I dreaded my weekly staring contest with the man who was supposed to be treating my depression. He’d start each session by asking me a probing question, then silently wait for my response. Since I felt too intimidated to talk about my recent suicide attempt, we just sat there awkwardly looking at each other until …
An INCRAmental Approach to Building Rapport with Youth Read More »
In retrospect, it wasn’t such a great idea to tell my devout Christian mother I thought I was a pantheist. I don’t blame her for freaking out. The poor woman must have imagined me performing Dionysian rituals in the backyard, assisted by our ever-accommodating golden retriever. But I do fault her for this: after the …
Four Ways to Improve Difficult Relationships With Youth Read More »
One year on February 14th, my husband did something utterly baffling. He bought me flowers. As everybody knows, women are supposed to buy men chocolate on Valentine’s Day, and men reciprocate a month later on White Day. At least, everyone knows this in Osaka, which is where we were living at the time. I sometimes …
Add a Culturally-Aware Lens to Your Trauma-Informed Toolkit Read More »
If you work with youth there’s a good chance you work with trauma. Trauma symptoms or adaptations as I like to call them (i.e., your mind/psyche finds ways to adapt to the difficult/dangerous experience for survival) manifest in many ways, from hyper-vigilance to flashbacks, from trust issues to dissociation, from altered world-views to avoiding specific …
The 4 Essentials of Being a Trauma-Informed Youth Professional Read More »
As I entered the juvenile hall to teach a Thursday evening meditation class many years ago, I tried to prepare myself for the level of emotion that might arise: it was Thanksgiving Day. In hindsight, I don’t know if I could’ve better prepared myself for that evening. Youth were emotional because they were incarcerated and …
4 Tips for Working with Marginalized Youth During the Holidays Read More »
During a meeting at a refugee assistance organization, a psychologist described a problem she was having with one of her clients. “I think he must be lying about how he got to the U.S.” she said. “I mean, given the rest of his story, how could he possibly have been in Iceland?” The young man …
3 Essential Tips for Working with Limited English Proficiency Youth Read More »
Trauma can be defined as a deeply distressing response to a real or perceived threat to one’s life. Trauma can result from events including, but not limited to, getting physically or sexually assaulted, sudden death of family members or close friends, being emotionally abused or neglected throughout one’s childhood, the result of a catastrophic environmental …
Trauma and the Brain: An Introduction for professionals working with teens Read More »
Most of us know that working with teens can be challenging. For those of us conducting drug treatment, we this can be an uphill battle that’s so difficult that we can’t stay attached to outcome, or we’d be constantly disappointed. Oftentimes teens that are chronic drug users have no interest in stopping their use, an …
Substance Abuse Treatment Does NOT Happen In A Vacuum Read More »
Working with teens has its own unique set of challenges and often times as providers we’re relegated to positions of listener, mentor, and guide, regardless of whether or not we’re actual therapists or counselors. I have known many teachers who build authentic relationships with their students and in turn their students feel more comfortable talking …
3 Basic Counseling Skills for Working With Teens Read More »
As I approach facilitating the fourth installment of the Mindfulness-Based Substance Abuse Treatment (MBSAT) Curriculum Certification this weekend, I find myself contemplating what some of the most important aspects of working with teens are. Being authentic, present, compassionate, and intentionally fostering a genuine relationship are of critical importance, as I’ve written about in other posts. …
Why Setting Boundaries Is Critical To Healthy Relationships with Teens Read More »
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