friendsgiving

Friendsgiving: When Friends Become Your Family

“Friends are the family you choose.” — Jess C. Scott Sandra’s Friendsgiving story is one several of us can relate to: She was far from home, and getting back to her family for Thanksgiving was not feasible. She decided to have her own gathering with people she was close to and wanted to be with. […]

Legacy of Pain: Pregnancy and Infant Loss

Thea struggle is part of the story.” – Unknown You dream your whole life of becoming a parent. You find someone you care about and decide to take the leap of faith into parenthood. You are absolutely elated when that pregnancy test reads positive; every waking (and sleeping) moment thereafter revolves around all things baby–clothes, […]

The Unseen Wounds of Verbal Abuse

“It is not the bruises on the body that hurt. It is the wounds of the heart and the scars on the mind.”  ~ Aisha Mirza When the topic of abuse comes up, we typically think of hitting, punching, pushing, hurting, harming, black eyes and bruised bodies–the physical. Yet, there are other forms of abuse […]

mental health tips

Are You Aware of Your Mental Health?

“The experience I have had is that once you start talking about [your mental health struggles], you realize that actually you’re part of quite a big club.” — Prince Harry I love talking about mental health and I find it quite helpful and needful to talk about mental health with my clients, colleagues, friends and […]

consent

Consent: What does it really mean?

“NO. Is a complete sentence.” ~ Anne Lamott I recently had a male client tell me that something had happened to him on a date and he had a hard time putting it into words. He was embarrassed to talk about it and said he felt yucky even just thinking about it. As he slowly […]