Thoughts on Thoughts

This week we are helping you become an expert in childhood anxiety. Anxiety presents differently in children than you might expect. In this episode, we are going to help you understand what anxiety can look like in a child because your child who seems to be angry all the time or struggles to focus may just have anxiety! We then go over some tips and tricks for teaching your child about anxiety and...

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health disorders and 1 in 3 people will experience anxiety at some point in their lives. We felt it was important to discuss this so that if you or someone you love is experiencing anxiety there can be more understanding of how that may manifest and what you can do about it. In this episode we discuss the diagnostic criteria for being diagnosed with anxiety...

Candice Mortensen joins us this week to discuss her family and how they came to be. Prior to adopting her five children, Candice worked as a trauma specialist for children who were adopted! As a result, Candice has had such a unique experience becoming a mother. She has been able to use the knowledge and skills she learned as a therapist to help her children heal from their trauma. Each of the Mor...

Since the dawn of time, siblings have fought. And compared. And teased. And scratched. And all sorts of other things. We are here to remind you that if your children are struggling to get along-you aren’t alone! This is a common problem and we have several ideas for decreasing the tension in the home and fostering healthy relationships between siblings. We also go over some of the signs that sibli...

If you are in a family, chances are you have been in a situation where you felt like you needed to set some boundaries. It's a very common thing but sometimes we can make it scary for ourselves! When it comes to setting boundaries with family members, things can sometimes start to feel a bit complicated and uncomfortable. In this episode we give you some pointers on how to navigate those situation...

This week we have a special guest-JaNae Goodrich! JaNae was adopted at birth and shares her experiences growing up in a family with six adopted children and how her adoption has shaped her life. She originally had a closed adoption and has recently been on a journey to find her birth parents. This journey has been unbelievable with a few twists! We appreciate JaNae joining us and hope you learn so...

Adding new children to your family can be difficult on everyone. You lose sleep, your new child is adjusting to the world and your older children's lives change too. They lose time with you, they have to deal with the stress of a new person in their space and they need your help adjusting! In this episode we review ways to help your child adjust from being the only child to adding a sibling. These...

This is part 2 of the interview with Sarah and Laura about their experience in the Columbine High School Shooting. To find out how you can help support them in their efforts to educate communities about trauma visit the Rebels for Change website.  https://rebelsforchange.org

The Columbine High School Shooting took place in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999. Two of the school's seniors opened fire and killed 12 students and one teacher and left many others wounded. The two students later killed themselves in the high school library where they had taken many lives earlier.  Sarah and Laura, sisters, were students at Columbine High School and survived the shooting. T...

A challenge for parents in recent years has been knowing how to navigate parenting around smart phones, media & electronics. In this episode we break down some important things to be aware of such as apps kids are using, the rating system, and other important parenting pitfalls around media to be aware of. We share some important boundaries that parents can set if their kids have phones and talk a...

Gone are the days of ringing the dinner bell to alert your kids that it's time for dinner...now you can just have Alexa tell them for you! Things have changed rapidly with the internet becoming mainstream, cell phones replacing landlines and the ability to find the answer to almost anything with a google search bar. So how do we navigate it all? What are the positives of this new world of screens...

Betrayal is when someone close to you violates your trust which can be internalized by your mind and your body as a trauma. We wanted to learn more about betrayal trauma so we asked Ashlynn and Coby Mitchell to join us on the podcast to teach us more about it! We learned so much from them as they talked with us about their personal experiences in their marriage with betrayal trauma, how they have...

The weather is getting warmer so social media is starting to buzz again about how we need to start working on our "summer bods". So it's time to combat that with a discussion on body image! The important thing to remember is that you are in total control of how healthy your body image is because it is directly impacted by your thoughts and actions. In this episode we discuss how to work on getting...

EMDR therapy has become more and more common in the therapy world as millions of individuals have experienced relief and healing from it. This episode will give you a closer look at how this type of therapy accesses the brain's natural ability to heal and why it works to help reprocess traumatic events and disturbing memories. EMDR therapy can be a unique, challenging and relieving experience for...

We'll be the first to say that setting healthy boundaries can be really hard and it takes practice! In this episode we discuss how to know when boundaries are needed in a relationship, how to set them, and what to do if the reaction to a boundary being set is not what you were hoping for. Healthy relationships require healthy boundaries so it is important to learn how to do this and we hope our di...

This episode is for anyone who wants to better understand depression-whether you have experienced (or are experiencing) it yourself or know someone who has. We discuss what clinical depression is, and what it isn’t and how to help treat it. We also delve into some ideas for how to support those around you who are struggling with it. While depression can mean so many different things, this episode...

In this episode we interview Jen Castillo Hurst, a fellow therapist, about her cancer journey. Jen was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma two years ago just after getting married. She shares her experiences in treatment and how she learned to be resilient through a difficult and scary time in her life. Listen to hear about how to develop resilience in yourself so that you can handle the dif...

Finding the right therapist can be a difficult process. In this episode, we give you tips for finding the right fit in your therapist. We will review how to search for a therapist, what qualifications you should be on the lookout for and how to make a change if you don’t feel connected to the therapist you choose. We will also go over some common types of therapy, including some of our favorites t...

If you are feeling worn down in some of your relationships it could be because there is an imbalance of emotional labor. Not sure what that is? Listen to this episode as we dig into what it is, how to recognize if there is an imbalance that is causing disconnection in your relationships and then we discuss what you can do about it!

Can "decluttering" your mind and your space impact your mental health? We dive into that in this episode as we discuss how minimalism can impact your life and well-being. Enjoy!

Join us as we get the chance to hear all the details of someone who used in vitro fertilization to get pregnant. Jessica and her husband Elliott share an honest account of their struggles with infertility, the experience of IVF and how they were each affected by the process. We hope this will help you if you are currently struggling with infertility, know someone who is or just want to know more a...

Are you a master at knowing what the love languages are but still struggle with giving and receiving love? Are you still experiencing some disconnect between you and your partner and can't figure out why? Give this episode a listen and maybe it will help you discover what the underlying issues could be!

Join us as we talk about the habits that we have that benefit our mental health! We hope this will give you some ideas of things you could try in your own life to feel a little more grounded. 'Tis the season to make some new habits!

In this episode, we discuss how to handle difficult situations with your kids that may cause you to escalate. We all struggle sometimes to not overreact when we have reached our limit so we discuss how it can be beneficial for children to see their parents experiencing emotions as well.

In this episode we will discuss how to solve unsolvable problems in relationships. Getting past gridlock is possible and we will teach you some techniques to use so that you can do just that!