I listened to, and enjoyed, a radio program, Stories From Across the Black Diaspora (thestoop.org, Feb 6 Episode 23: The Nod), that features the significance of a nod or smile among people of color. It is a silent “I see you” acknowledgment. It is black people’s solidarity nod given when they see another person who […]

Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the horrific September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Twenty years later, many people are still traumatized. That date is seared into our brains as a national trauma. Not all stress is bad. Examples of positive stress are a wedding and having a […]

I recently attended a workshop from the presenter, Lisa Elieson, who is a Texas Licensed Professional Counselor and an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist. The workshop was titled, Sexual Desire Discrepancy in Couples.  Let’s face it, it is rare when two people have the exact same sexual appetite at the exact same time. Research shows that […]

Can we agree that people who are 65 or older and younger people with disabilities should have access to family counseling or mental health counseling provided by a licensed professional counselor? It seems like a no-brainer to me. And yet, it just isn’t the case. As a licensed family therapist, I’m personally aggrieved by the […]

If you have ever experienced the suicide death of someone you love, you’ll know what it is to question what you could have done to prevent it. A suicidal crisis is hard to predict, and thoughts can escalate quickly. In fact, a 2009 study by Strauss, Hinterhuber, Deisenhammer, Ing, Kemmler, and Weiss, studied the length […]

Haiti suffered another devastating earthquake on August 14, 2021. As of this writing, the death toll from the magnitude 7.2 earthquake has grown to 2,207, with 344 people still missing. They lack a coordinated effort to receive sufficient aid. They need food, water, shelter, and medical attention. One Haitian said, “It’s getting harder, harder, and […]

I confess that I am quite anxious about climate change. Melting glaciers, floods, wildfires, record-breaking heat waves, and droughts. Sir David Attenborough said, “We’ve overrun the planet.” He believes that world problems in the next five to ten years will be worse than the coronavirus pandemic, due to climate change. Yikes! What kind of world […]

Give people a sense of purpose and they’ll need less mental health treatment. If you haven’t read psychologist Viktor Frankl’s 1959 book, “Man’s Search for Meaning”, I recommend that you do. While a Holocaust prisoner in a series of Nazi concentration camps, he noticed that fellow prisoners who had a sense of purpose showed greater […]

Simone Biles, the most successful US gymnast of all time, withdrew from the Olympics saying, “I have to focus on my mental health.” In May, Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open to protect her mental health. Winning at all costs leaves athletes vulnerable to physical and emotional injury. They may be […]

In an ideal world, family is our source of love, security, and loyalty. Family ties bind us in a way that other social ties do not. We will work harder to maintain relationships with the people with whom we share our lives. But sometimes, family members become a burden. They can feel like a financial […]