Divorce and the Sense of Personal Identity
By Jennifer Van Luven, MSW, LCSW, CM When you think of “trauma” you may imagine Big Trauma experiences: serious accidents, natural disasters, assault, or life-threatening illnesses. These kinds of events obviously and in a very public way transform the foundation of who you are and how you live. Other incidents can feel equally traumatic and […]
Sun’s Out, Structure’s In
By Meagan Gerchen MSW, LCSW Summer is full of fun, sunshine, and vacations. It can also be very stressful for many families. Without the structure and schedule of the school week, many parents struggle to keep their families engaged and active throughout the summer months. Humans thrive on structure, and we need to do our […]
Maintaining Connection : How To Better Connect With Your Kids
By Meagen Gerchen, MSW, LCSW Children are reaching new milestones every day, and it leaves parents thinking about how they can continue to celebrate and connect with them each step of the way. I often find many families coming into therapy sessions asking, “How do I get my child to talk with me?” or “How […]
The Business of Play: Youth Sports in America
By Tony Tramelli, LPC The culture of youth sports in America has changed dramatically over the past decade. Not too long ago youth sports were for the most part community-based organizations which did their best to give every child the opportunity to be part of a team, to get some much-needed physical activity, and to […]
Staying Power: When Your Child Wants to Come Home From College
By Jennifer Van Luven, MSW, LCSW, CDM Staying Power: When Your Child Wants to Come Home from College Jennifer Webbe Van Luven, MSW, LCSW, CDM As a mother of a college freshman, I must admit that I may be more attuned to the conversations of new college freshmen being “unhappy” and deciding to leave college – before […]
Back To School: Acknowledging and Understanding School Stress
By Katelyn Siebert, MSW, LCSW “Back to School”… three words that typically hold some level of both excitement and worry for children and parents alike. Parents are excited for some return to “normalcy” while also feeling worried about all the new hurdles the school year could hold for their family. Children on the other hand […]
Your Greek Letters DO Not Define You
By Hadley McIntyre, MSW, LMSW It is that time of year again – The buzzword around my therapy room lately has been “recruitment”, formally known as rush. ‘What do I wear?’ ‘What do I say?’ ‘I absolutely must be in XYZ house because that is THE house.’ The truth is that nothing can prepare you […]
Helicopter Parenting Leads to a Failure to Launch
By Tony Tramelli, MA, LPC Helicopter parenting is a parenting style that describes the way many of our young 20-28 year olds (Generation Y) have been raised, and how many children in our society continue to be parented. Helicopter parenting brings up images of smothering, doting, hovering, decision making, and problem solving. Such parents never […]
Social Media Adultery
By Jennifer Van Luven, MSW, LCSW Many married and committed people today view text messaging and social media instant messages with a sense of false security that allows many to engage in emotional and sexual conversations with co-workers, neighbors, former partners, and even strangers. Even more concerning, they don’t see a problem with text message […]
The Crisis of Perfection: What’s Happening to Our Teens?
By Cari McKnight, MSW, LCSW When did we start thinking that our teens needed to be so…perfect? Something has changed dramatically over the past several years, and it’s gotten out of hand. Increasingly, teens are showing up to therapy, paralyzed by the pressures and stress that they are facing. Not only are we listening to […]