Article Summaries
Trauma and the responsibility of change
12 September 2019
Chad McCoy, M.A., LPC
Traumatic events are horrible. Often they are the extreme closing of the gap between the malevolence of what I know can happen within the world and what has happened to me within my life. For instance: Many of us won't maybe say this aloud, but your loved ones are one car ride away from never ...
A Diet for Your Brain??
12 September 2019
Monica Whitten, Edmond Family Counseling Practicum Student
Most of us think about our physical health quite a bit, whether it’s wishing you were a few pounds lighter, thinking about your blood pressure, trying to fix chronic tummy trouble, etc. In an attempt to remedy these concerns, many people resort to a va...
My Privilege
31 August 2018
By: John Goetz
Webster’s dictionary says a privilege is a right or immunity granted as a particular benefit, advantage, or favor. It is time that I address two of my privileges in life. First is I married a great cook. Yes due to no skills of my own I married an individual with generations of food knowledge. Why is this...
Bias
27 July 2018
By: Audrey Woods, LCP Candidate
I’m reading this novel about a man who was born in the 16th century and is still alive today. With lifetimes of experience the main character, Tom, observes “what defines a human being is being a human.” I believe we are too often picking apart or overthinking new people or experiences to an unhelpful ...
Sheila’s Self Care Quarterly Check Up
19 April 2018
After making a commitment during 2018 to actively participate in self-investment by finding two days per month to specifically devote to meeting my own needs, I feel compelled to provide a first quarter report on my progress.In part, it’s this stems from the need to hold myself accountable and make sustainable strides in self-care.To ...
Parkland Shooter
09 April 2018
By: Quinton Ellis, LPC
As a person, I can offer you no comfort about events like the recent school shooting in Florida, As a therapist, I may, in some respects, be able to offer even less. I have a master’s degree in counseling psychology and years of experience in my field – but in many regards, your guess is as good as mine a...
The Nature of Domestic Violence
09 April 2018
By: John Goetz, LPC
As the survivors of the Florida school shooting head back to school and the nation focuses its attention on the why and how of this tragic event, I would like to suggest we pull ourselves away from the headlines and place some of our focus on a type of violence that literally strikes people in ...
Invest in Yourself
25 January 2018
by Sheila Stinnett, Executive Director
I have recently become focused on the idea of investment. Maybe it’s because I am in my fifties and my thinking has shifted toward retirement or maybe it’s the intense focus our society places on monetary security as we age. Financial investing is pro-active, it’s future focused an...
Dodging Your Therapist? That’s Okay!
05 January 2018
Audrey Woods
Staff Therapist
It’s a beautiful day! You’re at a local event, maybe Heard on Hurd or the Farmer’s Market. You’re enjoying the sunshine and breeze; Oklahoma’s best! But hark, who goes there? It’s your therapist over yonder. You freeze with a whoosh of jumbled thoughts going through your head: my therapist has...
Happy Holidays
04 January 2018
by John Goetz, LPC
Hello all. I was listening to NPR one morning and heard a story about the development of Facebook.The discussion was about the algorithms that went into the creation of Facebook and how it was designed to ensure its users would continue to engage with the program by eliciting a small dopamine response in our...
Is Counseling Forever?
30 November 2017
By: Audrey Woods, Staff Therapist
Perhaps you are considering starting counseling. You’d really like to work on some life issues, but you have questions. For example, how long will this
take? Days, weeks, months, years? The answer to your questions is, of course, it depends…
We in the mental health field ...
Teens are more depressed because they’re more isolated
28 September 2017
Chad McCoy, M.A., LPC
Edmond Family Counseling
There are some things that you cannot live without. Food, water, air, relationships, safety, belongingness, just to name a few. Without these things, we literally cannot survive. Of course, outside of the biologically imperative needs, we also have psychological and soci...
The Panic Button
03 August 2017
By: John Goetz, LPC and Quinton Ellis, LPC
Each year, millions of Americans suffer from panic attacks. By the numbers, the problem looks like this:
- About 1.7% of the adult U.S. population ages 18 to 54 - approximately 2.4 million Americans - has panic disorder in a given yea...
Fidget Spinners: To Spin or Not to Spin
13 July 2017
By: Sheila Stinnett, Executive Director
If you aren’t already aware there is a new “must have” object capturing the attention of our nation’s youth the “fidget spinner”. These popular spinning toys have three arms extending from a center of ball bearings which allows the object to spin. Gaining in popular...
13 Reasons Why NOT
24 May 2017
A Response from the Staff
Edmond Family Counseling
13 Reasons Why, a book by Jay Asher, has recently been adapted by Netflix into a series, narrated by the now deceased character, Hannah Baker. Hannah has committed suicide. She places blame, in large part, on the horrific events inv...
Thoughts While Walking
24 May 2017
By: John Goetz, LPC
In March I was introduced to a short independent film, The Butterfly Circus, Created by Joshua and Rebekah Weigel in 2009. The setting is the 1930s, America is in the middle of the Great Depression. Many people are jobless and homeless, and the circus is a distraction fro...
Access to Prevention leads to Healthy Adults
24 May 2017
By: Chad McCoy, LPC, Assistant Executive Director
Consider for a moment a couple of truths: Early identification is the best indicator for a positive outcome and people are living much longer than ever before. If you agree with these truths and the evidence that supports them, please continue reading. I...
Bucket List Yet?
24 May 2017
By: Amanda Percival, LPC
Spring has sprung! This is probably my favorite time of year. The grass and trees are green, the sun is shining, and the birds are singing. For some, this time of year brings new hope, new beginnings, inspiration, and growth.
Many times, our lives resem...
Non-Verbal Communication
21 March 2017
By: Sheila Stinnett
“The body says what words cannot”. This simple quote from the famous American dancer Martha Graham speaks volumes about significant impact of non-verbal communication in our relationships with those in our lives. Whether we intend to or not, we are constantly broadcasting non-verbal cues to those aro...
THE ART OF SELF-SABOTAGE
21 March 2017
By: Belinda Crosier, LPC, LADC
A fascinating, but frustrating, phenomenon that therapists witness much more than we would like is that of the self-sabotage syndrome. You’ve probably observed it in someone you love – or maybe even yourself – even though you may not have realized it at the time. It’s very common in p...
