June 1, 2024, is the deadline to apply for CFR’s Fall 2024 Postgraduate Certificate Program cohort in Marriage & Family Therapy, Sex Therapy, and Clergy track. Apply here.
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Featured Therapist for April, Sonja Spangler
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists. This month’s Featured Therapist is Sonja Spangler, LSW. Learn more about her in the below interview! What makes you unique as a therapist and as a person? A quality of mine that I find unique is my sense of wonder. I have always been…
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Help! I’m a Clergy Person and I’m Feeling Ill-Equipped to Handle the Emotional, Spiritual, and Mental Demands of Serving the Congregation in 2022
Can I hear an AMEN! If you have served as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or other member of the clergy in these past two years, you have been on a real learning curve, needing to figure out, probably mostly on your own, how to deal with issues surrounding the pandemic, racial equity, climate crisis,…
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The Great Resignation, the Great “Rethink,” and What Happens Next
The last couple of years have been, from a mental health point of view, pretty much of a perfect storm: extremes of polarization and breakdown in our political process and even our understanding of reality, an increasing societal reckoning with racism and misogyny, an increasingly urgent climate crisis, and now, nearly two years of social…
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Relationship Checkup
As we flip our calendars to February, the focus on love and romantic relationships intensifies. For some this may feel fun and exciting, but it is not uncommon to feel a mix of emotions about our intimate relationships. There aren’t many Valentine’s Day cards that capture feelings like frustration, anxiety, disappointment, longing, and stuck. Navigating…
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Now More Than Ever, We Need to Empty Our Emotional Jugs
The past two years of the pandemic have flooded many of us with more feelings than we have capacity for, which has led to a lot of feelings spilling out. We have all experienced the spillage of those emotions. Maybe our fuses feel shorter, or we are crying more, or maybe we are drinking more…
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Featured Therapist for February, Kimberly Holt
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists. This month’s Featured Therapist is Kimberly Holt, MS, MFT. Learn more about her in the below interview! Why did you become a therapist? I have always loved people and enjoyed working in a helping role. I believe that we are created to be in…
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“I Don’t See Color”: White Caregivers Raising BIPOC Children
In previous generations, the phrase “I don’t see color” was a mark of being progressive. Parents would use the phrase to explain why the differences of another person were not important when cultivating relationships. By telling children the color of a person does not matter, it also allows for parents and caregivers to avoid having…
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It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year – Unless, of Course, It’s Not
The holiday season often injects pressure into our world. Sometimes the holiday season forces family time on us when we may not want or be ready for those interactions. Other times, the holiday season necessitates increased financial strain. What often feels hard throughout the holidays is the lack of space to talk about how difficult…
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Featured Therapist for December, Kathy Klein
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists. This month’s Featured Therapist is Kathy Klein, M.S.Ed., MSW, LSW. Learn more about her in the below interview! What do you consider to be the goal of therapy? How do you help your clients achieve their goals? From where I sit, a primary goal of therapy is developing…
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A Q&A About Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy
What is Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy? Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an approach to therapy that treats the psyche as a unique system of parts that influence each other and the external world. It was developed by Richard Schwartz, a family therapist who observed patients describing themselves in terms of conflicting “parts,” and then…
Read MoreFeatured Therapist for October, Tessa Peoples
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists. This month’s Featured Therapist is Tessa Peoples, MFT. Learn more about her in the below interview! Why did you decide to become a therapist? I used to think that therapy was for people with problems that were bigger than mine. Then, during a particularly challenging…
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Insights on the Aftermath in Afghanistan
The last troops have left Afghanistan, but our work with the fallout from the longest war in U.S. history continues. At Council for Relationships (CFR) our therapists are continuing to see their veteran and veteran-connected family member clients. We know from our own clients and from other veteran service organizations that many veterans are upset…
Read MoreFeatured Therapist for September, Madeline Hoch
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists. This month’s Featured Therapist is Madeline E. Hoch, MFT. Learn more about her in the below interview! What do you consider to be the goal of therapy? What do you help your clients work towards? I think that therapy can help you learn to understand yourself, your reactions, and…
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Our Athletes Are Coming Home
On July 23, 2021, some of us watched the opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. The global pandemic pushed the start date back an entire year and forced an experience that was vastly different from all other prior games. Athletes spent years in deep anticipation for these games and now, just 20 days…
Read MoreFeatured Therapist for August, David MacFarlane
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists. This month’s Featured Therapist is David MacFarlane, MEd. Learn more about him in the below interview! What makes you unique as a therapist and as a person? I began my work life as a chemist (!) where I learned a lot about asking the right questions to get…
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Toxic Positivity: It’s Ok to Not Be Ok All of The Time
“Good vibes only.” “Never give up.” “Just keep smiling.” “Look on the bright side.” We’ve heard these phrases time and time again. In times of difficulty, we may be told to “stay positive” and to “count our blessings.” We may tell ourselves that, comparatively, “others have it worse” and that “everything happens for a reason.”…
Read MoreCFR Celebrates Disability Pride Month
July is Disability Pride Month. Disability doesn’t discriminate, so every social justice movement has a disability contingent, and the Disability Rights Movement is actually a synthesis of all the other civil rights movements. Every social justice movement needs to include representation of their Disabled members. For example, Disabled LGBTQI+ are calling out Pride celebrations for not…
Read MoreFeatured Therapist for July, Virginia Mittnacht
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists. This month’s Featured Therapist is Virginia Mittnacht, LSW. Learn more about her in the below interview! What makes you unique as a therapist and as a person? It sounds simple, but I genuinely love connecting with people and their stories. I receive my fuel from outdoor…
Read MoreAn Ode to CFR’s Post Graduate Certificate Program
There is a part of my life in which I am very fortunate: I have a job that I love and, even beyond that, a job that feels like a calling. I am the Director of Council for Relationships’ Post Graduate Certificate Program in Marriage and Family Therapy. As is relatively obvious from the name of the program, our training prepares master’s-level students for…
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Teach Your Children Well
The 2020-2021 school year has officially ended at schools across the country, and we are heading into another season of mixed thoughts and emotions. Just as has been the case in the past year of the COVID pandemic, that will mean different things to different people and families. While we are eager to put the…
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An Open Letter to Naomi Osaka
Dear Naomi, It’s with a heavy heart that I write you this letter because I feel the weight of the emotional pain you must be experiencing. Not only are you carrying the weight of the depression you sometimes feel, but there are also certain people/organizations that are wanting you to carry the weight of their…
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