Dare to Lead: Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts...program developed out of the research of Dr. Brené Brown

Dare to Lead

Another leadership program? Really? Aren’t there enough floating around out there? Yes, there are a lot. But we need this one.  You need this one. Your team will thank you if you absorb this one. Dare to Lead has a fresh emphasis that is lifegiving for leaders and followers alike. A breath of fresh air …

TEDx: Interconnections

Wired for connection. That’s my line…it comes up more weeks than not during my weekly time on 680CJOB with Hal Anderson. I talk about our essential need for vital relationship in workshops, on blogs, in therapy and well, basically everywhere. When Ian McClausland interviewed and photographed me for his fiftyX50 project, it was only natural …

Grieving a Pet

Yesterday, during my weekly chat with Hal on 680CJOB, we talked about how real the impact of the death of a pet can be.  As you’ll hear on the recording, one of the guys in the news room pooh-poohed the idea that the death of an animal is actually the death of a family member. …

Picture of a cell phone holder "Be all here" cell phone catcher reminds us to put our cell phones here and be fully present with the ones we love. PIc of a catcher made of barnwood style wood

Be with the ones here

We had an out-of-town family wedding last month. It was beautiful–great efforts were expended to look after every detail of the day.  On our way home in the airport, I asked everyone at supper about their favourite “memory snapshot”. Some of the responses: time with the other groomsmen while the couple was off taking pictures …

The Bonsai g’bye

  Natalie finished her internship with us yesterday.  She began seeing clients in fall. As interns are, she was eager to learn how therapy works in a therapy room after spending countless hours learning about therapy in a classroom, reading about it in books, and writing papers about it. Natalie soaked up the learning. Her …

Zielschmerz: the dread of getting what you want. John Koenig. On blog about TEDxWinnipeg 2018

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 …

This is Us. The wedding picture of the happy couple from another angle on blog about "Composting Heartbreak" showing the shade the children provided.

Composting Heartbreak

Husband and I were part of an article this week in the Globe And Mail: How Soon is Too Soon?  Zosia Bielski, a writer from the Globe, contacted me after reading about The Widower’s Club, and Visiting My Husband’s Wife’s Grave on the blog.  She wanted to write about finding love after loss of a spouse …

New Book: My Marriage is Almost Dead…

I heard a story about some acquaintances  a few days ago…the couple had been married for several years.  The wife was unhappy, but she hated confrontation.  She didn’t want to say anything that would hurt her husband. She didn’t want to be the source that created long and difficult conversations. So she said nothing. The situation …

Heartbreaking News: Former Therapist, Rod Minaker

It is with heartfelt sadness that we grieve with the family of Rod Minaker, on his death last week. Rod worked with our counselling agency, at what was then known as Bergen and Associates Counselling starting mid-2007, and except for a brief break, worked with clients at our offices until 2014. Our hearts break at the …