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: Whether you’re five or eight-five, the steps are the same. The poster is $18, 18″x 25″, laminated and ready for years of use. I recommend it for classrooms, […]
It’s amazing to me that we don’t teach kids how to think. We teach them how to solve academic problems but nowhere in school or in kids early years does anyone teach them how to solve conflicts, manage emotions or change the way they think about events in their lives. This misstep is indicative in […]
Default worries is a term I came up with several years ago when I had kids returning to my office with the same fears they had months, even years before. They would come in fearing death, getting sick, getting old, failing out of school, not getting into college, etc. They had seemingly moved past those fears […]
We all have Emotional Tanks. When we deal with life, stress and disappointments, our tanks become full and it’s our job to learn healthy ways to drain them. Some of us drain our tanks by exercising (my tank draining tool of choice) or by talking with a friend or by taking a nap. Most of […]
Hi Everyone! I have a new book coming out in August – just in time for kids to go back to school. It’s a children’s book titled, “Worry Says What?” and tells of a girl who is debilitated by anxiety. Every time she takes a Math test, Worry yells “It’s too hard!” and when she […]
Beat childhood anxiety to raise happier, braver kids. We all want our kids to feel happy and carefree. But struggles with anxiety are a reality during childhood and more common than you may expect. One in eight children develop an anxiety disorder, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Building character strengths to […]
I have always wanted a Therapy Dog and three years ago, I decided to bring my Golden Doodle puppy to work. He was only 10 weeks old at the time and he was a nightmare! He chewed on my play therapy toys, teethed on my hand and threw up multiple socks in my office. I […]
I’ve wanted to go to Africa since I was a kid. I grew up in the era of Michael Jackson’s “We Are the World” and as he, Stevie Wonder and many of my favorites sang, images of starving children in Africa rolled by on the screen. My heart broke for those kids who were sitting […]
I watched yet another kid climb into the window above the couch in my office. Within minutes, he jumped down, slam dunked a basketball at least 20 times, finally sat down on the floor and said, “Ok, now I’m ready.” He and I both knew what he meant. It was time to start the session. If I […]
