I've had Fat Joe's new memoir, The Book of Jose, on my Audible wishlist for a while and I finally got around to giving it a listen. As a hip hop fan growing up in the 90s and early 00s, I've kept up with Fat Joe's career. Prior to reading his story, I didn't know much about his personal life...[ read more ]

I came across the movie, Joe Bell while scrolling through Prime Video. The trailer caught my eye and after watching the film, I am excited to share my mental health movie review with you. What's the movie about? Joe Bell is a movie based on a true story about a man and his family, focusing primarily on Joe's son, Jaden....[ read more ]

The book recommending algorithm didn't disappoint when it brought The Passing Playbook, by Isaac Fitzsimons to my attention. Though this is a novel with a target audience of adolescents and young adults, I, reading from a therapist's perspective, was very impressed with how well the author does with covering a multitude of topics impacting gay, transgender, and nonbinary youth. With...[ read more ]

I've been seeing snippets of Lady Gaga's Lady Gaga's interview on Oprah's docuseries, The Me You Can't See. Having not yet seen the show, I started to research if Gaga has ever written about her life. The closest thing I could find to a memoir was an essay she wrote as part of a compilation book put together by her...[ read more ]

It has been a while since I've come across a novel that focuses so strongly on a variety of mental health and social topics, which is why I'm excited to share about Little & Lion, by Brandy Colbert. Mental Health Themes Bipolar Disorder: One of the main characters, Lionel, has been diagnosed with Bipolar II Disorder after a misdiagnosis for...[ read more ]

There's no doubt that obesity carries with it a ton of health risks; however, for today's article, I want to focus on the mental health consequences of fat shaming. I was surprised to see a piece in the most recent issue of Psychology Today on this topic. Within the article, the writer discussed how plus-sized people tend to face verbal...[ read more ]

My wife was able to hear Michele Borba, the author of Unselfie, at a school counselor conference. Since I also work with children and adolescents, I thought I'd check out the book as well. Today I'll be sharing some of what I learned with you about kids and emotional intelligence. Unselfie was written as a guide for adults to empower...[ read more ]

This post is based on my experience counseling children, adolescents, and adults. In addition, my wife is a school counselor, experienced working with primary and elementary school students. She’s provided me with additional insights to include. We all know what bullying is. Someone is being picked on. A person is trying to overpower someone else. Someone is asserting dominance over...[ read more ]