Expert Interviews & Perspectives in Counseling

This year’s National School Counseling Week will be celebrated from February 6-10, 2023. Sponsored by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), National School Counseling Week aims to bring public attention to the unique contribution of school counselors within US school systems, and how students are impacted by what school counselors do.

An important part of the empathic process is holding the space or creating quiet moments for your client. It is in these times, when less is said, clients and counselors can have the most profound insights.

The gut is home to as many as 100 trillion microorganisms, weighing about two pounds in the adult, that make up the gut microbiome. The vagus nerve can sense metabolites produced during microbiome activity.

Gender dysphoria is a complex diagnosis with a controversial and sociopolitical history that cannot be ignored. It’s also a very recent concept that should not overshadow the full scope of gender diversity throughout the ages.

College student culture makes bad sleep habits, such as staying up late, pounding energy drinks, having strange napping schedules, and pulling all-nighters, seem normative. Peers might single out students who actually pursue good sleep hygiene as being odd.

Codependency can be a tricky topic in the world of mental health. Broadly speaking, codependency means relying upon someone else to a detrimental extent, where the desire to help causes further harm.

Studies have consistently shown the mediating impact social support and LGBTQ+ community connection have on mental health for sexual and gender minorities. When they’re loved and accepted, they thrive. When they’re outcast and oppressed, negative messages start to get internalized.

If you aspire to work with trans and nonbinary people as a mental health professional, there are many trans-positive career paths to explore, depending on your area of focus and level of training and certification.

Exploring one’s sexuality or gender identity is, by its very nature, an existential pursuit. In fact, LGBTQ+ clients often seek out therapy to help make sense of their phenomenological experience.

Therapeutic healing sometimes takes a village. Each one of us can benefit from a multitude of supports that help us navigate through tough times.