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The Rise of Suicide and Trauma in Teens
How "13 Reasons Why" Missed the Mark
Whether you find the show compelling or troublesome, one thing is certain: We need to talk about the rise of teen suicide and trauma in kids and teens. That’s why we created a free, one hour online CE seminar designed for clinicians, educators, and even parents to learn how to talk about suicide and mental health with teens. Read more to get instant access...
When Therapeutic Breathing Isn't Effective
You don't always have to know what's going on with your clients in order to help them...I had a client that just didn't benefit from therapeutic breathing, so I tried something different. Let me show you in this short video.
Supercharge Change with Values
The Purposeful Steps Exercise
Living a values-driven life involves getting out of your head and stepping into the world. Help your clients define what their next steps will be with the Purposeful Life activity.
How to Get Kids Reading Before Kindergarten
The "Kitten Chow" activity
We all play a vital role in the development of the kids that we serve. As providers, we not only affect a child's current development, we also have the ability to shape a child's future academic and social success when we help them learn to love reading.
How to Forgive Yourself and Others
A Self- Compassion Lesson Every Teen Needs to Learn
Self-compassion and mindfulness skills can be adapted to almost any challenging situation teens face. The card deck I created provides over fifty conversation starters and exercises you can use with teens to help build mindful awareness, compassion, empathy, and kindness. Try this easy-to-implement exercise on forgiveness.
Developing Body Awareness
The Circle Exercise
The Circle Exercise is a great tool to use when you need a little bit of movement to wake up the mind and body and clear the head. It can be used with all ages, both individually or in a group.
Mindfulness Vs. Hypnosis
What's the difference anyway?
Clients (and therapists making referrals) are usually fairly certain that they want one or the other. They feel that either hypnosis or mindfulness is what is needed. You want to stop smoking? Hypnosis. You want to calm down? Mindfulness. It is usually either/or, though the presenting issue may very well be both.
The RAIN of Self-Compassion
In order to unfold, self-compassion depends on honest, direct contact with our own vulnerability. This compassion fully blossoms when we actively offer care to ourselves. Yet when we’ve gotten stuck in the trance of unworthiness, it often feels impossible to arouse self-compassion. To help people address feelings of insecurity and unworthiness, I like to share a meditation I call the RAIN of Self-Compassion. This easy-to-remember tool for practicing mindfulness and compassion uses four simple steps…
S.T.O.P.: An MBSR Practice for Developing Awareness
One of the things we practice in MBSR is becoming aware of the triggers of dissatisfaction and suffering. A wonderful way to maintain a greater sense of well-being is the ability to notice when things get a little off kilter and we start to experience unhappiness. It is in this moment that we can use the method of S.T.O.P. to allow ourselves to listen with open hearts and minds and commit to being freer and happier.
Oppositional Defiance or Faulty Neuroception?
Over the years I have come to believe that oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is not a label that should be used to describe young children. As a developmental psychologist, I view oppositional defiance as a child’s response to stress. Viewing children’s challenging behaviors on a continuum of stress and stress recovery reveals a whole new way to think about this stigmatizing disorder, as well as a new way to support children, informed by neuroscience.