September is Suicide Awareness Month. Approximately 2,000 people die each day by suicide worldwide. Approximately 134 people a day die by suicide in America. Suicide affects three groups of people: those who live with someone who uses the term as a threat, those who wrestle with it themselves, and those who survive the loss of…
If you’ve read American Prometheus, you know that after helping create the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer began warning the government about the consequences of the nuclear arms race. Rather than seriously considering what he had to say, powerful people worked to discredit and silence him. Reading the book got me thinking about how often…
This is part 4 of a 4 part series. You can read part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here. For the last few weeks, I’ve been writing about words.I didn’t actually set out to write a series about words. I started by writing about the difference between discomfort and being unsafe. That…
Was Erica missing her privilege in a previous episode? Some listeners thought so and wrote in to tell us. After we deal with that, we look at the University of Michigan’s new grading system for freshmen! No Failing! Pass or No Credit is the only option now. We can’t say you failed. The stated purpose…
A while back, I asked a question on Facebook: “What therapy words do you think are overused or society is obsessed with today?” The responses were many; Trauma. Triggered. Narcissist. Gaslighting. Boundaries. Toxic. Abuse. Invalidating. Self-care. Anxiety. Depression. Holding space. Nervous system. One person simply wrote, “Triggered.” Someone else joked that he needed to go…
We seem to be living in a world that has lost kindness. And everyone seems to have someone else to blame. But what does it actually mean to be kind in a relationship? When does trying to help, correct, or influence someone cross the line into control? What’s the difference between critiquing, criticism, and nagging?…
We Can’t Even Call It Failure Anymore The University of Michigan recently announced that beginning in the fall of 2027, first-semester freshmen in its College of Literature, Science, and the Arts will no longer have letter grades recorded on their transcripts. Instead, their transcripts will show one of two designations: pass or no credit. Not…
About one in six kids in America lives in a blended family. Moreover, stepchildren are often one of the top stressors listed for second marriages. After the pain of a divorce, you’ve fallen in love again, and the kids are threatening to ruin it. What do you do? First, how do you parent as a…
I’ve been writing about grief a bit lately. It hasn’t been intentional, per se. I actually had other topics outlined and scheduled. But as is often the case with writing, one post led to another, which led to another idea. You can listen to the first episode on grief here. In that episode, I explore…
Somehow, summer is almost over. School is about to start, and for a lot of students (and their parents), that means new battles with anxiety. Sometimes, it also means a lack of desire dressed up as anxiety. What should a parent do? How do we handle the stress that comes with the start of a…
