News and Insights

As the world is grappling with issues of enormous scale and human impact, our hearts go out to all who have been affected by the outbreak of COVID-19. Basic Steps Mental Health will continue to remain open during the outbreak of the Coronavirus. We have stepped up our efforts to sterilize our environment and provide universal precautions to our clients whose immune system is compromised. We...

Back, back, a way back… and Gone! The ballgame is over! And so is my sports entertainment thanks to the Coronavirus. The Coronavirus has caused worldwide concerns and no baseball? But this takes a backseat to the reality of this disease. As we take care of the universal precautions, something is being overlooked – the unresolved emotional issues that are now being brought to the surface. What...

Did this past Valentine’s day make or break your relationship? This is a pivotal day for people in relationships because you will discover the actual state the partnership is in.  If problems exist, they won’t go away on their own, work needs to be done and not on your partner but on you. This is because the health of your relationship reflects the relationship you have with yourself. If you...

According to Object Relations Therapy, all mental illness has its roots in early childhood experiences. If your family was dysfunctional, there are great odds that this was passed down to you. Do your relationships mirror the relationship your parents had? Do you fight? Do you avoid any confrontations? Is it important for you to be right? Do you have to be in control? Are you always...

Are you addicted to being right? Is it important for you to win? It is important to understand that when one person is right or wins, another person is wrong and loses. Having to be right and win all of the time is the downfall of meaningful relationships. We refer to these as Transactional relationships. In Transactional relationships failure is eminent. Transactional Relationships For many...

Nineteen years ago, I graduated with my Doctorate from Rhyokan College in Southern California. I studied Object Relations Therapy which is developmental in its scope and focuses on addressing early childhood experiences. Those were the days of working a full-time job and going through school in the evenings and on the weekend. You hear people talk about the good old days and fond memories of...

When a family member is sick it puts the whole family system out of balance. The good news is – this can be used as an opportunity for the entire family to heal. In this article, we take a look at Family Therapy. They believe that when somebody is sick the family is looked upon as being in need of repair. The system doesn’t only refer to your family, it can refer to as the relationships...

2020 marks a new decade which can be a decade of self-discovery and growth. In our workshops, we have honest talks about life and about death. As we age, it becomes more apparent that we won’t live forever, and then what? These subjects are rarely discussed in social circles because they make death too real and too frightening, but it is something we all have to face. This is probably why we...

Do you have to be right all the time? This has roots in early development. If your family got their entertainment by putting other people down, then in doing this now, well… they trained you well. According to Sigmund Freud, our Super-Ego houses the rules in which we live. Many of these rules we handed down by our family and of course society as well. If others are doing something wrong, this...

In today’s world, it is not uncommon to feel overwhelmed, depressed, and stressed out. With the state of the economy, it generally takes two incomes to pay the bills. With all the hard work, is there any time left to care for yourself? If you find yourself playing games on your cell phone or computer for hours, when your house looks like a bomb just went off and you have no energy to do a...