The Kick-Ass Blog
How Can I Shield My Child from Anxiety?
In 2019, I offered parents three moves they could use in the face of escalating levels of anxiety in their kids: embrace curiosity to have the courageous conversation acknowledge the impact of parental stress leverage the connections in your family to increase your...
Dog Poo for the Win!
Why was I laughing and smiling last night while I was cleaning dog poo out of the crevices of the sole of my hiking boot? Three times in the last week, I have stepped in dog poo (and one time in old chewing gum). This never happens. Just to be clear: I’m not lucky....
What Should Parents REALLY Be Worrying About?
Who is the first on the scene? That would be Worry. If you are a parent, you may already be a professional worrier and not even give a second thought to why you do it or how to stop. Wait, can I really stop Worrying? (Spoiler Alert: not really) Have you heard this...
The Field of Play
Where do you get your best ideas? sitting at your desk? in the shower? Your best ideas come in the shower, right? Why is that? When you don’t need to multitask, when you just need to do a simple, automatic task like washing your hair, your mind is finally free to do...
Launching a New Practice
My practice of psychology is expanding beyond the transactional. I feel compelled to integrate all that I have learned in the last two years, from the ongoing protests in Portland to calls to defund the police to the spotlight that social media has shined on the...
No Fences
On stage at my first TEDx event, I recalled a turning point in my life. In the first year of grad school, my professor Marshall Swift, of blessed memory, played “Glinda the Good Witch” to my “Dorothy.” Sinking fast into the deep end of a pool of self-pity, Marshall...