Trigger warning: This blog will attempt to explain something that sexual assault survivors will find disturbing and upsetting. The video goes into more explicit (but appropriate and incredibly helpful) detail. Those who have experienced sexual violence may find this blog is a trigger for them. Please take care of yourself and don’t read it if it will …
It’s been a while since your last appointment…
Hello Client, It’s been a while since we’ve seen you at the office. If you successfully completed therapy, please know we are so glad therapy helped you get to a better place. We love it when clients graduate from therapy! Others of you kinda drifted away from therapy without completing the work. If that’s the …
Third Anniversary–Leather
It has been three years since Husband and I stood before family and friends to commit our lives to each other…our third anniversary. Maybe now we are an old married couple? 😉 Pastor John was one of the officiants at our ceremony. He means a lot to both of us, as he has had significant …
To the people of Humboldt
Dear folks of Humboldt, As a therapist, I’m a person who has the tender, holy privilege and responsibility of sitting with people in the darkest circumstances of their lives. I want to acknowledge the gift you have been to all of us Canadians–even the world. Your community has let us in on your grief and pain after …
Zielschmerz!
I spoke at the graduation ceremony of the Outtatown program at CMU on Sunday. Just 2 days before, half of them had come back from several months in Guatemala, and the other half from South Africa. Now the room had several rows of young adults with a healthy glow about them, and a gym full …
Warm Sunshine on Ruts
This time of year is tricky in the back lane. The snow that got packed down in the road during the winter got turned into a slushy mess with warmer weather. Now it’s gotten cold again, and that slush has frozen into solid position: deep ruts. The challenge driving down the back lane these days …
March 29
Y’know in the movies, when there is that ominous sound? Well, in my mind, the cute little dog isn’t included…but I have often heard a sound rather like that as the calendar approaches March 29th. My body could feel the day coming. The March breezes don’t have quite the bite that February winds do. We …
After the Championship Loss: A letter to my son
Dear Son, So many thoughts and feelings and words inside me, this morning after the night of your team’s great National Championship loss. So many things deliberately unsaid yesterday…yesterday was a day of silent comfort, sitting in the sadness with you. Words weren’t a good idea yesterday. And today, you are a couple of time …
Sweet Sixteen
She would have been sixteen today. I have her birthday marked on our calendar. We mark the occasion every year. Not with a birthday cake though. With white daisies. Janna Hope was only 3 weeks old when the abnormalities of her little heart were too much for her little body to bear. In the years …
Depression Support 101
Depression is a scary diagnosis when it happens to someone living in your house. When depression hits someone you love, it’s so hard to figure out how to be meaningfully supportive. It’s so much easier to support someone with a broken leg than with a heart that feels lifeless and heavy, isn’t it? In this …