Be Yourself. Science Says You’ll be Happier.

“Positive emotion alienated from the exercise of character leads to emptiness, inauthenticity, depression, and as we age the growing realization that we are fidgeting until we die.” What makes a person truly happy? Not the, “I just ate a really awesome slice of cheesecake happy” but true, lasting emotional satisfaction? Scientists like Martin Seligman have […]

Being Okay with “Good Enough” from a Recovering Perfectionist

Jenny Helms, LCMFT Discusses her Journey as a Recovering Perfectionist You Aren’t Alone, Trust Me Admittedly, I still struggle with accepting “good enough” or being “okay” at things from time-to-time. Noticing patterns of my past, I used to work as hard as I could to be as good as I could at every venture that […]

Domestic Violence: Why Can’t They “Just Leave”?

Prior to becoming fascinated about the dynamics of domestic violence, I remember thinking: “Why don’t women/men in these relationships just pack up their bags and leave?” or “Why don’t they just go to a shelter?” Initially, I understood very little about the complexities of walking away or the complexities of staying. According to NY Times […]

Eating Disorder Prevention: How to Save a Life

What’s the Problem? With rising rates of eating disorders, it is impossible to have enough treatment providers for all of those who suffer. And unfortunately, many suffer with little to no resources. Eating Disorder Prevention has either never been prevalent, or seems to have taken a seat on the back burner. I became intimately aware […]

How Avoiding Other People Means Rejecting Ourselves

What Avoiding Other People Means to Us When we are avoiding other people or dealing with a situation, we are really saying no to the hard things that are coming up within ourselves when dealing with that situation. *Whether we are conscious of these hard feelings or not.* This is really unfortunate because those hard […]

Hugs Can Transform Your Relationship – Here’s How!

X’s over O’s? Plenty of couples spend time, energy, and money trying to fix relationship problems, increase intimacy, or simply kick things up a notch in their relationship. Well, there is a free way to do all of the above that is often overlooked and underrated: Hugs. Yes, hugs help all of the problems listed […]

I’m Not Trying To Fix You: A Letter to Those in Therapy

As a therapist and counselor, I am here to embrace you. The good, bad, messy, silly — all the parts. So many clients come to therapy saying “Fix me!” or “Just help me erase or get rid of these painful memories!”or “Make me better!”, especially when they’ve been struggling with pain from trauma, grief, a […]