Mental Health

SPOILER ALERT: there are details revealed in a TV episode 5 of the Last of Us, below which may muck up your desire to keep reading if you haven't seen the episode. TRIGGER WARNING: This post discusses topics linked to suicide. I've been following the Last of Us on HBOMax for the past number of weeks. It's a brilliant show and riveting. Most recently episode 5 came out. Titled: Endure and Survive, it tells the story of two brothers who are survivors of a fascist society. A pos

What would it mean to combine these two worlds? I have published 6 books of creative writing as an editor. Published fiction and poetry. Taught hundreds of hours of creative writing. I have an MFA in creative writing. And yet. I'm a therapist. With an MSW from a school that calls itself the best school in the country, and has two licenses in NY. A private practice and has done thousands of hours of therapy. I have decided to combine these two parts of my life into one. I have

Recently, a documentary on Netflix about mental health has gained a refreshing amount of positive attention. I'd like to add to that positive vibe and give it some additional thoughts as a mental health professional. STUTZ is a movie about a psychotherapist who has worked with the actor Jonah Hill over the span of his illustrious career. You may remember Hill from the Wolf of Wall Street or going way back, Superbad. The documentary is raw, emotional and shows the active proce

What is Mindfulness? And other questions about how I approach therapy. I get asked this a lot: what is your approach to being a therapist? Or rather, what can we expect therapy to be like together? My approach to therapy is informed by a number of factors the first is my background and training. I came to this field later in life. I didn’t always think I would even become a therapist, even though I have long admired and worked next to the profession as a crisis manager and ad

I had the opportunity to walk the earth with another being that gave me such incredible love and fierce grace across the course of almost 12 years. I am now saying goodbye to him, in the only way that I know how, which is by writing about our life together. As someone once told me, "write to make it all real." What follows is his story. If you have lost a dog it may give you solace or it may cause to reflect on your sadness. I am a writer first, and all other things second, s

I worked at Cornell for five years. I had a job working in the office of international education. I reported directly to the Vice Provost. The local kid had done something big, scored a nice gig at Cornell University. More than, I had a landing space where I could begin to pay off debt and take a few international trips every year that would be work related. I worked in one of the oldest buildings on campus. in the Ag Quad. I was proud to work there. I would dress up in sharp

This photo has always had a special place for me. I had the opportunity to go to Cambodia and do work with agencies that work to end human trafficking. I was a photographer on the trip, two weeks meeting men and women who had endured horrible pain and suffering in this world. I remember taking this shot after my partner at the time, who would later break up with me, had finished her set. We walked into the sun of the facility and there sat a lotus in the midst of this courtya

The process of getting free in your life takes many turns, not all of them a path of light and safety. We begin this process of working towards resolving issues in our life, at times, haphazardly and seeking out connection and love from others. At other times it is wrought with job decisions. At other times it is the drastic escape from family. And so on. Your journey, no matter how arduous or dramatic is made up of many decisions in your life where you seemingly venture betw

When I work with men the question arises. How do I get over her? It's been a while since I thought about this but let me put some things down in writing. It has been mostly the case with my work that I have seen more men who have come to me struggling to get over relationships than I have found women who have struggled to do the same over a man. In fact, it has been overwhelmingly men who come to me and discuss their past relationships. They come in all forms of relationship

Sometimes you have to begin doing the things you really love. Do you ever feel like you begin things and then you get to the next stage and you're not so sure where things are going? The first blog entry is not supposed to be too impressive, as everything after this should mean something much more. But writing has always been part of my life and now I'm working with writing and therapy. Writing about therapy. I don't make mention of any of the stories that my client raise in

So no matter what you do over the course of four years, it’s about the next forty that matter, so try to keep that in mind.

Reposted from the Cornell daily Sun, November 2012 At the time of finishing this article I have not seen the sun for 10 straight days. As a lifelong Ithacan I can tell you a few things about the gray that accompanies the winter here in town and it is my hope that it helps pull you through the next months. While there may be a certain Tea Party fanaticism as to the validity of global warming I can tell you this: Ithaca no longer gets much of the brutal blizzard cold that we go