How to Have Productive Discussions (Not Arguments!) with Your Child
Kate Smith , M.A.
Every parent has been there: You start with what seems like a simple request or question, and then, suddenly, you are in a screaming match with your child. How did it escalate to this? First and foremost, remember who...
Summer Slump
Alexis Durham , M.S.
We are halfway through summer break. Are you starting to notice that your child has gone from being happy to be out of school and loving life to becoming more of a bored zombie around the house? Structure may...
Why Your Kids Don’t Want to Talk to You
Alexis Durham , M.S.
In this line of work, we often hear frustrations from parents regarding what their kids are and are not doing. A common one is typically something along the lines of, “I can tell something is wrong, but they won’t...
Caring for Elderly Parents
By original design, parents are there to guide their children, to teach them, and to advise them through the various stages of life. Children look to their parents for wisdom to overcome the challenges of life. When parents age,...
12 Tips for Building Better Relationships with Your Children
Set aside time weekly to spend time engaging in an activity that your child enjoys. Praise positive behavior that your child exhibits. Research has shown that positive reinforcement can positively improve a child’s social skills and behaviors. Give compliments...
Preparing Your Child for Their First Therapy Session
You have decided to take your child to therapy. Awesome! However, there is a problem: Your child does not want to go. Some children may not want to go because they believe they do not need therapy. Some may...
Helping Your Child Managing Losing
Imagine this- you’ve planned a family game night and the kids have been looking forward to this all week. Pizza, M&M’s, soda! But only a few minutes in, you already have a kid who has stormed out after their...
Good Question!
I’ve been asked many questions as a counselor before I start seeing somebody. Recently I spoke with a mom who asked some great questions and inspired me to think more about what may be some good questions to ask...
How to Support Your LGBTQ+ Child
Having family support for your child identifying in the LGBTQ community can be beneficial to their overall mental health and physical health. Being accepted by your family can decrease mental health symptoms such as isolation, depression, anxiety, substance abuse,...
March Madness Milestones
By the time you’re reading this, an NCAA basketball champion will have already been crowned and the NBA Playoffs, NFL Draft and MLB Opening Day will be gearing up, keeping the sports machine going… The sports machine never quits....
De-Escalating a Meltdown
On airplanes, we are taught to put on our masks first before helping others in a crisis. The same goes for managing a meltdown with little ones. This may mean stepping away first from the situation (assuming the child...
Strategies for Communicating with Your Teenage Daughter
There comes a time when every mother-daughter relationship has stress – which usually comes around the teenage years. Mothers are always trying to protect their daughters which can lead to confrontation around this age period. As mothers, you naturally...
Can You Mourn Something You Never Had?
By Dr. Mollie Innocent-Cupid, Deputy Executive Director As a child therapist, I work with many children who have been abandoned by one or both of their biological parents. Some of these kids are unaffected by their abandonment and have...
Parenting: Giving Yourself Permission to Self-Care (Guilty Feelings Not Included)
I’m even more grateful for growing up with the Christmas experience of older brothers assembling gifts together for me when I was a little, especially now as a parent of a seven-year-old girl whose favorite things in the world...
What is Play Therapy, Exactly?
Allison Bates , M.S.
The subgenre of play therapy is one that has many sceptics due to the subjective nature of play. Many people (including therapists of other subgroups) struggle with feel like ‘playing’ is a valid and beneficial form of therapy; however,...
Sharing With Your Child Their Autism Diagnosis
Has your child been diagnosed with autism? Are you wondering when and how to share that diagnosis with your child? In this article, we are going to discuss how to best share this diagnosis with your child. It is...
Today’s Worries are Enough for Today
“No one ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than one can bear.” -George MacDonald It seems that anxiety is on...
How Can I Help My Child When They Are Emotional?
This is a question that many parents ask. When children are upset adults often believe they can process and express how they feel. This is not always true; however, here are few tools that can begin to change the...
Checking-In With You
Like many children, I was fascinated with questions. Any parents reading, I imagine you have found yourself frustrated by the infamous question of “why” that your child may ask when he or she doesn’t get their way. I also...
Helping Your Child Regulate Their Emotions
Aleisha Parker , M.Ed.
Children and adolescents learn so much about how to navigate obstacles simply by watching their parents. They are like little sponges that soak up a lot of what they observe from their own homes and people in their lives...