Cluff Counseling

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when mothers day is hard

When Mother’s Day is Hard, There is Hope

“Mother is a verb. It’s something you do. Not just who you are.” ~ Cheryl Lacey Donovan The other day, I got an email from a major corporation saying that Mother’s Day is upon us and they recognize it may be triggering for some so they included an option to mute their content until the

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when mothers day is hard

When Mother’s Day is Hard, There is Hope

“Mother is a verb. It’s something you do. Not just who you are.” ~ Cheryl Lacey Donovan The other day, I got an email from a major corporation saying that Mother’s Day is upon us and they recognize it may be triggering for some so they included an option to mute their content until the

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porn affects ALL relationships
Addiction

Porn: The Secret Intruder on Relationships

“When sex becomes easy to view, love becomes difficult to find.” ~Fight the New Drug There was once a Dutch biologist named Nikolaas Tinbergen who made a fascinating conclusion through a famous experiment. He created cardboard cutouts of butterflies that were attractive to their mates by color and movement. He decided to paint these cardboard

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body positivity for kids
Blog

Gifts Parents Can Teach Their Children, Part 1: Body Positivity

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson I know someone who has been working on herself for a while. As a dancer, she has dealt with all sorts of body image issues for the majority of her life. Her motivation

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Addiction

Transforming Body Negativity into Body Positivity

“You can’t hate yourself happy. You can’t criticize yourself thin. You can’t shame yourself worthy. Real change begins with self-love and self-care.” — Jessica Ortner  Every day we see pictures of what the “perfect” man or woman *should* look like. While we may think these are just images that we view and move on, the

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self harm pic
Addiction

Self-Harm: More than Just Cutting

“People say things / meant to rip you in half / but you hold the power to not / turn their words into a knife / and cut yourself.” ― Rupi Kaur Trigger Warning: This post contains explicit descriptions of self-harming behavior and may be triggering to some.  Educating my clients has become an important

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20 min couple walks
Blog

20 Minutes to More Connection

“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.” ~Mignon McLoughlin Next week is Valentine’s Day–the day of love. Chocolates, roses, lingerie, jewelry, romantic candlelit dinners…you will see it all across your social media platforms. If you and your partner are in the trenches or in a season of rebuilding

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Blog

The “Yes…and” Principle of Self-Compassion

Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others. — Christopher Germer I will never forget a client I saw years ago. On the surface everything seemed okay and she had checked off all the boxes of a career, marriage, family, children, etc. Yet she was struggling with PTSD,

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Melissa Cluff, MS, LMFT, CSAT

Melissa Cluff is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in North Texas, providing face-to-face and telehealth therapy options to clients in Texas.