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We are into this pandemic for over a year. I hope you are able to get vaccinated. So many of us have health issues that prevent us from getting vaccinations; it is up to the rest of us to do what we can to achieve herd immunity. I had no problems with the first vaccine... Read More

When I’m not annoyed, irritable, distracted, angry, hungry, or otherwise dysregulated, it is pretty cool what my neocortex can come up with in the way of creative responses to the children in my care. I’ll share an old, favorite story then another, less productive but very silly one. Jack was a 16-year-old from a tiny... Read More

On a recent call, an AZAFAP foster mom shared that the three girls who have lived with her for 3 years (one since birth) are being considered for reunification.  She was being a trooper, but anger and frustration were her go-to feeling states. As we listened to her report of a meeting during which she... Read More

Changes, Some Small, Some Huge Part of what you do as a parent to a child with a history of chronic trauma is celebrate small changes. Sometimes you must journal behavioral observations to even recognize those changes. It is very confusing when the progress you saw yesterday is not evident today. I heard myself say... Read More

I remember a 15-year-old girl and her mother. I always held family therapy with everyone in the same room. Some of my colleagues thought I was crazy to try to manage such a dynamic group of people in various types of pain, but I love a challenge.  In our next individual session, the girl looked... Read More

I’ve been procrastinating about this blog and wasn’t sure why. I usually really look forward to this. I realized the level of ambivalence I have about Christmas was holding me back. Then I found a way to talk about it with you that you might find helpful. All in the spirit of a wounded healer,... Read More

As a new mom, I once decided that I would measure my success as a mother by whether my children lied to me. Looking back on this, I want to reach out and give myself a big, reassuring hug and tell my younger self that this was a very unrealistic and ungenerous expectation of myself... Read More

[et_pb_section bb_built="1"][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.19.3"] I love it when someone trusts me enough to ask for what they want! My mind reading ain’t what it used to be… Maybe it’s just me but when you were a kid, do you remember thinking that grown-ups knew how to handle everything? Little did I know that, as an... Read More

It is hard to ignore what this pandemic means to me and my family. Certainly, it has changed how we shop for groceries (delivery or curb pick up), how we attend school (Nana as on-line co-teacher but offering no recess with classmates), and how we celebrate (socially distanced small gatherings in the front yard). However,... Read More

The other day my grandson, Max, 4, said, “Nana, when are we going to the Show and Tell House?” We were in the car on the way to Oak Creek Canyon for a change of scenery, beach towels and floaties at the ready.  Max was once enrolled in a preschool class so the reference to... Read More