In Full Swing
When Basic Steps Mental Health first opened in 2017, I had never owned a business before. My sister hit it right on the head. She said, “As a therapist, you are top-notch, but as a businessman, not so much.” Yep, I made all the mistakes, squandered thousands of dollars, and was about to quit before my best friend told me to stick with it and if it lasted for two years, I’d have a lifelong...Learn More
The Benefits of Group Therapy
I read an article years ago about the top 50 therapy approaches for treatment and could kick myself for not saving it. What I recall was group therapy was in the top five, family therapy in the top ten, number 7 was aversion therapy – like Schick Shadel used to offer before their recent close, individual therapy was around 15, and around 47 was the 12 steps. Group therapy will be the focus of...Learn More
Therapist – Move Out of the Way
This article is written for new therapists entering the field. In supervising interns on how to conduct therapy, I find that my first challenge is getting students out of the habit of following an agenda instead of simply being with the client, filled with hope. It can be viewed as helping them toss their education to the side and leading with their heart. Oh, they will know the correct...Learn More
Taking Quick Action
Us healthcare workers are often at the front line in emergencies. Taking quick action can help people get away from a crisis, obtain the proper help, and move forward in their lives. Taking care of emergencies was all we did at the Mental Health Urgent Care Center in Long Beach California, where I was on staff for 11 years. Here were the red flags we looked for: 1. Was a person in a...Learn More
Bottom Line – Healing Through Effort
I was looking through my files and came upon this article that hadn’t been published. Perhaps something more important was on my mind. Re-reading this I realized that, bottom line, this article is very important because it gets down to the root of my therapy strategy. For almost 30 years I’ve struggled to find “the solution”. You know, something that will fix everybody, so that they won’t...Learn More
The Importance of Self-Care for Us Counselors and Clients Too
After 29 years in the mental health field, the most important thing I learned was to take care of myself first. In the helping business, it can be easy to get attached to people you treat, and worry about how they are doing. When this happens, it is a clear sign to stop whatever you are doing and take a break. Why? Because if we are not in balance, it is difficult to take care of others....Learn More
What to Expect from Therapy
If you have never gone through counseling and wondered what happens in sessions, then this article was written for you. I remember the first time I went to a counselor and could feel my heart pounding in my neck and was looking for an excuse to sprint out of there. Though to be honest, I just found myself talking about myself, which was strange since at that time, all I wanted to do was...Learn More
Breaking the Barriers
Have you ever felt like you are destined to deal with the same issues over and over again, to the point where you just give up hope for anything better to happen? That used to describe me in dealing with my anxiety. I just assumed that everyone had to deal with anxiety, you know, cope with it forever. In this article, I’ll discuss ways to push past, heal, and move forward. I’ve looked at...Learn More
Welcome Back from Vacation
Three weeks. Yeah, three weeks in Europe was amazing. I got the opportunity to do something I had never done before, experience life that was vastly different from what I was used to, and then BAM! back to work. My schedule was completely filled when I returned and of course, the basic operations of the facility had to be handled too, so let me cut to the chase – I need a vacation after this...Learn More