Blog
You are not the illness
You may have an illness, but you are not the illness. This was an important lesson I learned from my first counselling supervisor, Katherine Stetson. During my master’s program in counselling psychology, I did an internship as an Adolescent and Family Therapist. One...
Change your mood by changing your behaviour
One of the first theories that highlighted the relationship between thoughts and moods was cognitive theory, or CT. This theory was created by Dr. Aaron Beck back in the 1970’s and focused on how people could change how they felt. Beck noticed that all his depressed...
“I’m always so hyper…I must have ADHD!”
Although I've never been formally diagnosed with ADD or ADHD (Attention-Deficit Disorder, with or without Hyperactivity), there are a lot of times when I think I fit all the criteria. In fact, many people believe they have ADHD simply because they get really excited...
4 Insights on Personal Boundaries
Just finished reading, Boundaries Where You End And I Begin: How To Recognize And Set Healthy Boundaries One of the things I thought was really creative was how Katherine used her dog and cat as metaphors for explaining “close” and “distant” boundaries, respectively....
5 Ways Psychotherapy Can Improve Your Life
There's only 1 day left in February. Do you know what's associated with this month? Let me give you some options. February is…. 1) Black History Month 2) Heart and Stroke Awareness Month 3) Psychology Month 4) All of the above If you chose #4, you’re right! Given that...
Emotional Eating – To lose weight, know your emotional state
With the winter holidays just a few weeks behind us, one of the things I’ve been thinking about is how long it will take to burn off the calories from all the chocolates and other sweets I ate. Now, thinking about what I ate may not sound like a profound or meaningful...
Anger Iceberg – The emotions we hide below the surface
Recently, I had a conversation with someone on the topic of anger. He wanted to understand why he was always so angry in his relationship with his partner. So, I pulled out my dry-erase whiteboard and drew an iceberg. I think the iceberg is a really powerful metaphor...
Are you a “passionate worker” or a work-addict?
I attended an innovative and uplifting conference recently in Kelowna, BC. Successful entrepreneur and local businessperson, Fred Sarkari, organized and hosted the event. There were about 7 speakers on the panel, all from a variety of industries. I was honoured to be...
Parentified children and anxiety: The child who acts like a parent
One of the issues I have recently been working with has been the topic of “parentified children.” Typically, a parentified child is someone who takes on many of the parenting responsibilities within the home. This sometimes happens when a parent, for one reason or...
“It’s getting hot in here…so please stay calm”: Heat and Aggression
Here in Toronto, we’ve been dealing with some very hot temperatures lately. While I’ve heard my share of people complaining about the heat, I’ve also heard my share of people expressing gratitude for the beautiful weather. So, I thought about what life might be like...
“It’s not my fault!!” Attribution Theory and the Fundamental Attribution Error
I’ve been really busy these last couple of weeks. As a result, my blogs have been coming out later and later. One of the things that has kept me busy has been my private practice. Since last week was a shortened work week (Canada Day weekend), I had fewer hours...
How our work affects mental health
A couple of weeks ago, many news-sites published findings from a Canadian survey on the prevalence of mental health issues in the workplace. One statistic from this survey indicated that 12% of respondents said they were currently experiencing a mental health issue in...
