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Processing Emotions and Connecting with Community After a Mass Shooting
I personally have never experienced trauma related to gun violence. But, the emotion I feel each time this happens is hopelessness. Our society has adopted a certain performance mechanism to these acts of terror—we awaken with shock and horror, but quickly bury these emotions. Instead, we choose to debate Second Amendment rights, question forensic profiling,…
Read MoreChallenging Faith: Turning Towards Your Higher Power Through Uncertain Times
Faith, spirituality, and religion play a significant role in how people progress through life and how they deal with hardship or uncertainty. I have worked with many clients from different spiritual and religious backgrounds, and faith looks different for each individual. Some people are clear on where their faith lies, while other people may be…
Read MorePsychology and Spirituality Can Go Hand-in-Hand When Addressing Mental Health
Ryan McMillian is a Staff Therapist and alum of our Post Graduate Certificate Program for members of the clergy. Here, Ryan responds to the philly.com article “Her religion made her mental illness worse. Then it saved her.” The stigma surrounding mental health concerns has a destructive presence that peeks its head in every aspect of…
Read MoreHow to Find Joy, the Lasting Happiness
Wanda Sevey, MDiv, LMFT helps individuals, couples, and families with communication and relationship skill building. She is trained in Emotionally Focused Therapy and highly skilled at coping with stress, anxiety, and depression. Years ago, a wise friend advised me, “Don’t let anyone take away your joy.” I was in a rough place, experiencing some struggles as a…
Read MoreCoping with the Las Vegas Shooting: How to Talk to Your Kids
What About the Children? Ben King and Laurel Roe, staff therapists at CFR, share their insights below on how to talk to your kids about the shooting in Las Vegas this week. “I am so upset that my children are growing up in this world.” “How do I explain what is happening to my children? …
Read MoreCoping with the News of a Mass Shooting: Fighting Fear with Love
Waking up in the aftermath of a tragedy is jarring. This morning, I reached for my phone alarm, but before I could press snooze, I was startled by the number of texts from my friends and family. A CNN alert proclaimed a mass shooting. I sat up immediately, shaken from my sleepy fog. Again? Las…
Read MoreThe Art of Grief
Lately we have heard of the tragic deaths of hundreds of people from all over the world. Many of their bodies will never be found or returned to their loved ones for a proper burial and memorial. Grieving families may never really know what actually happened to the jet planes on which their loved ones…
Read MoreTaking on the Challenge of Inevitable Change
Change is always there waiting for us and sometimes it’s a rough ride on a bad road…… “What? This isn’t arthritis? You mean there’s something growing inside the bone in my leg?” That was not a happy day for me, an active baby-boomer… But the need to change and adapt is ever-present, whether it’s good or lousy. We…
Read MoreThe Unique Needs of Clergy and Their Families
In my work with clergy I’ve seen the effects of the unique pressures and stressors on the leaders of their communities of faith and their relationships with their partners and families. These include: Flexible Relationship Boundaries: Unlike most helping professions a clergy person is invited and expected to relate to congregants in homes, hospital rooms,…
Read MoreFocus on Discipline, and Love Yourself Through the Gradual Process of Change
Recently, my clients have been coming in and talking about not having the discipline to carry out some of the promises they’ve made to themselves: to diet, to exercise, to finish a project, to get their children to sleep at night. In my opinion, our contemporary culture is really lacking in discipline (see statistics on…
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