Stephanie's Blog

Like any stage in life, midlife comes with its own set of benefits and challenges. Rebranding Midlife is a way to embrace the journey.

Discover ways to be okay with conflict.

Texting is emotionally complex, especially for adolescents and in particular, when. a text is left unread.

In today's society, there are often comparisons across the board to how children are growing and thriving. We keep quiet the struggles of our kids, and shine light on their successes. What does the focus on the positive do to the healthy emotional growth of our kids? Development is not a game of Limbo. The bar doesn't start at the same place for everyone, and how it lowers or raises doesn't always come at the same time or at the same pace. There is a general guide for dev

In a family, there is often a dynamic referred to as "The Humpty Dumpty experience". This concept centers around an issue that has been spoken of in many therapist's office, "I feel like I am constantly walking on eggshells around him/her". Whether this experience is uttered by a partner, a parent, a child, or a sibling, it all means the same thing, one member of the family holds a great deal of power to control the atmosphere in the home. This dynamic creates many challen

Lately, the news has spotlighted elite athletes struggling under the pressure of expectations. First we saw Naomi Osaka withdraw from the French Open, and then we witnessed Simone Biles withdrawing from many of the events at the Tokyo Olympics. Both cited mental health issues being at the center of these decisions. These two experiences alone, both athletes at the top of their game, bring into debate two sides of a discussion. First, and foremost, we must look at what we a

Top tennis athlete, Naomi Osaka, drew headlines when she refused to sit down at a press conference to answer questions by reporters. As a result she was fined $15,000 by the French Open Tournament Referee. Speculation began immediately as to why she was refusing to follow this protocol of the tournament. As mental health professional, it appeared likely to me that she was struggling with some mental health challenges that were too overwhelming to manage in front of lights,

The "sport" of backpacking is not for everyone, but in the time of COVID, where vacations and trips are limited depending on one's comfort level traveling farther than their hometown, it is a great way to connect to what, on most days/weeks/months, we might take for granted. The quiet solitude of being in the wilderness with a pack on your back, life consolidated to what you can carry and the day's focus purely on going from one tent site to the next, is an experience of min

Todays experiences with finding ones "passion" has noticeably been replaced with have to's, must do's and need to's. In the day and age of checking off boxes, passion has become a lost art. Before the surge of technology, and people posting about their latest dining experience, or filling up our quiet time with screens, we had to go seek adventure. Often in the seeking, seeds of passion were planted. Babysitting, passion to parent, be a caregiver, or teach; legos, passio

The New Year always bring about a desire to start fresh and set goals that you are SURE you will follow through with "this year". This year you are motivated, this year you have some new skill you didn't have last year, this year you think "how hard can it be". Good for you! Goal setting is the first step in achieving. For those of us who need a bit of help being successful at goal setting, there is a way to create a fun way to do this, and one that will help you feel s

Many would agree that the rapid deployment of Smart Phones in the early 2000's was both a blessing and a curse. We have all the information we could ever desire right at our fingertips. That's actually thee blessing AND the curse. As information and communication has become accessible at our fingertips, as a culture we have found ourselves more and more distracted from the relationships right in front of us. Numerous parents have come to my office complaining about their