by Laura Lanier | Mar 2, 2018
Medication is definitely a hot topic in the counseling world, whether you are a clinician or a client. I recently created a survey and asked people to anonymously identify any barriers to counseling or questions they have about the profession, and one of the barriers...
by Laura Lanier | Jan 1, 2018
It’s 2018, and time to begin the obligatory resolution discussion. With the new year comes hope that things will finally be different. You will finally lose the weight, finally stop smoking, finally do the things you’ve been wanting to do but haven’t. But the reality...
by Laura Lanier | Dec 11, 2017
In part one of this two-part blog series on Food and Boundaries, I covered the issues surrounding thinking dichotomously about our food choices and the social tendency to morally label food as either “good” or “bad”. My encouragement was to focus on the true purpose...
by Laura Lanier | Nov 28, 2017
Is your relationship with food healthy or unhealthy? That may be a difficult question to answer. You may not even realize that you have a relationship with food in the first place, but everyone does, and for most people it is a very complicated one. A good way to...
by Laura Lanier | Oct 30, 2017
You’re thinking about going to your first session in counseling, but you can’t seem to get past the fear. Fear of not knowing what to expect from that first session, much less the sessions that come after that! This fear of the unknown can be a powerful factor. It...
by Laura Lanier | Oct 2, 2017
So you’ve been thinking about going to counseling, but you’re afraid. You know that you might have to talk about the things you’ve kept hidden, those areas of shame, and willingly expose your vulnerability. I have a decoration with these words displayed in my office:...
by Laura Lanier | Sep 21, 2017
The way you talk about yourself doesn’t just effect you, especially when it comes to social media. Whether positive or negative, the way you talk about yourself can actually have a significant impact on the way others see and think about themselves. You are modeling...
by Laura Lanier | Aug 31, 2017
Often, when we need something from someone else, the way we are communicating is the strongest predictor of whether or not we will get it. It doesn’t matter if this is a simple request for a listening ear or a serious plea for someone to acknowledge your needs. In the...
by Laura Lanier | Aug 21, 2017
In a divisive world, we must learn to cultivate empathy. It is harder and harder to avoid coming into conflicts with friends and family. Even if you choose not to argue, hearing people speak passionately against your beliefs becomes disheartening. You might even feel...
by Laura Lanier | Aug 1, 2017
If you didn’t have the opportunity to read my last blog, I’d suggest checking it out before reading this one. As I mentioned in my discussion of emotional regulation, it is very common for people to come to counseling hoping to control their emotions....
