Trigger warning: frank discussion of suicide. The first time someone told me he was planning to kill himself, I was a sophomore in high school. I had met Freddy (name changed), who lived in Florida, one time through a [...]
How to Balance Big Dreams and Realistic Expectations Note: This article contains some minor spoilers for the musical and movie “ Into the Woods ”. When I was very young, Stephen Sondheim released a new Broadway musical called Into [...]
“And snap! The job’s a game!” -Mary Poppins The first time I ever used the concept of gaming and leveling up in a therapy session, I had never heard the word “gamification”. All I knew was that the client sitting [...]
This morning, I left my home to discover that it was raining hard. If you’re reading this from a different region of the country, you might be wondering why that’s even noteworthy, but for those of us in Southern California, [...]
Here are some New Year’s Resolutions excerpted from a long list I made in 2008: I will floss more. I will exercise regularly and eat well in order to lose weight. I will maintain optimism in the face of adversity [...]
“Most couples enter therapy 8 years too late.” I don’t know if this is true or if it’s an exaggeration, but it’s conventional wisdom I’ve heard repeated time and time again in the field of relationship counseling. Whether the number [...]
You need to set a boundary. You know this. You also know, at least cognitively, that you cannot change another person. But that doesn’t mean that you have to accept their disrespectful or inappropriate behavior. Instead, you can teach them [...]
Last night, my partner and I watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother for the first time since the finale. We were browsing through Netflix for something quick and funny, and decided it was time to be nostalgic [...]
Dear Clients, I am writing this letter to express my deepest admiration, gratitude, and respect to you. You are the most courageous group of people I have ever met, and I am so lucky to have the opportunity to get [...]
It’s hard to watch the news without feeling hopeless. Before Jon Stewart left the helm, I was a regular viewer of The Daily Show. Sometimes I would let several accrue on my DVR and sit down for a binge watch, [...]