It is summer time and school is out. Many children are engaged in summer activities such as swimming, water skiing and diving. Others are preparing for next year’s football season and cheerleaders are preparing too. While we use to assume these activities were safe, we now know they can be dangerous. Many parents of high […]
I recently read an article by Cody Fenwick regarding children and gun violence. His article was so alarming that it inspired me to write this article. Many of us feel because we live in Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek or Lafayette that our children and teenagers do not have to worry about gangs or gun violence. […]
Working with teenagers, I hear very often from parents that they feel their teenager is not responsible and they have concerns about trusting their teenagers. I also hear from teenagers how they are upset with their parents for not trusting them and not allowing them to make decisions. I understand the parents’ concerns, but at […]
Art therapy is a complementary type of therapy used in combination with other techniques to offer an effective solution to the problems that someone with addiction issues might be facing. Art therapists use the individual’s creativity as well as his personal imagination to engage him in art making. The aim is to relax their consciousness […]
In today’s world texting has become a very common way for people to communicate with each other. If I go to a baseball game or the theater, I see adults texting the entire time. I have even seen people fired via text. While it is becoming very common with adults, it is even more common […]
In light of more terrorist attacks on London and Pairs and especially the attack on the concert in Manchester, England, it makes sense to remind parents how children and teenagers are being impacted. I have been seeing more and more teenagers who are complaining of anxiety and depression. Many of these teenagers are also afraid […]
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I love to talk about how there are actually several different types of stress. Usually what you read about is negative stress – that’s the one where you experience the really bad emotional, physical, and spiritual effects. Remember this is called, “threat stress” and refers to situations […]
Many of the teenagers that I see for psychotherapy come to therapy believing that no one loves them. They tell me their parents don’t love them, their siblings don’t care about them and no one at school cares about them. They feel they are unloveable and no one cares if they live or die. Because […]
A common argument I hear daily in my office is how much time should an adolescent be spending on their laptop or their smart phone. Parents typically believe that their adolescents are spending too much time on their cellphones and laptops. Of course adolescents feel that their parents are being unfair and not allowing them […]
“You Complete Me” Many people are familiar with this line from the movie, Jerry McGuire, starring Tom Cruise. A deaf couple signs this message to each other in an elevator and Tom Cruise’s character assumes they must really be in love. However, this may not be the reality. In reality it may be an unhealthy […]
