Nearly 9 years ago, I went to pick up a 10 lbs. puppy that I was hoping to become my therapy dog. I had just lost my previous dog, Jack, after 16 years, and was still grieving but the idea of having a puppy full of energy was appealing. I took him into my office […]
I am excited to announce I will now be offering my most popular training sessions online! If Covid has taught us anything, it’s that we can be flexible in how we share information and connect with others. When I started speaking several years ago, I didn’t have kids, a family and could easily fly across […]
I’ve spent the past 23 years as a counselor in Nashville and yesterday was the hardest. Having to process the events of a shooting just 2 miles from my office with school-age kids was overwhelming. Some kids were terrified to go back to school, while younger kids didn’t even know about the event. One middle […]
I grew up in the country, in a house without central heat and air. We had a furnace in the basement and every Saturday in the winter, my two siblings and I would load up in my dad’s Ford F150 and drive down to the woods behind our house. He would cut down a tree […]
Emotion Regulation is not easy. It is one of the hardest things we do in our lives. But, it is a lot easier when we learn how to do it in childhood. I was a child who couldn’t manage anxiety. I found ways to avoid anxious situations and over time, my life became small. When […]
Beat, beat, thump. Beat, beat, thump. Those were the sounds pounding in my head as I waited for my plane to take off. I had always loved to fly. The thought of boarding a plane made me feel energized. For years, I had happily walked through terminals and stood in customs lines eagerly awaiting my […]
I’m excited to announce my newest product to help children manage emotions! The poster takes children through the same emotion regulation steps I use in my office: Identify the feeling Rate the Intensity Choose a Strategy Reset the Brain Whether you’re five or eight-five, the steps are the same. The poster is $18, 18″x 25″, […]
Nearly two years ago, I gave a talk where I emphasized the importance of using feeling cards with children. I shared that it helps children open up about emotions and at the end of the talk, shared my favorite feeling cards and told everyone to go buy a set. The next day, I received an […]
Earlier this year, I released Flooded: A Brain-Based Guide to Help Children Manage Emotions. The book was for parents, educators and caregivers and just after releasing it, the message I heard from readers was clear: we need a book like this for kids. I’d been sharing this information with kids in my office for many […]
1 in 6 children meet the criteria for a mental health disorder. By adulthood that number will double. In 2019, the World Happiness Organization reported the United States was the least happy it has ever been. One of the reporters said, “By most accounts, Americans should be happier now than ever. The violent […]
