As a young therapist working primarily with teenagers and young adults, I've come to learn a thing or two about vaping. In this post, I'll share some of the origin story of the vaping industry, my clinical observations, concerns, as well as some tips for parents and role models for this young population. Marketing is Pervasive and Deadly The most...[ read more ]

Prologue I went back-and-forth on whether or not to share this post; after all, one could assume "first-world problems" from reading the title. With that being said, I chose to share it anyway to exemplify the complexity of this anxiety disorder that I live with. What is the paradox of choice? In his book, The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz...[ read more ]

Given the events of the past year, we should all know what racism is and that it is, unfortunately, alive and well. Today, I’m going to talk about a form of racism that happens to folx of color, often by folx of color.  It's called colorism.  Colorism is prejudice towards darker skin; more specifically, it’s the idea that lighter skin...[ read more ]

Boundaries are definitely the most common challenge that I see in my therapy sessions with clients, doesn't matter if they're facing anxiety, life transitions, addiction, etc. But what are boundaries? Boundaries are expectations that we set in interpersonal relationships to optimize our quality of life. What are the types of boundaries? Harper (2020) describes boundaries in seven categories: Physical boundaries- These...[ read more ]

"Resilience" is an important trait in my line of work for both my clients and myself. As I reflected on the lessons that I've learned during these past 5 months in quarantine, the word resilience stood out. The dictionary on my Mac defines resilience as, "The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness;" however, I thought I'd reach out to...[ read more ]

I had the privilege of contributing to a post about lessons learned from the COVID19 lockdown. Check it out here! Thanks for stopping by! If you enjoyed this content, feel free to buy me a coffee to support the blog and podcast.

I'm dusting off the cobwebs, as this is my first post in over a month! While I had been writing on a consistent basis (approximately 99 posts in the past year and a half), these unprecedented times got to me, y'all. So with this 100th blog post, I'm checking in to share some insights that I've gained along the way. ...[ read more ]

Hi there, I completely scrapped what I had planned for the weekly mental health blog post. I articulate best in the written word, so here goes my effort to scratch the surface on current events; after all, racism, bigotry, narcissistic leaders, and murder collectively influence mental health. As a therapist, I have the unique opportunity to address social issues as...[ read more ]

Today, I talk with Dr. Lakesha Roney, LPC about the impact of racism on mental health. https://youtu.be/vjw_zy3sg64 Here's the article I mentioned where Dr. Roney discussed being a parent of a child with autism https://panoramiccounseling.com/538-2/ Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this content, feel free to buy me a coffee to support the blog and podcast. Be sure to sign up for my...[ read more ]

I got the idea to write this article after a horribly failed attempt to spell "trichotillomania" into Google. Trichotillomania (trik-o-till-o-MAY-nee-uh), henceforth referred to as TTM, is the clinical term for hair-pulling. Today, I will discuss the symptoms of TTM, triggers for the symptoms, and some of the treatment options available. Symptoms of Trichotillomania According to the DSM 5 (AKA, big...[ read more ]