Bereavement and Loss

There is no "right way" and "wrong way" to grieve. Each person experiences grief in his or her own way, partly based on religious, cultural, social, and personal beliefs and partly because of the relationship with the person who died.

Adolescent Behavior Problems

Many adolescents today have problems and are getting into trouble. After all, there are a lot of pressures for kids to deal with among friends and family. For some youth, pressures include poverty, violence, parental problems, and gangs. Some children are having difficulty dealing with past traumas they have experienced, like abuse. Sometimes all these conflicts result in behavior problems.

Marriage and Family Therapists

Marriage and family therapists are mental health professionals with a minimum of a master’s degree and two years supervised clinical experience. Marriage and family therapists (commonly referred to as MFTs or family therapists) are trained and licensed to independently diagnose and treat mental health and substance abuse problems. Marriage and family therapy is one of the core mental health disciplines and is based on the research and theory that mental illness and family problems are best treated in a family context.

Oppositional Defiance Disorder

It is common for children and teenagers to display bouts of irritability, frustration, and disobedience over the course of their growth and development. For example, the 4 year old who throws a tantrum because she has to stop playing; the 8 year old who picks on his younger sister; the 13 year old who argues with her mother about going to a movie. Still, there are many families who struggle with child behavior that goes beyond stubbornness or occasional talking back. Some children and teens have such an inflexible and hostile nature and their behavior can be so uncooperative and defiant that they disrupt the functioning of whole households and classrooms, not to mention their own learning and well-being in relationships.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Catastrophe/traumatic events are the cause of PTSD. These events are sudden, overwhelming, and often dangerous, either to one’s self or significant others(s), such as a car wreck, natural disaster, dangerous accident, war combat, rSad girlobbery at gunpoint, or a near drowning; the person affected felt intense fear, helplessness, or horror either at the time or immediately afterwards. Close friends, family members, and professionals helping those who survive such catastrophes can also be affected by trauma. These helpers, because of their empathy and compassion for the person in harm’s way, can be traumatized in the course of providing help.