teenage depression

This Is What Teen Depression Looks Like

I want you to picture a person with depression. Are you seeing the dark bedroom, filthy sweatpants, empty eyes, poor health and general lack of prosperity? You know what I see when I picture depression? A blonde, blue-eyed teenage girl. She gets awesome grades, loves to paint, go to football games, drink Starbucks, Instagram and… Read more »

Learn More

Preventing Gang Violence: Why Kids Become Violent

Read an exclusive interview with Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention group in the country. What Homeboy Industries Does: My name is Greg Boyle, I’m the Executive Director and Founder of Homeboy Industries, located in Los Angeles, the largest gang intervention program in the country. We serve about 12,000 people… Read more »

Learn More

Taking Advantage of Summertime to Get to Know Your Child

Summer’s finally here, and while that may not mean a lot to the majority of the working population, children everywhere are rejoicing in the newfound (however temporary) freedom of their three-month vacation from school, homework, and all things academic. While you probably aren’t afforded the same release from work, as a parent, summer is the… Read more »

Learn More

Our Children’s Integrity

Be careful that your words match your deeds, your children are watching…and listening!  As parents we attempt to teach our children the building blocks for personal integrity; the difference between right and wrong, thoughtful and thoughtless and myriad other nuances of this optimal human value….But we often fail to recognize the utter esteem in which… Read more »

Learn More

Bullying and Beyond: How to Stop Violent Behavior

Every day, an average of 160,000 children in the United States stay home from school for fear of being bullied. Last year, bullying made national headlines when physical and emotional violence towards LGBT teenagers led to a series of painful suicides. The immediate response to this was impressive. Dan Savage created the “It Get Better… Read more »

Learn More

The Gifts of Depression

The term depression tends to be slung about carelessly these days. We wake up in a funk, things didn’t go well at work today or we missed the most recent episode of Mad Men and we’re “depressed.” Technically, we’re not depressed. If we want to be nit-picky, we would clarify that we feel disappointed or… Read more »

Learn More

Being a good therapist and being a good parent require the same skills

The qualities that are manifested by a good parent are the same as those that are characteristic of a good therapist. This is because parents and therapists are involved in a similar pursuit: supporting and encouraging the growth and development of a unique and autonomous human being. Obviously, this task is more formidable in the… Read more »

Learn More

How to be a good parent: It’s all about you!

So much of the information out there about how to be a better parent focuses on techniques for modifying your child’s behavior. But it is missing the mark. Research has shown that the one thing a person can do to be a better parent is to focus on developing him or herself. This is where… Read more »

Learn More

Should our goal for our kids be for them to be happy?

Many times in my office parents say their goal is for their child to be happy.   As a therapist, I have to wonder if being  happy is really what we want?  When are our children happy?  When they get a birthday present; get a cookie they wanted; win at a game.  If life consisted of… Read more »

Learn More