Fundamentals of Trauma Recovery, Part 3

By: Chava Lederer

While extremely distressing, flashbacks are actually memories. Registering what is a memory, and what is happening now, is essential.

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Making Space for Personal Growth

By: Robert Newman

Being too busy is a dis-ease of modern society

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My Unorthodox life: Exploring Differences of Opinion in Couplehood

By: Micki Lavin-Pell

When I work with couples through dealing with differences, whether it be religious or any other practice or want, I help the couple explore their deeper feelings around their differences of opinion and differences of practice. Couples deal with all kinds of differences. Some examples are issues around health and fitness, what kinds of food enters the home, what kinds of media are allowed, how to use finances, what dress represents members of the home, places to hang out and where not to go, how much time to spend together, what to do with the time they spend together, where to go on vacation, to name but a few.

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4 Ways NOT to Apologize to Your Spouse

By: Yonatan Schechter

Couples occupy the same spaces, literally and figuratively, and it’s inevitable that they will clash or disappoint each other from time to time. When that happens, an apology is a major part of making amends. Here are some of the most common mistakes made when apologizing.

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Caring for the Caregiver

By: Jeanne S. Lankin

As a clinical social worker and therapist for over 30 years and having myself been a caregiver for over 10 years, I have observed that caregiver stress is the single most underreported source of stress for people ranging from 45 until their 80’s.  While caregiving can also be a source of blessing and provide the feeling that you are doing the “right thing” for your elderly loved ones, it is tinged with a multitude of other emotions.  To your friends and family, you may not want to openly express these emotions and feelings. A trained therapist, an expert in these matters, is needed.  

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On Becoming a Personal Scientist: Living in the half-full glass

By: Ruth Shidlo

The half-full glass is the antidote to the half-empty one.

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What is Somatic Experiencing (SE) ?

By: Ruth Shidlo

As a body-mind practitioner and clinical psychologist, I have found that incorporating principles of Somatic Experiencing (SE) into my practice has provided me with a whole new way of helping people move on with their lives when stressed, anxious, depressed, traumatized, or otherwise in pain (including living with chronic pain). So what then, is Somatic Experiencing, and how does it work?

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Chewbacca Visits: The Power of a Dream

By: Robin B. Zeiger

Dreams bring images and messages from the depths of our soul. It is our psyche’s way of compensating for our conscious life, which is only one-half of our life-story. Our dream life brings a richness and ebb and flow to our daily existence. Likewise when we are in touch with our unconscious, there is a flow to our daily existence much like the ebb and flow of the waves of the sea. Our unconscious helps bring us light and creativity and vitality.

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Earth, Water, Air, and Fire

By: Chava Lederer

The four classical elements are channels through which we make contact with the present moment reality, and engage our uniquely human mind – a mind capable of creativity, of connecting to others, of faith and spirituality.  I offer you these four elements as resources in moments of stress, panic, fear, or any other overwhelming experience.

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The Interplay of Dread AND Hope: Holding and Navigating Contrasting Emotions in Cultivating Resilience

By: Evelyn Rappoport

People often ask me: how it is possible to celebrate amid deep suffering and life-altering traumatic events that shatter any sense of safety or security and leave us in confusion and the unknown?  Dread and Hope, though seemingly contradictory, can coexist in a complex dance that shapes the human experience.  Here's how...

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You and Your Body

By: Chava Lederer

Your body is not all of who you are, but it is a constant. You are in relationship with your body always.

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Fundamentals of Trauma Recovery, Part 4

By: Chava Lederer

Forgive yourself for not having foreseen, protected, or responded more effectively during the trauma.

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Grief in the Dessert: Moshe, Miriam, and Mei Meriva

By: Ariel Penkower

The story of Mei Merivah is among the Torah's most challenging narratives. This reflection offers a fresh perspective on Moshe's act of striking the rock, exploring it through the lens of bereavement, emotional overwhelm, and the human limits of leadership. Drawing on both Torah and psychology, it invites us to consider what this event might teach us about grief, compassion, and our shared humanity.

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Re-Frame Rejection so You Can Successfully Move Forward in Relationships

By: Micki Lavin-Pell

I have been rejected more times than I can count. By friends, boys, jobs, my kids, you name it… One of my most memorable rejections happened while in 6th grade. My English teacher encouraged us to write a journal, which I kept "hidden" in my desk. In it, I wrote all about a crush I had on a boy named Joey, a fellow classmate. I forgot that in the morning we sat at one desk and in the afternoon another. A fellow classmate found my journal and proceeded to read that very entry aloud to the entire class during recess.

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The Power of Art Therapy for Emotional Healing

By: Sara Feinberg

People often ask me, “What is art therapy and how does it work?” Art therapy…

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Understanding Relational Therapy and Why It Matters in Eating Disorder Treatment

By: Hadassah (Johanna) Hazan

This piece traces the evolution of relational therapy and shows why its emphasis on attunement, authenticity, and connection is especially effective in treating eating disorders. It reveals how the therapeutic relationship itself becomes a corrective emotional experience, allowing clients to access and heal the deeper wounds beneath disordered eating.

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The Emotion Valve

By: Yonatan Schechter

When someone is friendly, capable, and well-liked yet can't seem to make a relationship work, the answer may lie not in who they are today, but in who they had to become in childhood.

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Survivorship Bias: Missing Planes and Missing Data

By: Yisroel Picker

Survivorship bias is like the WWII military only looking at bullet holes in planes that returned, while ignoring the ones that crashed. In the same way, we copy the 'hustle' of famous billionaires and think it’s a blueprint, forgetting the thousands of people who did the exact same thing and failed. If you only look at the survivors, you’re missing the full picture of the risks you’re actually taking. To truly survive, you have to stop obsessing over the winners and start looking at the planes that never made it home.

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Lesson from a Construction Site: Don't Dismiss the Scaffolding in Your Relationships

By: Yonatan Schechter

Marriages, like buildings, sometimes need scaffolding - temporary, unglamorous interventions - that provide the platform needed to repair damage and build a strong, lasting structure.

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Managing Custody During Corona

By: Linda Avitan

The Corona crisis is challenging and stressful on many levels. This is particularly true in families already challenged by divorce and managing custody. My blog addresses basic points of reference around children's needs and challenges around going back and forth between parents and advise to parents on how to best navigate. I offer some "do's and don'ts" for promoting successful communication as well as advise on juggling your life when the children are with you. I invite you to contact me for help, advise or even just venting! Everyone needs someone, now more than ever.

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