As a parent, you may be wondering how you can help you fragile adolescent daughter to navigate the extremely rough waters of adolescence. You may be the type of parent who feels their child’s pain so intently that you wish you could go up to the school and give those mean girls a piece of […]
Growing Up – Enough Already
Today the girls got on the bus to go to school for the first time. It’s not the first day of school, but it’s the first bus day of school. Before the heavy doors swung closed, I caught a split second glimpse of them settling into those tall seats I remember well. I don’t know […]
Top 5 Things to Consider BEFORE You Begin Couples Therapy!
People often contact me eager and ready to begin couples therapy in order to change their relationship for the better! And even over the phone or through email, I can hear that many of these people are truly excited about beginning therapy. Sometimes it’s a couple in the early stages of their relationship with no […]
Could You Have An Emotional Sunburn?
Here’s How To Tell – And What You Need For Emotional SPF Yes, it’s summer – time for beaches and bathing suits. Most people love the summer; at best, I tolerate it. It’s not just the heat (though I do loathe the heat). It’s the sun. You see, I am one of the palest people you will […]
A Cheat Sheet for Men: What To Do If You Want Sex More Than She Does
You’re reading this because you’re fed up, and need some ideas for how to get more physical intimacy into your relationship. This leaves you, the man, frustrated – not just physically, but emotionally as well; you feel far away from her, and unloved. If you’re willing to read further, I have some ideas you can […]
Love, Age 6
This morning one of my six year-old daughters confided in me that she is having a problem at school. When I asked her about it, she said that one of her friends, Sam, isn’t talking to her anymore. In fact, he got in trouble yesterday because he put his fingers in his ears and stuck […]
Pain as a Gift?
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 […]
Leap Year Already?
I just realized last week that it’s a leap year. We get an extra day stuck on the end of February every four years like clockwork, but I cannot for the life of me recall last leap year. Can you? My twin daughters had just turned two at the time, so maybe I have a […]
Healing Relationship Wounds
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 […]
I’m Frustrated (or, Why MFTs Rock Yet No One Seems To Know It)
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 […]