Family & Parenting
Married After Children – Surviving The Empty Nest
Married for 32 years, and now empty nesters, Mike and Anna found themselves struggling to connect with each other in their marriage. Until recently, when the last of their children had left the house, Mike and Anna’s lives were filled...
COVID – 19 and Your Child’s Anxiety – Tips for Parents
Right now, the news is a scary place and the world is starting to feel like a scary place. If you are the parent of an anxious child this is a time of increased stress, fear, and difficulties for you...
How to Talk to Young Children About Mental Health – Reading With Preschoolers
All parents care about their children being health and happy. While we often get lots of information about how to help our children grow healthy and strong physically, how to help them grow socially and emotionally can be a little...
Adolescent Depression
Sophia was concerned about her son. Danny, normally an out-going and energetic sixteen-year-old, had been down in the dumps since he and his girlfriend Lucy broke up just over two weeks ago. Since then he stopped seeing his friends and...
How to Talk About Suicide
Suicide is an emotional word. Feelings of confusion, fear, anger, and even disgust are common responses when the topic comes up in conversation, rare as that might be. As a clinical counsellor, I have felt all of these emotions when...
Up In Flames – part 2
About three and a half years ago I wrote the article: 'Up In Flames' that can be found at Psychealth.com. It was written shortly after my apartment burned down and shares my experience navigating through that challenging life event. This...
My Child Won’t Listen
Parents often complain that their children "do not listen" and that is frequently a concern parents describe when they visit a child psychologist. When I met the parents of six year old Charlotte, they described daily power struggles over routine...
Smartphone Addiction
The headline in the Globe and Mail read, "Your smartphone is making you stupid, antisocial and unhealthy. So why can't you put it down?" by Eric Andrew-Gee. As I began to read the article I became alarmed by the research...
Empathy and Mirror Neurons
Empathy differs from sympathy. Sympathy reflects an understanding of another person' situation- but viewed through your own eyes. In contrast, empathy is what you feel when you can step outside of yourself and enter the internal world of another person....
Using Pop Culture to Impact Positive Change – Part 2
Welcome back! In Pop Culture Part 1, I discussed how, when connecting with children/youth, I utilize pop culture to: 1) develop and enhance rapport, and 2) gather information in regard to values, traits and indicators of resiliency. Please go to...
