Entries by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-S

What to Expect: The Next Steps for Your Appointment at Creative Family Counseling After You Submit a Contact Request

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Is this your first time visiting us at Creative Family Counseling?

Welcome! We find it a privilege to walk alongside clients as they work through challenges. Thank you for choosing to spend that time with us!

If you’re a planner like me, this little article may be helpful to help you prepare for your first session with your Therapist.

To schedule an appointment, you’ve got three options: Learn More...

Finding Gratitude in 2020

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This year has been a rough one, hasn’t it?  As we have experienced an unprecedented worldwide pandemic, many of us have felt the ongoing stress, strain, and difficulty of most of the year 2020.  With the adjustments to our work, home, and family life have come a myriad of reactions amongst folks, with the overwhelming feelings of isolation, fear, panic, stress, anger, and helplessness being just a few. Learn More… Learn More...

Nugget’s Knowledge: A Check In with Nugget the Therapy-Dog-in-Training

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Creative Family Counseling is a group practice in Louisville, Kentucky that specializes in working with families that include young children and teens.  The practice offers many types of experiential and creative interventions to help young clients engage and participate in therapy in developmentally appropriate ways.  Known in town as the “practice with the dogs,” Creative Family Counseling has become somewhat known for offering Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) with Certified Therapy Dogs as one of the creative ways to engage family members of all ages.  While AAT has been limited in the last few months due to the Pandemic, the practice’s two Therapy Dogs – Lola and Archer – and one Therapy Pup in training – Nugget – continue to be a source of joy for clients, even if from a distance.  Marriage and Family Therapist Associate Leslie Cashion and her Therapy Partner, Nugget sat down for a little checkin to give us an update on Nugget’s certification training as a Therapy Dog as well as some other topics such as working from home.

Leslie: (calling from her office chair) Nugget, c’mere buddy! I know you really want to finish tearing up that new dog stuffy to spread fluff all over the office, but Lacey wants to hear about how life is going as a 1+ yr old Golden Retriever therapy dog in training.

Nugget: (bounding in from the other room, enthusiastically leaping on Leslie’s lap) LACEY! I love Lacey, she’s Lola’s mom and is always ready to pet my soft head or give me amazing treats! Learn More… Learn More...

Self-Paced Positive Parenting Video Package Now Available for Parents Wanting to Increase Parenting Tools

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CALLING ALL…

First-time Parents,

Parents who have tried EVERYTHING and nothing seems to work long term,

Yelling Parents,

Concerned Parents looking for guidance,

Parents who have no rules, and

Families who live in CHAOS…

This program is for parents who want a more peaceful and happy home and a less chaotic one.

The Creative Family Counseling Team has created the Positive Discipline Foundational Parenting Package for parents seeking new parenting methods. These parenting tools will grow the parent-child relationship and keep the lines of communication open while providing your family with the structure it needs. In this Experiential 6-Video Package, the Creative Family Counseling Team Members will cover the basic philosophy of the Positive Discipline Parenting Approach and offer parenting tools that can be implemented immediately. Learn More… Learn More...

Creative Family Counseling Offering New Ways to Support Parents Through Monthly Emailer & Upcoming Positive Parenting Video Packages

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This is Too Much.

Parents, we are trying the best we can, aren’t we? Life is tough right now.  Between regular old Parenting (the hardest job in the world), PLUS working from home, and PLUS PLUS home-schooling our children, it is A LOT! It’s more than a lot; it’s unmanageable.

Not only is it a challenge for us parents, but it’s a challenge for our kids too.  When children go through difficult challenges, their big feelings bubble over into big reactions and behaviors.  And that doesn’t make it any easier on us, does it?  So on top of meeting our work deadlines, keeping a somewhat manageable home, meeting our family members’ basic needs, and logging our children into their 5th Zoom meeting for the day, we are also needed for emotional support and co-regulation during the latest meltdown!  Ahh! Learn More… Learn More...

The Therapeutic Specialty of EMDR: What is it and how is it used?

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While Creative Family Counseling offers many different Specialties for clients, depending on their interests and therapeutic needs, EMDR Therapy is a specialty that many people have questions about when first introduced to it.  For this reason, I sat down with my colleague, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Dawn Pendleton, who is Certified in EMDR. As a seasoned clinician with over 20 years in the field, Dawn has used numerous types of approaches to therapy, including EMDR.   She states that her goal is to facilitate healing for her clients in as short an amount of time as possible, which is why she’s so passionate about her use of EMDR.  In this interview, Dawn gave some background on this therapeutic tool, discussed how and why it is used, and suggested who might benefit from EMDR Therapy. Learn More… Learn More...

10 Tips for Preparing Your Child for Activities Outside of the Home Following the Pandemic

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For months now, parents have been explaining to children the need to stay home for protection from the spread of Coronavirus.  Especially at the beginning of the Pandemic, many parents experienced an intense fear of potential germs that could bring home the virus and spread to family members.  In well-intentioned cautions to children and with nearly neurotic (eck-hem, I’m talking about myself here…) cleaning procedures upon returning home from public places, parents may have inadvertently shared their own fear and panic regarding the dangers of Coronavirus, both consciously and unconsciously, with their children.  Now, as families begin to return to activities outside of their homes, children are asking, “Am I safe away from home?” Some are even experiencing their own anxiety and panic about life outside of their Coronavirus-free homes.  Here are 10 Tips for Preparing Your Child for Activities Outside of the Home, which can help reduce everyone’s anxiety about doing so: Learn More… Learn More...

9 Tips for Getting Your Child to Wear a Mask

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Like many parents, I’ve been wondering how I’m going to get my child to wear a mask once the Shelter at Home time is over.  I’ve done some research, by both chatting with other parents and some trial and error on my own at home, and I’ve had some success!  So I thought I would share some tips with all of you for you to try with your children at home! I’ve come up with 9 Tips for getting your children (ages 2 and up) to wear a mask.  For children 2 and younger, or if your child has a medical condition where use of a mask may be questioned, please consult your pediatrician first.  Let’s get started! Learn More… Learn More...

Creative Family Counseling Offers Online Counseling and Support in Response to Pandemic Covid-19 While Businesses are Closed to Shelter at Home

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As Kentuckiana families prepare for another 4-6 weeks of being “Healthy at Home,” the Team of Marriage and Family Therapists at Creative Family Counseling has been busy finding creative ways to provide support for existing clients and their families as well as the community at large.  Effective this week, all Therapists at Creative Family Counseling are able to provide Online Counseling Services and various kinds of support through secure Telehealth options. Learn More… Learn More...

10 Ideas for Creating a New Routine at Home During the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic

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By Bridget Morgan, LMFT and Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-S

As the last few weeks have unfolded, more and more families have adjusted to new ways of living as we Shelter at Home during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic.  For families who have children, many parents are pulling triple duty of parent, homeschooling teacher, and employee while working from home.  This is difficult and overwhelming to manage, only worsened by the anxiety of how this Pandemic will continue to change our lives in the coming days.  In fact, it’s impossible to manage!  So we decided to offer you some tips to get you through the coming weeks at home. Learn More… Learn More...