"How can my Sanctuary Serve you?"

Oh how THIS word has been used so often in our culture. Song titles, Book names, & even phrases with being known or knowing are all over Social Media. What does it mean to know something? My millennial son often thinks he knows more than anyone else in the family, yet he spent 30 minutes in the store looking for light bulbs – “knowing” they should be by the lighting fixtures. (Now he really DOES know this information J). I bet most of us will cop to saying that we know about

I have worked with folks who are dealing with grief for years. My sense of compassion pulls on me to hear the stories & share the sorrows. I don’t think our culture does a good job of handling loss. We want to stuff it, avoid it, & just make it go away. I became a Certified Grief Specialist in April of last year so that I could have more techniques to help clients work THROUGH their grief vs putting it on the back burner of their souls. “They” say that experience is the best

As I reviewed my clinical history for a recent marketing exercise, I found myself thinking about what I actually do, big picture. Yes, I conduct psychotherapy & supervision, though what does that mean? The bottom line is that I want to facilitate help for the hopeless & joy for the journey in how I counsel & teach. We can get stuck in our own heads sometimes which often leads in a downward spiral. It becomes a quagmire of shifting thoughts and emotions so that we can’t move

"It's the most wonderful time of the year." Yeah right. For some of us, the holidays are simply a series of days to get through, rather than celebrating anything. Grief, stress, & unrealistic expectations all can color this time so that there isn't light, only dark. Yet hope is the one feeling that can carry us through. Focus on the details, instead of the big picture. Enjoy the kids you see waiting for Santa (except of course, the ones that are screaming). Give $1 to

Change isn't one of those things we usually rush to do. In fact, we often will stay in a bad situation for a long time because of the fear of change. Yet, for our dreams to come true & our lives to be different, change is an imperative. J. D. Houston writes "If you want something you never had, you'll have to do something you've never done." It could be something simple like using observations instead of comparisons to change how you view yourself or something major such as

Sometimes we simply just run out. Of time, of energy, of whatever it is that we need to keep going. I went on a trip with teenagers this weekend & as can be expected came home exhausted. I fell down & the bed & before I knew it, had passed out into sleep. Obviously, I had run out of physical energy & a little shuteye helped revive me. How do we replenish depleted resources? What can jazz up our hearts, our souls, our spirits? A planned schedule, a caring word, a kind t

How many times have you heard that phrase? Or said that phrase? It's often uttered when on a call or when you are trying to get through to a tuned out teenager. Yet I wonder if it isn't said in a hundred other ways on a daily basis by one or another of us. Maybe it's even screamed - CAN'T YOU HEAR ME??? Won't you hear me? I think hearts break a little each day that they aren't heard. There is such a longing for that in every soul. It's my priviledge to listen to your

The world outside has effectively come to a halt with the coming of the ice storm here in the metro Atlanta area. Roads, commerce, schools all have shut down as a result of the conditions. It makes me think of how people can get stuck too, frozen in place with indecision or hopelessness. While we will hopefully thaw out sometime tomorrow when the temperatures incease, a person often needs more than a simple climate shift to begin their thawing process. Counseling can ofte