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How to Handle Thanksgiving Among Family Members with Different Political Views
Amy Jones, MSW, MFT, LSW, works with individuals, couples, and families at our University City and Paoli offices. Read on to learn her approach and tips for dealing with family members with different political views during Thanksgiving. Amy Jones also provided her professional opinion on KYW Newsradio. Click here to listen to the radio segment…
Read MoreMaintaining Self-Love While Dealing With a Mental Illness
Erica Rand, LCSW, MEd, works with individuals and couples in our Center City and University City offices. Read on to learn her suggestions on maintaining self-love. Depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses can distort how we view ourselves and negatively affect our self-confidence, which in turn can diminish our ability or desire to show ourselves…
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Featured Therapist for October, Erica Rand
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our Staff Therapists. This month’s Featured Therapist is Erica Rand, LCSW, MEd, who joined our staff in 2019. Learn about Erica in the interview below! What do you consider to be the goal of therapy? What do you help your clients work towards? The goal of therapy…
Read MoreUnderstanding Post-Partum Depression
Dr. Jane Summers is the Medical Director at Council for Relationships, and founding Director of Women’s Psychological Health Services. Having specialized in women’s behavioral health throughout her career, Dr. Summers’ approach prioritizes understanding the unique issues that effect the emotional health of women such as reproductive health and hormonal changes over the lifespan and challenges…
Read MoreFeatured Therapists – Therapists of Women’s Psychological Health Services
Every month, Council for Relationships features our staff therapists on the blog. This month, we feature the therapists of our Women’s Psychological Health Services program. Read on to get to know more about the group! What is Women’s Psychological Health Services? WPHS is a diverse team of dedicated clinicians who collectively share decades of…
Read MoreMemorial Day: Honoring the Dead by Serving the Living
Dr. Nancy Isserman is the Director of Operation Home and Healing: services for Veterans, active military members, and their families. U.S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sgt. William P. Coleman/RELEASED Memorial Day honors all who have died for our country, particularly in battle or from wounds they suffered in battle. Almost two million people…
Read MoreSaying Goodbye to Game of Thrones: Dealing with Disappointment and Endings
Michele Southworth, JD, LMFT is a senior staff therapist at Council for Relationships University City. Image Credit: Macall B. Polay/HBO Sunday night, after eight seasons and 73 episodes, we said our goodbyes to the surviving Stark siblings and other survivors of the Battle of Kings Landing, along with what remained of the armies of the…
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Eustress: How to Use Stress to Your Advantage
Florda Priftanji, LMFT joined our staff in 2018 and is this month’s Featured Therapist. Read on to learn how stress can sometimes be a good thing. We often view stress as a problem to avoid. However, when stress is used to our advantage, it can aid by increasing productivity, helping us detect harm, and…
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Meet Florda Priftanji, April’s Featured Therapist
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists on the blog. This month’s Featured Therapist Florda Priftanji, LMFT, joined our staff in 2018. Get to know more about Florda in the interview below! What do you consider to be the goal of therapy? The overall goals of therapy depend on the needs…
Read MoreKeeping College Admissions In Perspective
If you’re a senior in high school or the parent of a senior in high school, the end of March is more about college admissions than the beginning of spring. The recent college admissions scandal is just one example of how parents can become overwhelmed and over-involved in the lives and decisions of the high…
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Owning Your Narrative as A Biracial Person in America
Allen-Michael Lewis, MS, LMFT joined our staff in 2018 and has been working as a couple and family therapist since 2012. He has a specific passion for working with children, teens, and young adults as they attempt to navigate life transitions. In the United States, we continue to see an increase in the reported number…
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Introducing Featured Staff Therapist Allen-Michael Lewis
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists on the blog. This month’s Featured Therapist Allen-Michael Lewis joined our staff in 2018. Get to know more about Allen in the interview below! What do you consider to be the goal of therapy? For me, the goal of therapy is to understand how negative…
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Responding to Insult with Wisdom
Click here to watch a short video synopsis of the following post. Does a week go by when we don’t experience some sort of insult, snide comment, or disapproving glare from family members, friends, or coworkers? The question is: how do we stand up tall and with integrity in the face of such abuse? A preeminent…
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Introducing Featured Therapist Alexander Coleman
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists on the blog. This month’s Featured Therapist Alexander Coleman is a graduate of our Post-Graduate Certificate Program. Get to know more about Alexander in the interview below! What makes you unique as a therapist and person? I grew up in Liverpool, England, and…
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Why it’s Important to Listen to Our Emotions
Amy Jones is a certified couples and family therapist and a licensed social worker with over 10 years of experience working with individuals, families, and communities in the Philadelphia area. “I have been feeling really irritable and angry lately,” I admitted to a clinical supervisor a few years ago. “I don’t like that part of myself….
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Introducing December’s Featured Therapist, Amy Jones
Amy Jones is a certified couples and family therapist and a licensed social worker with over 10 years of experience working with individuals, families, and communities in the Philadelphia area. After completing Council for Relationships’ Post Graduate Certificate Program in 2018, she joined our clinical staff. Learn more about Amy in the interview below! What…
Read MoreWhat They Don’t Tell You About Growing Up
Lisa Handler, PhD, MFT joined Council for Relationships in 2018 after completing the Post-Graduate Certificate Program in Marriage and Family Therapy. Read on for her reflections on what they don’t tell you about growing up. What they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and…
Read MoreMichelle and Barack: The Perfect Imperfect Love Story
Dr. Michele Marsh is a licensed psychologist and certified sex therapist at Council for Relationships’ Center City Office. Dr. Marsh is also the Director of the Sex Therapy Track in the Master’s in Family Therapy Program in partnership with Thomas Jefferson University. Pictures of President Obama and Michelle Obama glow with energy and broad smiles,…
Read MoreNovember Featured Therapist, Lisa Handler
Lisa Handler, PhD, MFT joined Council for Relationships in 2018 after completing the Post-Graduate Certificate Program. Learn more about Lisa’s background and approach in the intro below. Tell us a little about what makes you unique as a therapist and person. I grew up in Southern Illinois, and though technically a Midwesterner, I come from coastal…
Read MoreSurvivors of Sexual Violence, We Believe You.
Kristine Seitz, MEd, MSW, LSW is a staff therapist at Council for Relationships Voorhees. She is a sexuality educator and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Human Sexuality Studies at Widener University. CW: descriptions of sexual violence I believe survivors. Period. End of Sentence. End of paragraph. This should be the end of the story. …
Read MoreWhat is the Intersystem Approach to Therapy?
Dr. Rita DeMaria is a staff therapist, office director, and director of Healthy Relationships and Wellness Programs at Council for Relationships. The Intersystem Approach is an integrative and dialectical meta-framework, which explores how individuals, couples, family systems and communities are functioning in their relationships with self and others. These four domains constitute a comprehensive approach…
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