If you are between the age of 14 and 24, then this group might be just what you are looking for. Depression, anxiety and low self-esteem in teens and young adults is more common than you may think. If you find yourself struggling with depressive feelings, if you are feeling lonely and like hope is […]

The Western model of counselling encourages us therapists to help our clients explore their issues, develop insight, develop coping mechanisms and tools to make their own decisions. We encourage autonomy, which we believe will empower our clients to find their own solutions. After all, isn’t our goal usually to help our clients achieve self-sufficiency? We’re […]

When we think of culture, we usually think about language, food, art, customs and rituals. Culture is the spice of life and generally enriches our lives, right? That’s one way to view culture

There’s a saying in some cultures that “heaven lies under a mother’s feet” – I think it reflects the sacrifice that mothers make as child bearers. Please dads, don’t feel left out. Recently I’ve witnessed overwhelming paternal love that is so full of heart breaking worry, that it hurts. This type of fatherly feeling has […]

Single women who are over 35 and who have come to me for counseling, regardless of race, religion, nationality, education and status, all have the same core issue: a “feeling unloved” schema. Each one of these ladies (and I’m talking about more than 10 this year alone), wants to find a guy who will love […]

When I work with couples in marriage counseling one of the first questions I ask is “what does marriage mean to you?” Marriage therapist Dr. John Gottman focuses on identifying shared life dreams as a glue that can hold marriages together. Both partners need to support each others’ life dreams, and ideally these should be […]

When a couple from two different cultures comes together in marriage, they need to form their own agreed – upon new culture based upon blending, adapting, acceptance and compromise. We know the chance of a happy marriage is based on good communication, genuine friendship, flexibility and commitment. We also know that the main challenge for […]

How do you help people with dysfunctional attitudes and behaviors, if they are driven by deeply entrenched cultural beliefs? A father brought his depressed 17 year old son for counseling, to “make him study for his final exams”. The son had experienced a series of peer related problems, displayed oppositional behavior, and even attempted suicide. […]

In my counseling practice I see a lot of clients from cultures where there’s still a stigma linked to seeking mental and emotional health care. Interestingly, once these clients walk through my door, they leave their stigmas behind. They come willingly and motivated to change, accept the benefits of psychotherapy, are open and genuine in […]

There are some amazing similarities between some modern psychotherapeutic interventions, and coping strategies taught through religious philosophies. For example, Rogerian- style empathic listening reminds me of the Golden Rule: do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. We all want to be understood and accepted non-judgmentally, right? A CBT counseling intervention for low […]

Although different cultures react to grief and loss differently, humans express sadness in a universally similar way – through tears. Tears are known to contain stress hormones, so crying is a healthy and natural release of stress caused by grief.

I recently had an interesting conversation with a young client from Bhutan, which is a small country in the Himalayan mountains bordering India and China. In Bhutan the government measures prosperity- not through the GDP (gross domestic product) like most of the world, but through GNP: Gross National Happiness. 33 indicators which are classified under […]

There are many things that influence our well-being, but family culture is one of the most important factors determining mental and emotional health. The protective factor of having close family nearby to help you, to give advice, to guide or even to set you right, can be like an oak tree: solid, comforting and shady […]

These days I’m working with several clients from collectivist family -oriented cultures. For them, the importance of family values translates into extended family having the same power, influence, rights and responsibilities as nuclear family. When family ties are harmonious then kinship is an excellent source of support and security. But when there’s conflict in the […]

Compassion-based CBT, as described by Paul Weber, could be straight out of a manual of Buddhist teachings, or from Holy Scriptures. I use a lot of CBT with my clients, but in cases where the monk-555391_640client is overly focused on self-criticism and shame, actually believing the “alternative healthy thoughts” is a struggle. Conceptually they understand […]

In my counseling practice I see a lot of clients who have moved away from their home countries, usually because of job transfers. This means a nuclear family is uprooted from their home, and re-located to a place where they have no family, friends or support network. Many people enjoy the novelty, excitement, and adventure […]

My last post was about the importance of emotional support, especially for those who leave their country of origin (http://www.ccpa-accp.ca/blog/?p=4188). Usually family and close friends are the first people we lean on or turn to for advice. Anxiety and depression can be soothed by talking to loved ones, but when people have geographic distance from […]

Like most of the world, I’ve been praying for the passengers of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. Depending upon the headlines I find myself oscillating between being hopeful for their survival, or be fearful of their loss. Either way, I feel that I can eventually accept the outcome, because I personally believe that we are part […]

Sometimes I really get frustrated! The population I work with is culturally diverse, and I truly value and respect that. But sometimes I have to “sell” the benefits of psychotherapy to parents who can’t understand why their teenagers won’t just talk to them or to other family members about their problems. Some of these parents […]

All too often I see multi-cultural couples in therapy who’ve been together for a year or so; the novelty of marriage has worn off, and now they are realizing things that usually only surface after you’ve been living together for a while. While the foundation of a good marriage can depend on things like friendship, […]

Tons of research has been done on the psychological benefits of gratitude. Reading studies is one thing, but coming face to face with grateful clients in my practice is a joy to see and I find that gratitude is uplifting and contagious.