August 2023
Thriving in Newly Entered Adulthood on a College Campus
By: Kat O’Keefe, MFT-Intern, Supervised by Dr. Mark White, LMFT-S Perhaps your child or you yourself have recently just graduated high school and are preparing to enter in the next phase of life on a college campus. Newly in adulthood there is much excitement, a chance to gain new experiences, develop new relationships, gain a sense of independence, and start the path to achieve your dreams and goals. However, with all this excitement many times young adults are hit quickly with a heavy weight of self-discovery and are faced with questions like “Who really am I?” and “What do I
Paternal Prenatal and Postpartum Depression and Anxiety
Did you know that studies have shown that 1 in 10 men experience prenatal and postpartum depression and anxiety (Paulson & Bazemore, 2010)? Knowing the signs and symptoms of these allows you to maximize your ability to advocate for yourself or your partner in a time of need. Paternal prenatal and postpartum depression have common symptoms associated such as, but not limited to: anger or rage outbursts, impulsive behavior such as using alcohol or drugs, irritability, outward physical symptoms: headaches, stomachaches, muscle aches; low motivation or poor concentration, focusing more or less on career, detachment from family, and thoughts of suicide.
July 2023
Rearing Emotionally Healthy Children in the World Today
By: Kayli Beaty, LMFT Associate, Supervised By Dr. Mark White, LMFT-S Perhaps you are a new parent striving to set firm foundations in place to ensure you are prepared to rear a strong, healthy child. Maybe you have been a parent for a long time and are seeking a different way to help your children grow in their emotional intelligence. Wherever you stand, it is not too late, or too early, to review and alter the narrative around emotions in your home. One of the foundational concepts attributable to emotionally healthy children comes from a sense of emotional safety and
June 2023
How is Social Media Filling My Plate?
I have heard it time and time again– “I want to delete my social media because of the anxiety it is causing me, but I feel that I will be missing out on current news and information. I feel that deleting it will make me less ‘in the know’ and connected, so I feel that I can’t.” Social media has allowed us a way to connect. From people finding their long-lost friends and relatives on Facebook, to using Facetime and Zoom during a pandemic to allow for a continuum of connectedness amongst family, friends, and co-workers—it has given us the
Motherhood is hard
By Adrienne Rains LMFT - Associate (TX) and AMFT (NM) Supervised by Dr. Mark White I’m going to say what we are all thinking, motherhood is hard. You go into motherhood thinking about all of the sweet things that a baby will bring into your life. Like love, joy, cute outfits, setting up the nursery just so, etc. But once your little one is in your arms you learn about the sleepless nights, the crying, the spit up (or in some cases projectile vomit), the poop, being peed on, but mostly you learn that you as the mother can lose
May 2023
Therapy for Children and Adolescents: The Language of Play
By: Kayli Beaty, LMFT Associate As adults discuss the contents of their heart through conversation from one side of the room to the other, children tend to have greater difficulty expressing their needs in the same way. Play is the native language of children, so why are we attempting to speak to them in a way that is more difficult for them to conceptualize? Incorporating play into the therapy room alleviates the pressure children might feel when sharing their difficulties, as it is something familiar and a way to connect that feels organic to them. Similar to an adult in
February 2023
From Discovery Through Recovery
There are many circumstances in life in which it is intuitive to determine what actions to take to resolve a problem. Discovering that a trusted life partner is emotionally or sexually involved with another person or that they are involved in a sexually compulsive behavior like pornography use isn’t one of those circumstances. As individuals and couples, we are designed for intimate connections, with life commitment and marriage being the most intimate. I like to explain it using the concept of power. We have in us an inborn, God-given, DNA-structured design and desire to be the most powerful intimate connection
Making Sense of the Senseless
This is a continuation of my blog series titled From Discovery Through Recovery. I will begin with a deeper explanation of the power of connection because, upon discovery, a life partner is typically trying to make sense of a circumstance that seems senseless. As individuals and couples, we are designed for intimate connections, with life commitment and marriage being the most intimate of those connections. I like to explain it using the concept of power. We have in us an inborn, God-given, DNA-structured design and desire to be the most powerful intimate connection in our partners’ life. Discovering that someone
