The Story of Stan – SERIAL STORY

If you’ve never been for therapy, you struggle with anxiety, or you’re curious about what goes on in a counselling session, then this serial story is for you.

Anxiety sucks. It has the potential to wreck your life, shrink your world, and terrorize your mind…and it doesn’t have to be that way. There is evidence-based treatment available, including therapy, medication, or a combination thereof. Just know you don’t have to live like this.

Ask for help – there is no health without ‘mental’ health. Therapy works, and it’s for everyone. Take your life back – it’s possible.

Free consultation – in person or online.

“I love therapy! There’s nothing like talking to someone who has no emotional investment in my life.” ~ Eva Mendes

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The Story of Stan – Session 1

The Story of Stan – Session 2

The Story of Stan – Session 3

#anxiety #therapy #counselling #counseling #therapyworks #therapyisforeveryone #empoweryourself #reclaimyourlife #livewell

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Hidden biases – We ALL have them.

Psst! Your thinking is biased. Do you know all the ways in which thinking may be slanted to support or confirm what we already think or believe?

If not, this is for you. If you do, then all the groovy chart will do is give names to what you already know and how thinking biases distort reality.

via You Can’t Always Trust Your Own Thoughts, And This Terrifying Chart Shows Why | HuffPost Canada

Not really cheating …or is it?

Building connection through shared activities.

Couples often come for help because there has been infidelity, or the mutually acknowledged imminent risk of an affair. Also often, in completing a clinical interview and exploration of the history of the relationship, it becomes evident that ‘cheating’ was happening in significant ways before the physical affair.

The research data out of The Gottman Institute is long term, and unambiguous, encompassing multitudinous couples. Sometimes, something apparently innocuous grows to become A Thing which can threaten the health of an already existing intimate relationship. When individuals within a committed relationship begin to make emotional connections with a degree of intimacy that rivals their primary partnership, trouble brews

3 ways we may be cheating

It is a myth of epic proportions (and a completely unrealistic expectation) that one individual is capable of meeting all of another’s need for emotional connection and intimacy. Paradoxically, it also a reality of being human that we need to experience a degree of intimate connection with another individual that is mutually exclusive; to be known and accepted as is. This need is what makes the pain of betrayal so significant. When an individual, as part of a couple, discovers that this degree of intimacy has been extended to a third party, emotional and psychological security evaporates.

In what ways might you be unintentionally or inadvertently jeopardising the health & happiness of your relationship?

The Explainer: Emotional Intelligence – HBR Video

This is a great, quick overview of the important components of emotional intelligence, and why they matter. 

Source: The Explainer: Emotional Intelligence – HBR Video

The Therapist’s Office

Currently, over on LinkedIn, one of the discussion groups is having a pretty rockin’ debate about the “proper” decor for a therapist’s office. The comments range all over the map, from “stark, bare, and business-like,” to “looks like my living room,” and everything in between.

This is actually an important point …and guess what? There’s been some research done. Since the primary element in effective therapy is the therapeutic relationship, it stands to reason that the next most important element would be the environment. So, here we have the research and I am chuffed to know my office fits right in with the findings. Dim lighting, comfort, and safety are the the hallmarks of more client self-disclosure, and overall participation in the therapy. So here’s my office… feel free to drop in talk to me.