Being Mindful of ‘Kindfull’ Play: Empathy-Building Play Therapy
It is not a surprise that we have heard much stirring in the last several years about the importance of empathy and its role in everything from attachment, to neural development, to world positivity. There is an empathy shortage in the world, and we are seeing the far-reaching effects. Bullying. Violence. Insensitivity. Selfishness. In practice, we often see the damage done with children who are traumatized because of early life experiences characterized by a lack of empathy. Abuse, neglect, emotional bankruptcy, painful attachments and a violation of trust all contribute to a child’s ability... Read More
Working Alliance (WA) describes the relationship between a client and therapist and the underlying bond formed during the therapeutic process. The majority of researchers believe that a strong WA is essential to a positive treatment outcome. 
The dawning of the New Year brings with it more than just a change in numbers. It brings a promise of longer and warmer days in contrast to the early arrival of night in wintertime.
This is why our winter holidays celebrate light and swirl on the calendar around the winter solstice near the end of December. Every candle and every light that twinkles in windows and along streets are meant to give us hope that life will continue, and that it might even be good again.
As difficult as it is for people experiencing grief to feel comforted by the holidays, when everyone is gathering around friends... 
According to a new study, men are more likely to overspend and go into debt when available women are in short supply. Sex ratio, the number of available men to available women, directly influences the 
Right after the new year begins, the elections process will ramp up again... bombarding us with news at each and every step, building to a series of feverish pitches. One at each caucus or primary. One when the Republican nominee is selected. One at the Democratic convention. And one on election day.
This is our country. This is going on amidst us. We are part of it, however we respond. Some of us are addicted to the adrenaline rush of the candidates’ activities day-by-day. Some of us are so dismayed and discouraged by the whole process... we don’t even go to the polls. Many of us are... 
Is it possible to avoid a 
Traditionally, New Year's resolutions are about changing oneself to become better. My impression is that people break these promises to themselves about as often as they hang clothes on their home exercise machines. Making New Year's resolutions and not following through on them just makes people feel bad about themselves, and doesn’t make anything better, just as buying home exercise equipment doesn’t help improve health when it’s only used to hang clothes. In fact, when broken New Year's resolutions cause people to be very self-critical and decide they are failures, these resolutions are... 
Everyone talks about resolutions and starting fresh at the beginning of a new year. It is, in fact, an auspicious time to renew ourselves, symbolically and energetically. A fresh calendar year gives us a sense of hope and new-found control over the course of our life. Who knows what 2012 will bring? We want to be strong, clear-thinking, and psychologically ready to handle every challenge and emotion that comes our way! To meet this goal, I have targeted a few areas where old “stuff” tends to accumulate and I have provided simple steps to help you cleanse and prepare for all that the new year... 
The majority of Americans believe in a higher power or God. Eighty percent of people living in the United States are affiliated with a structured form of religion, and the majority of those people consider their faith a significant aspect of their lives. “Thus, 
Strong mother-daughter relationships provide many positive psychological benefits for teen girls. For African-American girls with mental health problems, this relationship may also serve to prevent risky sexual behavior that could lead to sexually transmitted infections (STIs). “Relative to other ethnic groups, African-American girls tend to initiate sex earlier, report higher rates of sexual activity during adolescence, and they account for the highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea,” said Erin Emerson of the Department of Psychiatry, Community Outreach Intervention Projects at the University... 
This post is made up of the flotsam and jetsam that have been washing around in the ocean of my mind, waiting to be shared. May it be of benefit to you.
New Year’s resolutions don’t often work because we need to be at a certain stage of readiness to make real change. But we could say to ourselves, “This year I will watch for those moments of readiness as they arise, and I will try my best to make use of them.”
Acceptance of things as they are is the only way to begin to change things into what they might be.
When you think you can’t accept someone as they are, or let something... 
Resolutions are a popular topic at this time of the year, and with predictions that the year 2012 may be our last (if the ancient Mayan calendar is to be believed!), perhaps a greater number of us than usual are at least contemplating how best to make sure we go out on a positive, rather than sour, note.
How will 2012 be different for us? If we didn’t quite live up to our last year’s expectations, will we simply try harder, using the same tactics, in hopes that our goals will be met now? Or will we become innovators, thinking up more creative ways of working toward our vision? The former... 
Bullying has become an epidemic among American youth. Adolescents are especially vulnerable to the negative mental and 
Motivation is one of the core concepts of individual agency and has been shown to have a direct impact on psychological well-being. For students who are leaving college and entering the 
