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Experiencing grief is an entirely normal and natural response to loss. Grief is a form of emotional suffering that often includes, strong and intense feelings of denial, anger, sadness, lethargy, sleep problems, confusion, and feelings of rawness. While these emotions may feel significantly intense, they are very normal reactions and part of the “grieving process”.…

My friend Kerri Grote passed away this morning. While I am still processing, I wanted to share the words she left to be read upon her passing. Life is short. I hope they bring you perspective, inspiration, and healing as they did for me. R.I.P Kerri. You are loved: “If you’re reading this, this fu$king…

Feeling nervous is a normal and natural part of the human experience. Whether it’s meeting someone new, a job interview, or a public speaking engagement, feeling nervous can come with the territory. Additionally, some individuals that may be more prone to feelings of anxiety, social nuances, have a history of traumatic experiences or have a…

The following is a quote by Louis Laves-Webb, LCSW, LPC-S in regards to the “Clinical Supervisor of the Week” award: “I adhere to many of the core values that are represented in the majority of the healing professions. Values such as non-judgement, staying curious, continually learning and growing, a client’s right to self-determination, and remaining…

Understand Why It May Serve You to Not “Let Go:” Sometimes people can hold onto traumas and other difficult emotional experiences in a way that may have a subtle ‘pay off’. This idea ask that you closely examine the ways in which holding onto the wound is potentially “helpful” to you. Perhaps, it allows…

In the age of social media, it can be easy to feel like we need to fit in a box of what is considered "normal". Don't let social media dictate what "normal" is. Instead, check out our tips for how to improve body image and share gratitude for the skin you're in.

Self-care can help decrease stress, provide opportunities to recharge, and even improve one's mood. But what exactly is self-care, and how do you implement it into your daily routine? Learn more in our blog!

¿Esperas con ansias que todo regrese a la normalidad? Aprende a adaptarte a la nueva forma de vida con 3 formas de fortalecer la conexión contigo mismo.

What if there's a parallel between a hallucinogenic experience and our current reality? Louis Laves-Webb discusses the benefits from our COVID-19 "trip".

Working from home during COVID-19? Our associates have compiled a list of mental health exercises and tangible stress reducing measures you can practice during this difficult time.

Going to your first therapy session can be intimidating. If you’re considering psychotherapy for the first time, the process can feel a little mysterious. My aim is to demystify it a bit. Let’s explore topics ranging from choosing a therapist to common experiences after your first therapy session.

Psychedelic assisted therapy uses the ingestion of a psychedelic drug during a lengthy therapy session to provoke profound psychological changes. Different types of psychedelics are more promising for treating different illnesses. The four psychedelics researchers are most hopeful of are ketamine, psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA. Find out what each is best for.

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which one individual of a couple makes the other question their own thoughts, feelings, and even sanity. Learn more about what it is, how to detect if it's happening to you, and how to stop and escape it.

This article covers the highlights of her research into vulnerability, focusing on the Brené Brown Netflix special The Call to Courage. Learn about the importance of vulnerability, and how even though it may be the birthplace of negative emotions like fear, guilt, and shame, it’s imperative for feeling joy, belonging, and love.

You can’t change your past, but each moment is a new opportunity to let go of your anger and forgive your parents. Forgiveness is never a decision you make only once. It’s a process. A series of decisions. You have the power (and the responsibility) to choose and to change, little by little, the way you see the world. By repeatedly choosing to forgive, you’ll make the world feel a bit lighter and a bit easier to live in.

Creativity is not a quality that you either do or do not possess. Similar to the art of mindfulness, creativity is a way of organizing internal and external states that can be learned, honed, and exercised in the musculature of the mind.

Mindfulness is the state of being “meta-cognitive” or “meta-emotional”. It is a conscious state with the aim of simply NOTICING what you think and/or what you feel and takes place in the present moment. This is ideally done free from action, judgement, or anticipation. It is fairly straightforward to explain but far from easy to master.

The holidays can be a time to share and come together with your family, to remember those that are no longer with you, and an opportunity to extend yourself beyond your normal interpersonal “comfort zones.” However, there can be an ample amount of stress this time of the year due to the holiday hustle and bustle, grief over lost loved ones, loneliness, spoken or unspoken holiday expectations, or some of the family dysfunction that can arise during the holidays. Here are some tangible suggestions to help you cope more positively with the season.

One of the first challenges to a greater level of overall emotional intelligence is knowing how to handle intense or seemingly powerful emotional reactions. Ultimately, adults are left to advocate for one’s emotional needs or to tolerate the seemingly intolerable intensity of an emotional experience. Let’s more closely examine the benefit and challenge of the later.

The Breakfast Club is a movie that is widely recognized for its unique plot and memorable characters. The rebel John Bender, the jock Andrew Clark, the pampered Claire Standish, the nerd Brian Johnson, and the introvert Allison Reynolds, all showcase their unique personalities, including their adolescent ways of protecting, fortressing, and establishing each of their own defensive structures.

Passive aggressive behavior can range from subtle innuendos to intense moments of quiet expressions. It be difficult to identify passive aggressiveness at first glance, and what can initially seem like an innocent remark or action can suddenly lead to anger, hostility, and hurt that can impact relationships or other areas of life.

The difficult truth is that people don’t always “play nice” or engage in a manner which engenders conversation or acceptance. Sometimes people will act downright ugly and engage in hateful commentary. Social media and other forms of modern day communication make it even easier to share thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, including hateful communications at times.

Whether it be learning how to dance, wanting to know how to disassemble an engine, or wanting to ask your partner for some support, asking for help can be a desirable means of making our way in the world.

