Beverly Hills/Los Angeles Family Therapist /Counselor: Communication, Conflict, Anger, Stress

YOUR ANGER IS TALKING TO YOU! Honor your anger, get your needs met, be the kind of man you want others to see.

Most of my clients are angry! And most are men. Not surprising, since I’ve been helping men understand and honor their anger for more than 30 years.

What do I mean by “honoring” anger? Let’s start with acknowledging that anger is just a feeling. Anger lines up with all the other feelings experienced by humans: sadness, joy, fear, love, grief, excitement, worry and many others. We are alive, we are human, and so — we have feelings. That’s a good thing.

TELETHERAPY: The Challenges and Rewards of Video Counseling

Video sessions? Online counseling? Teletherapy? Telemedicine? So many terms I suddenly found myself both using and dreading at the same time. After all, my 30+ years of experience, my on-going training, my carefully-honed philosophy, and my own comfort level all have continually united over many years to let me know that in-person counseling was the only path for me. That was my firm stance.

STUCK in RELATIONSHIP QUICKSAND?

A while ago, I wrote a post about how to know when it’s time for a change, how to know when you need to move on from a relationship that isn’t working anymore. Since that time, I’ve noticed that I’m seeing more and more clients who report that they feel stuck and immobilized in relationships that are starting to feel toxic and are just not working out the way they’d hoped.

IS SOBRIETY ENOUGH? Three recovery challenges – and how you can survive them all…

Sometimes the advice those in recovery think they hear is what not to do! All those don’ts: Don’t hang out with the same old crowd. Don’t go to the same old places. Don’t let your family talk you back into the old patterns. And definitely don’t use another addiction to substitute for whatever you are addicted to, but not using now!

LOST YOUR STOP SIGN? Braking that impulse in three steps!

Learn how to get in front of those impulses that cause conflict and stress!

Oops! It happened again. David meant to express empathy and concern to his father, who was upset about a business problem. Instead, he blurted out, “Well, don’t expect me to do anything! I have no time to waste on stuff like that!” As soon as it was out of his mouth, he knew…. he’d done it again.

STRESS at WORK: Eleven tips for surviving and thriving.

Stress happens! To all of us. At home, at work, with friends, and with family. The many published articles, books, and research reports that discuss the causes of and fixes for workplace stress could probably fill a very large library– ample evidence that you’re not alone in feeling stressed.

HOW LONG IS ENOUGH? 10 warning signs to help you decide if it’s time to move on.

We make many commitments throughout our lives. Business/professional obligations, friendships, intimate relationships, leases, debts, appearance at family events, a promise to self to think or behave in a specific way, and even those as minor as regular hair care appointments or using the same cleaners for years ….. these are just a few examples of the many small and large obligations we may feel obligated to continue – even if they no longer work for us.Continue Reading

COMPLAINING OR USEFUL FEEDBACK? Point of view can make a difference…

Has someone been complaining about your child? Maybe it’s the neighbor who thinks there’s way too much noise in your home. Or the teacher who has let you know there are challenges at school and that your child needs to do the homework, be less talkative, comply with school rules, Continue Reading

NEED SOME HELP? Sometimes that conversation seems tougher than it needs to be!

Over the years, I’ve had many clients who have difficulty asking for what they need. And our work around that involves more than just finding an understanding of why that happens.

Insight is nice – but tends not to quite be enough. So the other half of our challenge is to create a sort of toolbox of strategies that

WHO WORRIES ABOUT YOU? Thoughts about stress, change, anger around us…

Lately, I’ve been getting more calls than usual from concerned family members. They describe too much stress, change, and anger. They talk about sons, daughters, spouses, partners, mothers, fathers whose behavior has been hurting what used to be loving relationships. I hear about quick tempers, silent anger and lots of