So you hate your teen daughter’s boyfriend.

Gallery

This gallery contains 3 photos.

By Angelica Shiels Psy.D.   His name is “Nick,” but all his friends call him “Bro” …. Errr, I got that wrong; it’s actually “Brah.”. The first time you met him, he wore a flat-billed, fluorescent hat and this shirt: … Continue reading

This goes out to all the ladies who hate being pregnant. By, Kristen Mae

Gallery

This post was so true, so relatable, and so hilarious! Thanks, Kristen! By Kristen Mae of “Abandoning Pretense” “Pregnancy is a gift from God.” “I just love the feeling of knowing a tiny human is doing laps in my uterus!” … Continue reading

The most important part of the kindergarten curriculum

Gallery

  By Angelica Shiels Psy.D. Last year, around this time, my oldest son started kindergarten. (And this week, he will be starting kindergarten again. Summer birthday. Boy. Lots of desk-work and worksheets. Nuff said?) Last year, I remember hoping that … Continue reading

For adolescents with extreme emotions and behaviors

Gallery

I am a BIG fan of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and use it In individual therapy and with my teenage girls group. DBT is a type of therapy which basically teaches awareness, tolerating difficult emotions, and social /communication skills. Although it … Continue reading

Family Routines and Rituals = Good for Kids.

Gallery

Research has found a correlation between participation in family routines/rituals and positive language, social, emotional, and academic development in kids.  While psyhologists can’t say that the “routines” actually cause the positive outcomes (this is correlation, not true experiment), researchers concluded that families with routines tend … Continue reading

Does my unhelpful, selfish husband have ADHD?

Gallery

By Angelica Shiels Psy.D. I was recently reading a great article about ADHD and marriage. Basically, the article described a type of “irritable, selfish, unhelpful, sometimes useless” partner, a partner often described to me in therapy by a frustrated wife, describing her schlub … Continue reading

Challenging the Epidemic of Disconnection: Awareness and Acceptance

Gallery

This gallery contains 1 photo.

By Angelica Shiels Psy.D. As a mom of three little boys, I desperately want this world to be better. I want my boys to someday live in a world where people with a certain skin color aren’t more likely to … Continue reading

How to talk to people so they will listen. (Yes, even your teenager and your husband.)

Gallery

By Angelica Shiels Psy.D. Most mental health counselors receive some kind of training in how to communicate in a way that errrr… doesn’t sound off-putting, arrogant, one-sided, and ridiculous.  And lo and behold, it is not just the people who … Continue reading