The branch of therapy that deals with anticipated loss due to death is a specialization that often gets overlooked. As a counselor who works with anticipatory grief and has five years’ experience in a hospice bereavement office, I have found that primary caregivers usually need guidance and support but don’t
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Touched by trauma
Licensed professional counselor (LPC) Ryan T. Day often refers to himself as a trauma survivor turned trauma therapist. When he was 11, Day was molested several times by a family friend. He had also already endured serious bullying brought on by a temporary childhood speech impediment. Day eventually began to
Is there an epidemic of emotional support animals?
On June 6, 2017, ABC News reported that a man had been severely injured on a Delta Air Lines flight after being attacked by another passenger’s emotional support dog. The dog had been sitting in its owner’s lap in a center seat. The dog reportedly growled before the attack, prompting
PTSD and climbing out of the valley of the shadow of death
Max came into my office and sat down. He was a big guy in his late 30s. When I asked how I could help, he responded that he believed he had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). When I asked what led him to this conclusion, he said he had been a
Relationship management
Consider the words of a certain New Jersey troubadour: “Everybody needs a place to rest Everybody wants to have a home Don’t make no difference what nobody says Ain’t nobody like to be alone.” This declaration is from Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 single “Hungry Heart,” which tells the story of a
Voice of Experience: Facing the wind
Sofia’s clothes were stylish and neatly pressed, and her jet-black hair was immaculate. Cropped short, not a strand was out of place. Subtle makeup highlighted her athletic features and youthful appearance, making her look much younger than she actually was. Only by looking closely could I see a hint of
Volcanic adolescence
In the early days, Caroline, a 14-year-old girl, started each session with a chin thrust indignantly at her counselor. She wanted to be seen as a warrior, and she offered answers that were blunt as a sledgehammer. And why should she drop her defenses? She had seen too many adults
What’s left unsaid
A child discloses that her grandfather has been sexually abusing her, and the mother’s response is shock that his abuse didn’t stop with her when she was a child. This scene is not uncommon for Molly VanDuser, the president and clinical director of Peace of Mind, an outpatient counseling and trauma treatment
Building client and counselor resilience
Merriam-Webster offers two definitions for resilience. One is literal and drawn from physics: the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress. The second definition is a symbolic mirror of the first: an ability to recover from or adjust easily
Thriving in times of crisis
I am now reaching the age when people assume that I have achieved a certain amount of wisdom. I admit that I usually enjoy playing the role of the sage as a professor, but at times it definitely has its downside. For example, a new faculty member once said to