“I am 20 years old and my girlfriend is 19. She has very controlling parents. They won’t let her out, at all, and she has to lie to them, telling them that she’s going to work just to hang out with me. I don’t get to see her a lot and she’s been working a […]
“My boyfriend and I were surprised, but happy to find out we were having a baby. A few months after this, he started partying hard…staying out all night…and being gone for 2-3 days at a time. This made us fight a lot, but I thought ‘maybe he’s just getting it out of his system’. He […]
“My mother and I have difficulty communicating…We attempted counseling, but it has made it even more difficult! I really believed we were going to try when she wanted to meet once a week to talk. I wanted to put things back together and I believed her 100%. She is an alcoholic and I’ve learned not […]
“I’m writing this because I need some advice. I really don’t know how you will help me with this, but I figured I’ll write. I just found out that my mom has tumors in her stomach and she might have ovarian cancer. I’ve been the ‘hard a**’ during this situation, trying to keep hope alive, […]
Parents want them and most kids want to be them, but its a not necessarily a good thing to be The Good Kid. Most families have one of these, the kid who always does what their parents want–at least when they’re observed–and get most of the parental kudos. These are the ones who take pride […]
I always learn things from my job–both things about myself and things about the world. This week a client used a phrase that very clearly summarizes what many folks are dealing with. She said her relative is okay with being a side piece. Lots of people are dealing with relationship issues. Trouble in this area […]
Do you listen well when you’re being shouted at? Most of us don’t. The delivery of the message makes a lot of different, but the urge to yell is powerful. This is particularly true when you’re talking to a child or adolescent who blocks you out or when you have a lot of emotion about […]
Expressing distress is both normal and functional, but lots of people are feeling guilty about this now. I’m not suggesting you complain your life away or that you shouldn’t change the things you need to change, but don’t give yourself grief because you have unhappy moments. Some things are bad, you don’t need to say […]
This may seem like a crazy question–or one you think refers to a really crazy situation–but it’s a good area of debate. How close is too close? Kids need parents, no question about it. They need reliable, attentive, concerned parents who watch out for them when they’re little and stay up with them in the […]
No one else can tell you when its time for you to move on, to leave a relationship behind. Lots of people may want to, the individuals to whom you’ve complained about your mate or the one’s who’ve patched you up when things got rough. Still, they don’t get to make this decision. I see […]