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Grieving As a Nation Earlier this week, our country experienced the 27th school shooting in the United States this year.  Nineteen more children and two more adults are no longer with us.  Uvalde is shattered.  It is sickening and heartbreaking and incredibly overwhelming.  How do we as individuals and families cope with this news?  And, … Read more

What is Executive Functioning? Most people have heard references to “executive functioning skills” and may have been told how important they are. However, I get asked all the time what executive functioning skills are, why they matter, and how they can be developed. Part of the challenge seems to be that “executive functioning skills” include … Read more

Self-Care: Back to Basics In my therapy practice, I have become used to clients discussing stressful experiences and difficult times. This is hardly surprising – people rarely spend their time and money on a therapist when life is easy and everything is going smoothly. That being said, however, the level of stress and anxiety at … Read more

Spring Cleaning: Decluttering for our Mental Health Along with many other individuals this past month, I have engaged in some annual Spring Cleaning. Traditionally, it allows us to freshen up our homes and feel prepared for the upcoming summertime. There just seems to be something about the warmer and sunnier weather that motivates us to … Read more

Your High School Senior is Graduating – What Next? As we get further into the spring and nearer to the end of the school year, many parents start to contemplate the next stage for their high school seniors. The milestone of high school graduation marks a major turning point for a lot of families, since … Read more

Getting the Job Done One thing that I routinely hear from people of all ages is that they don’t feel motivated to get their work done.  They want to feel that motivation, but they struggle to put their thoughts and “shoulds” into action.  Even as I sit here writing this, I find myself thinking, “It’s … Read more

Unmasked: Helping Kids Navigate New COVID-19 Policies Recently, Fairfax County Public Schools updated its COVID-19 policies so that masks are no longer required in the school setting. As with all the transitions and changes we have navigated over the past 2 years, every child and family will have their own reaction to this news, ranging … Read more

Distress Tolerance: Top Six Tips Dealing with both our inner world (such as all of our thoughts and feelings) and those of the outer world (such as work/school/social demands and expectations or facing a crisis and related life disruptions due to economic fallout, financial problems, widespread illness… and the list goes on) can be a … Read more

Parenting Teens: Stick With What Works When our children become teenagers, it can be hard to know how best to respond when they make poor choices.  Many of the strategies we use with younger children lose their effectiveness as children get older and it can be challenging to find consequences that truly influence teen behavior.  … Read more

Stress During the (Ongoing) Pandemic We are approaching two years since people started quarantining due to COVID 19. The wide variety of changes and challenges people have encountered have generated high stress for many people. It is very common to feel sad, anxious, angry, frustrated, and a wide variety of other emotions regarding what we … Read more