by April R. McDowell, Ph.D., LGMFT Deciding to start therapy, whether it’s individual, couple, or family therapy, is often a big decision!  Many factors are taken into consideration before taking this step, not the least of which is cost.  Even though many people realize its value and the significant investment that it represents for themselves and their relationships, it is not at all uncommon to hear clients express concern about affording...

It’s about midnight, and I can’t sleep because I’m thinking about pain. Today a person I know poured out her pain to me, and it was raw and real and I could feel it, see it. In that moment I felt like she invited me into it, and I accepted, and it hurt. I feel the pain of my clients often. I don’t say that as a type of martyr – I knew full well what I was getting myself into by becoming a therapist. In some ways, I...

I see a great many couples in my private practice. Lately, there seems to be a theme: couples who have been together or married for many years, who have “grown apart”. This feeling is usually expressed by one partner, while the other is caught somewhat off-guard, not realizing things have gotten as bad as they are until the unhappy partner suggests a separation, divorce, or counseling. The expressions of incredulity on my...

Right now I’m at the AAMFT Annual Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. The conference itself hasn’t started yet, but as President-Elect of the Mid-Atlantic Division of AAMFT (http://www.madmft.org), I just finished attending Leadership Day, which is a day set aside for – you guessed it – leaders in the AAMFT divisions. The purpose of Leadership Day is to get together and talk about ways we can better service our members and the populations...

Sometimes it seems as if communicating effectively with one’s partner is an impossible task – overshadowed only by their ability (or lack thereof) to communicate with us. What gets in the way? Why is it so hard to talk to the one you love and be really, deeply understood? That’s what we all want. In fact, I think almost every – if not every – issue that plagues a couple can be boiled down to one simple concept, one fundamental...