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How to Talk to Someone Who is Suicidal
I recently attended the New Jersey Suicide Prevention Conference. This topic is never easy to discuss or listen to, but it is crucial. New Jersey has lower suicide rates compared to other states, but suicide rates are increasing across the country. The biggest takeaway from the conference is that the best way to prevent suicide…
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Emotional Regulation: Everything You Need to Know to Improve Your Relationships
Many of us struggle with regulating (or managing) emotions. Looking inward and taking stock of our emotional regulation skills is critical to maintaining healthy adult relationships. Often, the source of conflict and struggle in relationships can be traced back to poor regulation of emotions by those in the relationship. Improving your relationships, though, takes more…
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How To Support a Partner with ADHD: 3 Tips
Does your partner have ADHD, and you are at a loss for how to support them best? Perhaps your relationship is suffering because, well, it can be frustrating when you can not be there for your loved one. Read on to learn the ADHD basics, tips for supporting a partner with ADHD, and where you…
Read MoreDaily Temperature Reading – A Skill for Committed Relationships
Is it even possible to love someone for your entire life? Yes, you can love someone for a lifetime, but you need the knowledge and skills to maintain and grow the relationship. As the creator of The Daily Temperature Reading technique, I know it is not how much you love each other that strengthens a…
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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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How to Talk to Loved Ones with Differing Political Opinions
As the 2020 presidential election draws near, and during a time when the world seems more divided than ever, families may experience an uptick in challenging and stressful conversations. Often, when families gather together, politics become a topic many shy away from. This, in part, may result from the uncomfortable emotional toll these conversations can…
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The Suit of Shame: How Did I Put It On?
Your sense of self, personal dignity, and relationship boundaries matter: how to transform social shame and reestablish your worth. One of the most beautiful qualities one has is the ability to communicate. Communication is self-revelation. It is self-leadership. It therefore has to do with the manifestation of your worthiness, ego, dignity, and status. A sense…
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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…
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 MoreHow to help your daughter find her voice
“Strong Voice, Full Heart” is a mother-daughter empowerment workshop organized through Council for Relationships’ Community Partnership Initiative (CPI). Dr. Sara Corse, Director of CPI, reflects on how mothers can empower their daughters to find their voice and embrace their power. Empowerment. It is the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling your life…
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Yes, Your Teenager Wants to Talk to You About Porn
Kristine Seitz, M.Ed, MSW, LSW is a sexuality educator and Licensed Social Worker who specializes in providing therapy to adolescents, adults, and young adults experiencing anxiety, communication and intimacy issues, depression, grief and loss, infidelity, relationship issues, sexual abuse, sexuality concerns, and trauma. After reading New York Times Magazine’s article What Teenagers are Learning from Online…
Read MoreHow to Talk So Your Children Will Listen
Ellen Mishel, MSS, LSW, MFT is a licensed social worker and Certified Parenting Educator who works with individuals, couples, families, and more. Are you frustrated that your child isn’t listening to you? Are you feeling stressed because there’s yelling and screaming in your home, but your communication still isn’t effective? Improving the way your family…
Read MoreHow to Set New Year’s Resolutions: A Guide for Parents and their Children
Michele Southworth, JD, LMFT is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a licensed attorney. When working with divorcing and divorced families, she uniquely combines her two professions to serve as therapist, co-parenting counselor, mediator, or parenting coordinator. New Year’s resolutions for children ages 5 to 12, when thoughtfully made, can be an affirming and empowering…
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Like Great Wine, Sex Can Get Better with Age: Strategies for Satisfying Sex Throughout Your Entire Life
Staff Therapist Dr. Alishia Kalos is a licensed psychologist with specialized experience in addressing sexual and relational concerns such as intimacy, communication, desire, arousal, satisfaction, pain, relationship contract negotiation, unusual sexual interests, and sexual behavior challenges. Alishia sees clients at our Center City and Paoli locations. Sexual health and intimacy are core elements of…
Read MoreInter-Generational Holiday Celebrations: A Guide For Adult Children and Their Parents
Staff Therapist Susan Neumann Gordon, LSW, MBA, has extensive experience with individuals, couples and families in life transitions, relationships between parents and adult children, and couples’ conflict resolution and communication skills. During the season of joy and light, we may have high hopes for family togetherness and harmony. Yet, when generations of family convene, there may…
Read MoreHow to Talk to Your Children about Public Catastrophes
This post was written by Kenneth Covelman, Ph.D., Director of Masters in Family Therapy Program, Council for Relationships and Thomas Jefferson University. It was originally published on the TJU blog and re-posted here with the author’s permission. In the age of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, our children are exposed to more and…
Read MoreWhen to See a Couples Therapist
This blog post was originally published on Counsel Philadelphia and is shared here with the author’s permission. Your relationship may seem like its been in trouble for a while. It may be that you are not communicating anymore or there is a lack of sex or affection. Even when it is clear that your relationship…
Read More“Why Won’t My Therapist Just Tell Me What to Do?” A Response from Ben King
Last week. NY Magazine posted this What your Therapist Really Thinks article by Lori Gottlieb, which addressed the question “Why won’t my therapist just tell me what to do?” Throughout this article, the author makes several great arguments as to why a therapist doesn’t, and in many cases shouldn’t, give their clients advice. When a client asks…
Read MoreOvercoming Emotional Distance from Your Lover
By Sammi Nguyen When your relationship settles into a long-term routine, you might find that a queasy feeling of distance has grown up between you and your lover when you weren’t looking, or that trivial disagreement over washing the dishes escalates in no time flat to fights with shouting and tears. The easiest thing in…
Read MoreTips on practicing good communication
Staff Therapist Wanda Sevey, MDiv, LFT is skilled at helping individuals, couples, and families with communication and relationship skill building; LGBT issues; reducing and coping with stress; sex issues for couples and individuals;recovery from affairs; and anxiety and depression. “They taught us how to square dance in school but they never bothered to teach us how to communicate…
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