Articles
Thoughts on Counseling and Therapy
How to Help a Partner Who’s Been Sexually Assaulted
As a Clinical Psychologist I am deeply committed to the idea that talking things through can help us heal. This healing effect is not limited to therapy. Most of us have experienced the positive, connected, feeling we get from a deep, intimate conversation. It’s easy...
Talking About Sexual Assault
If the offices of GR TherapyGroup are at all representative of an average therapy practice, I have to believe therapists all over America spent the week listening to stories of sexual assault occurring in their patients' past. It is not hard to understand why this...
Mindfulness and Play: Find Your Tire Swing
I was a child of the 1970’s. The shag carpet in my bedroom was olive green. I recall that the building blocks had to be carefully placed in order to not tip over in the depth of the turf. One was a cylindrical shape, another a rectangle and yet another was an arch...
Parenting: Five Tips for Giving Good Consequences
One thing I do almost every morning is to scan the "stories to read" feed on my smart-phone. I enjoy having quick access to my favorite news sites that cover a broad spectrum of political opinions, psychological topics, and the fluff I read for enjoyment. In my...
Trauma Response and the Process of Healing: From the Inside Out
I have always loved Disney movies. They tap into our collective experiences and invite us to dream, hope, love, have joy, and to never give up. As a psychologist and a clinician treating adults with trauma abuse and neglect history, Inside Out holds a special place in...
Discovering the Satisfaction Factor
Part of the Eating with Intention Series Principle VI: Discovering the Satisfaction Factor How many times have you found yourself choosing to eat something because it was the “lesser of two evils” vs. making a choice about what you really wanted—choosing what would...
Grandville Counseling Joins GR Therapy Group
Therapists from Grandville Counseling and GR Therapy Group are pleased to announce they have merged efforts to offer even more top-quality therapeutic services to the residents of Grandville and the greater Grand Rapids area. Both organizations have been committed to...
Laughter Is the Best Medicine
Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed a familiar theme coming up in sessions with some of my clients and in my personal life. The theme has been around the healing power of laughter.
Feeling Your Fullness
No matter what you ate, how you ate, or why you ate, there was a moment when you stopped eating. The art of feeling your fullness starts with discovering an awareness of hunger and satiety.
Should I Come Out to My Parents?
There is no perfect way for a person to come out to intolerant parents. This conversation certainly can be one of the most difficult moments in a person’s life. But it is common to feel relief afterward. Even when it doesn’t go so well at first.