The thrill of embracing your independence and making your mark in the world can be an alluring part of finishing college. This stage of life can also be met with feelings of uncertainty and anxiety as you prepare to face the “real world”. This transitional phase of life can feel overwhelming as you say goodbye to your routines, structure, and your known circle of support.

Emotions work as a cooperative system; if you shut down one, you numb yourself as a whole. You cannot selectively only feel those emotions that you wish to feel.

We are all degrees of imperfect. This is part of being human and contributes to our uniqueness as individuals. Remembering this can help you work towards building your self-esteem as you strive to create a life filled with happiness and contentment.

Patience and time are two essential traits to have as you work to rebuild the path of friendship.

Research on storytelling is at the heart of how listening affects interaction with your interlocutor. To be not only heard but listened to is a feat that requires careful choice of words, sentence structure, story elements, and intense amounts of patience and practice.

We each have so many various time constraints, relationships, and demands, that it can become almost second nature to simply respond in an unconscious manner as we try to get everything done and manage it all accordingly.

Do you find yourself feeling overworked professionally or overwhelmed personally? These types of feelings can be indicative that your needs, desires, and interests have evolved.

Being the beginning of January, you’re probably hearing tons of “New Years Resolution” talk amongst your peers. While goal setting is a great way to make changes in your life, there are a few things you can do to ensure you are making healthy goals and not setting yourself up for failure.

One of the most powerful experiences of being an adult is that by definition, we can no longer be abandoned.

You very well may be MORE responsible for what you don’t share than for what you do share.

There is no discovery without risk and what you risk reveals what you value.

Resilience refers to one’s ability to healthily cope with problems and obstacles in life. People who are resilient are able to manage and recover from difficult experiences, rather than dwelling on them or using unhealthy means of coping.

Figure out who you are, then do it on purpose.

The skill set of emotional toleration (the ability to sit with and “tolerate” a range of emotional states) can sometimes be a wonderful ally in delaying gratification, practicing patience, and aiding with communication.

Caring for yourself requires active participation. Self-care is not simply about reaching the point of exhaustion or depletion and then participating in behaviors which soothe.

In the realm of Cognitive Theory one of the basic tenants is that our thoughts often precipitate feelings. The theory suggests that when these thoughts are more pessimistic in form they can unintentionally create painful emotional experiences.

When you dare to try something new, speak up for yourself, or admit to a mistake, do you ever hear a voice in the back of your head telling you that you can’t do it? That you’ll only embarrass yourself? That it’s not even worth trying because you always fail?

Our spiritual lives and our psychological lives can be intimately intertwined. Often times, as one begins to develop, the other surfaces as well. These two forces have been the cause of ideological shifts and separations in the field of Psychology from as far back as its founders in Freud and Jung to more recent exploration by Psychologists Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and Timothy Leary. The division has usually occurred between the practice (tradition) and the experience (atypical). You get to decide which side of the pendulum rings most true for you. Both perspectives probably contain invaluable wisdom. So, embrace the nuances and subtleties of our own unique psychological terrain, while continuing to reach for your own awakening and broadening reality.

Often times when we think about self esteem, we tend to think about things that we're good at. Or things that we can do. And so what we look at is questions of -- and there are two concepts that I would throw out there. This is a question of competence. Are you competent at what you're thinking about doing? But then, there's also this question of confidence. And when we really think about self esteem, what we really want is greater confidence, as opposed to greater competence. So confidence is your ability to do something. Confidence is your ability to fail at doing something.

As we're entering into the year of 2014, for a lot of people, it's pretty common to start thinking about where you'd like to be, and goals, and areas for growth, and resolutions. Oftentimes people will concentrate on diminishing or lessening behaviors that they don't want to do as much of.

I'm going to talk today about some tips that will ensure healthy and lasting bonds in relationships. I have five components to share with you that, if followed, could lead to health and happiness.

First of all, I think it's really important to remember that it can take a while to adjust to your new living environment. I'd say it can take anywhere from six months to even a year to really get acclimated to your new city. So I think it's important to remember to just be easy on yourself and to allow yourself to really experience the transition.

Our worlds are dynamic, fluid, and perpetually in flux. Limitations in mental creativity, adaptability, or an improvisational skill set can leave individuals clinging to perfectionism or “decision tree” type ways of navigating the world that ultimately perpetuate the problems they may be attempting to solve.

Process addiction, also known as a behavioral addiction, is a type of addiction where individuals become compulsively involved in a particular behavior or activity, to the point where it starts to negatively impact their daily lives. In this post from the Louis Laves-Webb, LCSW, LPC-S, and Associates blog, we will explore how process addiction happens and some of the most common types of process addiction.

Some people have a fear of spiders, known as arachnophobia. Others have a fear of being without their mobile device, known as nomophobia. One of the rarer phobias is known as globophobia: the fear of balloons.

Ergophobia can be defined as an irrational, extreme, and sometimes severe fear of work and the surrounding features of work. This fear of work includes work-related tasks, social relationships, or public speaking. Learn more here.

In this post from the Louis Laves-Webb, LCSW, LPC-S & Associates blog, we will discuss the common reasons behind gambling addiction, the negative outcomes it can have, and the treatment methods available to help overcome this compulsion.

In today's fast-paced, competitive world, accumulating wealth has become synonymous with success and happiness. While financial stability is essential for a healthy life, an obsessive pursuit of money can lead to addiction, causing negative consequences for the addicted individual and their loved ones.

In this post from the Louis Laves-Webb, LCSW, LPC-S & Associates blog, we will explore the typical causes behind work addiction, which is a type of behavioral addiction, as well as the detrimental outcomes it can lead to, and the therapeutic approaches available to help combat this compulsion.