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Each week, we post the latest articles and new blog content across a variety of categories. Browse our latest.
How To Be Joyful (After Christmas)
By Grant Stenzel, MS Licensed Clinical Professional CounselorThe holidays can be filled with stress, but finding moments of joy before and during the holiday season is fairly easy. Songs and treats fill our bodies with that special Christmas warmth, giving and receiving gifts is a happiness-producing exchange, and spending quality time with family is like food for the soul.1.But after the holidays, finding joy can be a monumental struggle. January, [...]
Dethroning the Voice of Shame – Part I
Writing in his diary in 1892 at the height of the Russian Industrial Age, Leo Tolstoy observed, “Life cannot have any other purpose than joy and goodness. Only this purpose - joy- is ultimately worthy of life.” We can identify that goodness and beauty with unending joy can prevail in the face of monumental shame that releases a myriad of unsettling human emotions. Shame has a raw and overwhelming [...]
Family Time: How to Do It Well
By Mary Hockett, MA Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor Why is it that families are suffering from so much stress in our society today? Why are so many children anxious and angry? Why are parents so frustrated at their children? What is happening that teachers and social workers must meet moms or dads at the curb as they coax their child out of the car to get to their school classroom? [...]
How to beat the “Winter Blues” for Good
By Grant Stenzel, MS Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor Are the dark, grim winter days getting you down? Are you dreaming of sunshine? Many living in the Midwest look forward to spring. However, for the 10 million Americans who suffer from Winter Depression, warm and sunny times cannot come quickly enough. Seasonal Affective Disorder, commonly known as SAD, is a disorder that affects a person’s mood and is caused by light deprivation. Therefore, [...]
Coping with Grief During the Holidays
By Rita Rippentrop, MDiv Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor Getting through the holidays while grieving can be a big challenge. It’s common to get flooded with memories at holidays, and many worry about being a “downer” or crying at holiday gatherings, where there are expectations of good cheer. Some cope by planning to “gut it out,” putting on a brave face and acting as if everything is the same as it [...]
Crisis in Suburbia: The Drug Epidemic
By Alex Goreham, LCSW, CRADC, EMDR There is so much stigma surrounding drug use and drug addiction. It was often viewed as an inner-city problem faced by low-income families and young adults. In my experience, this stigma is intensified within the Evangelical Christian arena. “How can you be a Christian and do drugs?” is a question I have heard asked too many times to count. Another common stigma is that there [...]