Perspectives
SCG Staff Articles
How Do We Wait When Things Aren’t Great?
Waiting is hard. Does anybody actually enjoy the process of standing in line? Sometimes it feels like we’re searching for ways to distract ourselves before the inevitable conclusion. Waiting can be exceedingly lonely if we’re experiencing it in isolation. And yet, anticipation can be fun. That sense of longing for something you’ve put your hope in. Maybe it’s excitement about getting married. Perhaps you’re really looking forward to the new Spider-Man movie. Or you could just be waiting on your cake to finish baking. Currently, we are in the season of advent, an often reflective season in which we are challenged to look back on what all has happened the previous year, recognizing the impact those events have left on us and casting our gaze toward the upcoming year. It can be both sobering and joyful.
Beat Them With Thankfulness
I propose that gratitude is the recognition that more things have to be going ‘right’ than ‘wrong’ for you to be alive. Despite the chaos, we can take notice that kindness, gentleness, beauty and compassion are usually easy to find.
Men In Therapy
Our workplaces, churches and homes are full of men struggling to recognize their own wants and needs. Often it is because men misunderstand themselves or are unable to accurately articulate what they want. Society places demands on everyone, but I have learned that men may often be ignored or overlooked when it comes to dealing with emotions and relationships.
The Most Obnoxious Roommate: You
Yourself. Can’t live with you, can’t live without you. And that can be exhausting from time to time. Maybe it’s that pervasive sense of constantly questioning everything that you do.
Domestic Violence Help
Domestic Violence is prevalent. As many as 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men face domestic violence from an intimate partner, resulting in injury, mental illness, STD’s, lack of self-worth, and isolation.
It’s Not Just Sitting Still: Adult ADHD Awareness
When you think about ADHD, most of us have that picture of the young kid who doesn’t focus or can’t sit still in class. Maybe they have fidget toys or a different chair in a classroom. We rarely think about ADHD outside of childhood or even the classroom.
The Loss of a Grandchild
If you come to a place of devastating pain in your life, may you be blessed “with the healing of heart, mind, and soul” by the therapists at Sanctuary Counseling Group, God bless you in all your life.
Information on Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence is prevalent. As many as 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men face domestic violence from an intimate partner, resulting in injury, mental illness, STDs, lack of self-worth, and isolation.
What to Say or Do When a Child Dies
Any time someone is experiencing grief, we all struggle with how to address it. It is hard to know what to say or do to ease the pain of the person. When someone or a couple loses a pregnancy, infant, or child, the difficulty is compounded. We feel completely inadequate in our endeavors to comfort or console them. Words are not enough or seem trite, worn, or inappropriate. Our actions seem to be “too little, too late” or completely insufficient.
World Mental Health Awareness Day
Read what the SCG staff therapists have to say about mental health as we observe World Mental Health Awareness Day.
The Raw Truth about Abusive Partners in a Relationship
Domestic abuse or intimate partner abuse incorporates many aspects of negative patterns in relationships. Unfortunately, domestic abuse does not discriminate by age, race, gender, faith, class, or sexual orientation. In terms of intimidation, manipulation, and control, the abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, spiritual, or psychological.
Legacy of a Pickpocket
What would you like your legacy to be? Regardless of how small or insignificant or invisible you may feel, how beaten up or beaten down you may be, your legacy is made of nothing more and nothing less than the choices you make. You can choose to be someone you can live with being, someone you can believe in, someone who can leave the world a little better than you found it.
What is EMDR Therapy?
“EMDR Therapy” might seem like a random assortment of letters, but to others it is an amazing treatment that can be used to heal trauma, depression, and anxiety (along with many other mental health issues). The “EMDR”, in EMDR Therapy, stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, which probably still does not mean a lot. To boil it down, any type of trauma can be defined as "a hurt or a wound" and often gets stuck in the amygdala and/or brainstem. The amygdala and/or brainstem are the parts of the brain that hold our “flight, flight, freeze, or fawn” responses.
The Shadow
Why do we spend our time “entertaining” ourselves with these awful tales of terror, death, and manipulation? What is enjoyable about using our rare free moments disturbing our mental peace? We seem to use these moments of sanitized fear to safely explore our own, albeit mostly far less violent, darker sides.
Reflecting on the Past Year
Right at the one-year mark of pandemic life, I began to find myself entering a reflective period. Perhaps you did, too. I suddenly began to pay special attention to all the headlines in my news feed about the effects of the pandemic on various populations and it led me to wonder… How has the pandemic affected me? My family? The clients I serve? Will we ever be the same? Will my children ever be able to relax in a crowd again? Will I? Will the extreme anxiety I see in some clients ever abate?
When Love Hurts: Recovering from Narcissistic Abuse
It seemed like a fairy tale at first. He was charming and charismatic, texting and calling constantly to compliment you, or just to see how your day was going. He even told you he loved you within weeks of dating, which no one had ever done! You feel special, desired, beautiful, and life is exciting and passionate. Roses show up at work for all your coworkers to see, and he drops off dinner at work for you when he knows you have to work late. He’s more thoughtful and romantic than any other guy you’ve dated. So exciting! You’re in love!
Increasing Family Bonds Through Faith and Hope
In light of Mental Health Awareness Month I reflect on the many clients that work to integrate spirituality into their counseling goals. To some this seems controversial; can the two co-exist? It can; and it does!
The Universality of Anxiety
You are not alone in your experience of anxiety. Anxiety is in fact a normal psychological experience that God created as a driver to motivate us closer to or away from things in life.
Faithful or Anxious
All of us have had that sinking feeling, those racing thoughts, and creeping sense of dread. Anxiety, especially in the last year, has been a companion to many of us. In the counseling space, I see anxiety in clients almost daily. It is a privilege to partner with people who want to find a sense of peace and sanctuary among the chaos.
Places of Peace
SCG Therapist and Executive Director Jay Cobb talks about places of peace in this video, which is a part of our Mental Health Awareness month series.