Entries by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-S

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...

A Chat with Archer: Being a Therapy Dog at Creative Family Counseling

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A Chat with Archer: Being a Therapy Dog at Creative Family Counseling

Creative Family Counseling is known for offering creative interventions to help clients and their families experience change and healing.  Animal-Assisted Therapy is one of the unique modalities of therapy available for clients of our practice.  Rebecca Street, LMFT and a sweet Doberman Pinscher named Archer are one of the two animal-assisted therapy teams at Creative Family Counseling.  I sat down with them for a quick interview about the amazing work they offer to their clients. Learn More… Learn More...

When Celebrations are Tough

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Holidays, Parties, Weddings, and Baby Showers.  They are celebrations of joy, right? They definitely are, but for some, they can also be painful reminders of what (or who) is missing from our lives.

For those who have experienced a loss, the first year is a year full of “firsts” without our deceased loved one.  There’s our first birthday, their first birthday, first Mother and/or Father’s Day, first Christmas…you get the idea.  It’s difficult to carry on with the world around us during those seasons when we feel that we are drowning in our own grief.  Those first holidays and celebrations are painful reminders to what we already know – that that loved one will never again celebrate with us.  Even after the first year of a significant loss, there are still certain times of year when missing our loved one hurts a little more, no matter how long we’ve been without them. Learn More… Learn More...

Creative Family Counseling, A Louisville Based Play Therapy Practice, Expands Their Team and Offers Additional Therapy Services and Specialties

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Catch up with all the NEW at CFC by checking out this article. You’ll learn more about our NEWEST Team Members, Leslie Cashion, Bridget Morgan, and Archer the Therapy Dog, as well as our NEW Specialties: Parent Support and Positive Discipline Workshops.  Check it out!

–> Click here for the article! <–

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The Red Flags of Challenging Childhood Behaviors

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Seeing Behaviors as Red Flags

When children demonstrate behavioral problems, it’s a signal to the grownups in charge that they need support in some way.  Children communicate to adults how they are doing primarily through their behavior.  This is due to normal brain development.  Because the areas of the brain that are responsible for expression through language (verbally communicating, “I’m not ok.”) are still developing, children show us how they are feeling through their behavior. Learn More… Learn More...

On the Topic of Spanking…

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For more than 10 years, I’ve worked with families who come in to see me while (because of) experiencing childhood behavioral challenges. Over the years, I’ve handled parents’ questions about spanking in different ways as a Therapist. As my experience and expertise in this field have grown, my opinions and recommendations about corporal punishment have become more and more bold. Learn More...

A Reference For Talking with Your Children About Traumatic World Events

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Some time ago, I was working with a teenage girl in therapy to address her anxiety and fearfulness, which was impacting her ability to participate in activities outside of her home.  Primarily, her anxiety presented as a constant worry that Something bad is going to happen.  We had been steadily making progress in therapy as she was learning that the world around her wasn’t always so dangerous, and then our city experienced a traumatic, hate-filled, violent event.  The session after that incident in our town, she sat across from me on the couch and asked me a question that struck me and still does to this day, “How can we try to convince ourselves that the world is safe when really it isn’t?”  It was a very raw, emotional question, and I was honest with her that day when I replied, “I don’t know.” Learn More… Learn More...

Toddler Meltdowns

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As a parent of a toddler, this article titled “Toddlers, Meltdowns and Brain Development: why parents need to ditch traditional discipline” on www.RaisedGood.com really struck me.  Here’s an excerpt:

“…remember a tantrum is not a reflection on you. Let’s repeat that; your child’s tantrum is not a reflection on you or your parenting. What is a reflection on you is your response to the tantrum. Can you find the courage to disable generational imprinting and cultural expectations and be the calm in your child’s storm? You cannot control another person, but you can choose your response.” Learn More… Learn More...

Sleep Myths Debunked!

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As a Therapist, I often try to talk with clients about the importance of quality sleep and work with them to find ways to improve their sleep habits.  After all, sleep is responsible for so much of our physical, emotional and mental health!  Oftentimes people come to see me because of difficulty managing a negative emotion such as anger, fear, and/or sadness.  It seems many people don’t realize how much credit we should give to Sleep for our very own emotion regulation abilities! CNN published a SUPER helpful article (“Wake up, people: You’re fooling yourself about sleep, study says”) earlier this week about sleep myths, which I found really helpful.  Please take a look: https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/16/health/sleep-myths-facts-study/index.html Learn More… Learn More...

Licensed Louisville Therapist Rebecca Street is Passionate about Helping Families, Children and Teens Express Themselves and Come Together

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Here’s our very own Rebecca Street, LMFT featured in an article about her joining the Creative Family Counseling Team.  Check it out!

http://www.prleap.com/pr/268864/licensed-louisville-therapist-rebecca-street-is-passionate-about-helping-families-children-and-teens-express-themselves-and

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