The time between the ages of 8 and 14 can be a difficult period for any child. Puberty is a chaotic experience for both boys and girls. Tween and teen girls are forced to cope with the added challenge of their confidence taking a plunge during these years. Girls this age experience an extremely significant [...]
By Felix Blumhardt, PhD, LCSW “Our task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” – Rumi When is the last time you did something nice for yourself? Like many people, you may easily remember the last time you did something [...]
By Kylie Lambert, LCSW, LCAS-A It’s hard to know where to begin when discussing the sensitive nature of suicide. However, it is absolutely a conversation worth having, especially with the media coverage of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain’s untimely death, as well as the rising popularity of the Netflix’s 13 Reason Why series. When hearing [...]
It’s not every day that someone asks you to give a TED Talk, but two lovely sophomores at Enloe High School asked if our own Allison Grubbs was up for the challenge at their upcoming TEDx event. Recently, Allison made good on her promise, and it did not disappoint. Here’s what she had to say [...]
By Kylie Lambert & Felix Blumhardt Self-care has been a hot topic of conversation within the health and wellness space lately, and it’s for a good reason. Self-care is the act of participating in activities that help take care of our physical, emotional, spiritual and mental health to promote overall well-being. In today’s fast-paced, constantly [...]
By Crystal Yarborough After experiencing a traumatic event, many people are aware of the possibility of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). People may not consider that growth can also happen after a traumatic experience. The notion that good things can happen from bad events is not a novel idea, but post-traumatic growth is becoming a [...]
by Anne Siegel, LCSW Renewing the practice of meaningful conversation between spouses is one crucial element of marriage/couples therapy, and one of the first tasks to be taught, practiced and improved. When a couple begins therapy, they are most often in a state of partial or total disconnection. The therapist often hears the disconnection described [...]
As we enter the busy and sometimes over-focused Christmas and Hanukkah seasons, we offer these thoughts for consideration. Holidays can be times of joy and togetherness, yet it is so important to remember that not everyone is looking forward to the holidays. Some people are not surrounded by wonderful families. Some people are struggling during [...]
As part of Aspire’s move toward being a resiliency-focused counseling group, we are helping to train professionals in the Wake County Public School System in the Community Resiliency Model (CRM). CRM is a skills-based model that helps people bring their nervous system back into balance after periods of chronic stress or a traumatic event. What’s [...]
Time magazine recently ran a cover story titled “Anxiety, Depression and the American Adolescent: Why the Kids Are Not Alright,” which indicated 30% of girls and 20% of boys have had an anxiety disorder — that’s 6.3 million kids. Another three million have had a major depressive episode in the past year. The article asserts “adolescents [...]
