Hi. This website is mainly a place for me to share what I’m learning about therapy, trauma, and the practice of presence. Some of what I write is for therapists and some is for the people who sit across from us, though we’re all walking the same path and working on the same stuff. I hope you find something of value…
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Protecting Children's Worlds
Today, a mother shared memories of being one of those little children who dallied walking to and fro from school, dreaming up fantastic elaborate worlds of little fairies hiding under blades of grass, building cities in piles of sidewalk snow. She was punished by her teachers for being so late, and now she worries that her own child will lose that precious imagination if labeled ADHD and medicated.
On the Gift of Being a Therapist
I spent the day at a conference with panels and panels of renowned experts examining the nature of psychotherapy. These people have devoted their careers to understanding the process through which psychotherapy works. Yet, the discussion was leaving me bored and uninspired.
Dealing with Angry Ghosts in Psychotherapy
Though many therapists are trained to believe that they need to suppress or control feelings of anger, I think it is incredibly important to use them in therapy because they often reveal important patterns in the patient’s life--ghosts of relationships past. When these feelings go unexamined, they can harm the patient because they can slip out in hurtful ways. But, when examined, they can be some of the most healing moments in therapy.
Two weeks in my life working in the world of juvenile detention
This post describes some heart warming events that happened when I visited a juvenile detention center last week.
The difference between standard care and trauma-informed care
This post is about how a trauma-informed approach, at least the way I view it, might differ from standard clinical practice.
Quote from "The Importance of Hide-and-Seek"
This is the beginning of an article in the NY Times yesterday by a fellow psychologist, Alison Carper.
DRAFT statement about race and trauma
While my colleagues do the smart thing of carefully crafting a response to the rising media attention on racial violence in our society, I thought I'd take the opposite approach and just blurt the first thing that erupts from my heart, in the spirit of hoping to engender discourse and not to be right but to strive for "right" together.
