oko-Riebau, MA Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” is one of my favorite books of all time. The title itself describes a state that many of us are just too familiar with. It is a state of dissatisfaction,...

By Hazel Field Melmed, LCSW  A recent “Time Magazine” cover story explained the value of “mindfulness”, and they described the health benefits that come from being “in the moment.” In thinking about this important state of mind, it occurred to...

By Michele Battle, MA, NCC I never liked the term “Empty Nest”. To me, it sounded like a bleak, hollow place where youth and laughter once reverberated. Then suddenly, the children leave, and only silence and the prospect of aging...

by Kirk Johnson, MA, LPC, LAC The other day I was sitting down having lunch with my colleagues, and they asked me how I was doing. I thought about it for a few moments and then replied, “I’m doing fantastic.”...