Panoramic Counseling Blog

Black Widow: A Book Review

As a therapist, grief is something I encounter often. Earlier this year, one of my clients, Diane, experienced a series of events that felt like something out of a soap opera. When the dust settled, she found herself widowed at the age of 51. I support my clients through email between sessions. Earlier this week, Diane posed the following questions:...[ read more ]

Memoirs of Mental Health: Fat Joe

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 ]

Memoirs of Mental Health: Megan Thee Stallion

While this blog focuses on mental health, I occasionally get creative with a relevant book or movie review. Today, I'm doing something a bit different. When Megan Thee Stallion released her sophomore album, "Traumazine," last Friday, I knew I wanted to write about it here. As an EMDR therapist, I know a lot about trauma; however, I'd never heard the...[ read more ]

Mental Health Movie Review: Joe Bell

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 ]

Successful Coparenting with a Toxic Ex: A Book Review

Today I'm excited to review the new workbook, Successful Coparenting with a Toxic Ex: A guided Journal to Support and Encourage you and your Children, written by my friend and colleague, Susan Buniva, LCSW. She's a licensed therapist, divorce coach, and co-parenting counselor with over 30 years of experience. As the title of the book suggests, this book is for...[ read more ]

Mental Health Movie Review: Dear Evan Hansen

My wife and I haven't been to a movie theater since before the pandemic. On a whim, we reserved seats this morning for a matinee showing of Dear Evan Hansen. Though we were masked up and fully vaxed (also boostered!), we were relieved to learn that we were the only people who bought tickets for that particular showing. That's right,...[ read more ]

Memoirs of Mental Health: Prince Harry

Image Credit Though I don't tend to follow the royal family, I became more interested when Meghan Markle, an actress from one of my favorite shows, Suits, got engaged to Prince Harry. More recently, I've seen how their lives have been shaped by racism and anxiety, which ultimately culminated in the couple separating from the royal family. Today, I'll be...[ read more ]

The Face I Made… A Book Review

It has been a while since I’ve reviewed a book on this blog but this book was so moving that I couldn’t help but share.  The Face I Made When the Doctor Said I had Cancer... Again!!! is a memoir that was started by Jonathan "J.O." Newby and was later finished by his wife, Regina Newby after he passed away...[ read more ]

Cicely Tyson: Honoring the Life and Legacy of an Icon

I preordered Cicely Tyson’s memoir back in December, already knowing that her story would be one of the most profound I’ve ever heard. I was beaming Tuesday morning when Audible notified me that my preorder was available. All my other books went to the back burner and I began binge listening, taking breaks of course to do mundane things like...[ read more ]

Some losses never stop hurting

At the age of 26, I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve never lost a person who I’ve been close to. I was there to help my mom when her husband died suddenly of a heart attack in 2017. I’m also a therapist, so I’ve worked with many clients who are struggling with grief. It wasn’t until I suffered my own...[ read more ]