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If you had a friend that talked to you like you do, would you still be friends?

You’re not an idiot because something bad happened like you lost $100 that you can’t afford to lose. You’re not shameful because someone molested or raped you as a child. You didn’t deserve to be raped because you were drunk at a party. Your worth isn’t diminished because your father didn’t know how to adequately love you. You’re not worthless because your mom took every chance she could to remind you that you were an accident that wasn’t planned.
I do not believe you are an accident. I do believe you have worth.

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The Emotionally Secure Couple: Chapter One

Then we try to soothe our pain. We try to soothe it by working out or making millions of dollars or getting involved in church. We try to outdo our shame, falsely believing that we can outrun it through activity. The net result becomes a heaping of shame on top of shame. Our activity does not do away with our shame; instead, it numbs our response to it. A numb soul tends to be numb to everything. This causes us to pick activities that keep us from connecting with someone else, which causes us to experience more shame.

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The Subtle Stages of an Affair

Few people are actually chasing an affair at first, they are often chasing other things that lead to the affair. But few people, if they are honest with the themselves, will deny that they knew where it was heading when they jumped on the path.
If you saw yourself in any of these steps, I can’t encourage you enough to seek counseling.
Affairs are terrible storms that leave dark and deep swaths of destruction in their wake.

Locations

At the Joe Martino Counseling Network, we want to make counseling as convenient as possible for you.  We have three offices located in the Greater West Michigan area. Grand Rapids. Creative Solutions Counseling We have an office on East Paris Ave called Creative Solutions Counseling. You can find more information by clicking here. Lowell. Joe…

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Sexual Abuse: The conversation we all need to have

We start a very difficult topic today over at our blog on Creative Solutions.  We are starting a conversation about the issue of sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is happening or has happened to people you know. Th statistics are absolutely scary. The topic is uncomfortable. The conversation is absolutely necessary. Understanding the implications of this…