The Lifeworks Group, Inc.

By: Christine Hammond LMHC Maggie and James were involved parents. They participated in their kid’s school, coached a team or two, helped with homework, and knew the names of their kid’s friends. But for some reason, one of their three kids was constantly in trouble. The other two enjoyed a great reputation at their school but their sister was the exception. She spend hours in the principal’s office, got in fights, struggled to make friends, and was difficult to teach. Her parents ran educational tests only to discover that she was brighter than her grades would reflect. On a daily basis, Maggie feared being approached by another parent or teacher with a story of her daughter’s behavior. It always started the same, “I have the funniest story about your daughter. You will never believe what she did today.” Believe what she did? Are they joking? Of course she acted out, when didn’t she? After a frustrating couple of years at school, Maggie and James brought their d...

By: Christine Hammond, LMHC, NCC By the mid-40’s certain aspects of a person’s personality become very apparent. One of these things is work productivity. While there can be socioeconomic reasons for underperformance, after twenty years, a person is able to rise above even the most difficult of times. There is a warning however, being productive and being successful are not the same, so this not about accomplishment. Nor is this about a teenager or someone in their twenties. For them, underperformance may simply be lack of motivation or inspiration. But by a mid-age, some things should have been resolved. Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development identifies Generativity vs. Stagnation during this period which can result in a mid-life crisis. So this is intentionally about a person who is still underperforming or in the stagnation stage by mid-age. Here are some of the possible reasons: 1.        Entitlement. Many wrongly believe that ju...

By Matt W. Sandford, LMHC Do all couples fight? Over the years I’ve certainly seen plenty that do, and I’ve also have seen a fair share who claim they don’t or that they never saw their parents fight. It’s my proposition that pretty much all couples fight. I would wager that those who claim they don’t fight either are using a style called withdraw or alimentation as their form of fighting, or they don’t have enough of a relationship to even bother to fight. You see, fighting in marriage may be really bad stuff and may represent a road to the end – divorce is on its way. But , fighting in marriage may also represent two people who are really different, living in a fallen world, trying to get their needs met, express themselves and make their marriage work, all while under stress. What if a lot of fighting in marriage isn’t really bad, it’s just badly managed? What if often we aren’t really trying to be a jerk or bitch and we don’t hate the other person, but instead we are...

A community crisis can terrorize an entire community in just a few minutes, while the recovery process to rebuild from a major critical incident may take weeks or months to sort through. The more you know about how to survive and rebuild after the crisis, the faster you can take positive action to get your personal and professional life back on track. Since community crisis events like shootings at schools, malls or churches, bombing or terrorism are unpredictable, it requires a different course of action than the crisis brought on from natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires and floods. What can you do right now to cope with the psychological impact of a major community crisis brought on through violence? 1. Deal Directly with Your Emotions This will reduce the tension and stress on you, which allows you to have more energy to deal with a difficult situation. However, if you stuff your fears and frustrations in a major community crisis, your emot...

Brian M. Murray, M.S. IMH Having to say goodbye to a loved one can be one of the most difficult situations a person is faced with. Grieving can be very difficult for someone who is trying to come to grips with the meaning of the loss and the emotions they are experiencing. Strong attachments to others are not easy to let go of, and grieving loss is not limited to the death of a loved one. Emotional suffering can come due to the loss of something in our lives such as a job, health, a pet, a friend or even experiencing a serious life event that leads to the loss of future dreams. The one common denominator is that loss is experienced through the processing of strong emotions and over a period of time. Grief is commonly recognized as having 5 stages as introduced by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in 1969. As an expert on grief, she explained that these 5 stages are what a person goes through when dealing with loss: 1.       Denial and isolation 2.  ...

By Dwight Bain We all know someone who is in the difficult situation of trying to make their marriage work, but they are alone in the process. It’s like 1 person trying to make a 2 person bicycle go fast, or make a boat designed for 2 people to row go straight… it’s almost impossible. While it can be done for a while, it leaves one person exhausted while the boat is going in circles and the bicycle rolls back down the hill. Why does this happen? Lots of reasons, often it appears that one person loves too much, and the other sometimes doesn’t seem to love enough. Whatever the reason marriages that have this imbalance create a lot of potential problems besides the obvious exhaustion. This overworking/under working cycle steals joy from the marriage; creates unrealistic comparisons with other couples; creates isolation & discouragement from one person who seems to be continually trying with no real results. So what can you do when you are trying to save you...

By: Chris Hammond, M.S. Play therapy is interactive, intentional, and inspirational play to help children overcome the challenges they face. Because play is a child’s language, play therapy motivates and encourages children of all ages to heal and learn new skills. Play therapy works with children’s natural tendencies to overcome their challenges and assist families in building stronger connections. Play Therapy is about as much fun as it sounds and yet it is a highly effective form of therapy over traditional talk therapy for children. Children naturally enjoy play and are encouraged to engage in play as part of their normal development, so they are more comfortable in a playful environment. Playing comes naturally to a child and entering into their world of play allows the child to feel more in control of the session. Therapy for children is about discovering where they are and helping them to move forward in productive ways not destructive ways. The best environment to accompli...