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.
Corporal punishment has never “set well” with me, from a theoretical standpoint. And it just feels wrong, from a person standpoint. Let’s stop and think about it for a minute. An adult, with a fully developed brain, who is much bigger and stronger than a child is intentionally physically hurting a child, who has a developing brain not yet capable of rational thinking, to correct a behavior with which the adult is dissatisfied about. What?! That doesn’t make sense to me. If an adult physically harmed another adult, this would warrant an assault charge. Children are people too, and it’s about time our parenting approaches reflected that. Learn More...
A Chat with Archer: Being a Therapy Dog at Creative Family Counseling
/in Creative Family Counseling/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SA 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...
What You Need to Know about Trauma and an Option for Treatment – Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
/in Creative Family Counseling/by Leslie CashionWhat does “trauma-focused” mean and why should a Child Therapist have a trauma focus?
Trauma is a word that gets tossed around a lot in our culture. Much like colloquial usage of words like crazy, bi-polar, and depression, people adapt words to alternative meanings. However, trauma is a real mental health issue with specific, and at the same time murky, definitions. The word trauma can be specific when it comes to the Diagnosis Statistical Manual’s (DSM-5) definition of trauma. This Manual is used by Therapists to determine if someone meets the criteria of a trauma-related mental health diagnosis. Trauma can at the same time be murky in definition because mental health professionals understand that trauma can take on many different facets depending on both the person and context impacted by the trauma. Learn More...
When Celebrations are Tough
/in Creative Family Counseling, Family Life/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SHolidays, 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...
Creative Family Counseling, A Louisville Based Play Therapy Practice, Expands Their Team and Offers Additional Therapy Services and Specialties
/in Creative Family Counseling/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SCatch 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! <–
The Red Flags of Challenging Childhood Behaviors
/in Family Life/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SSeeing 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...
On the Topic of Spanking…
/in Family Life/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SFor 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.
Corporal punishment has never “set well” with me, from a theoretical standpoint. And it just feels wrong, from a person standpoint. Let’s stop and think about it for a minute. An adult, with a fully developed brain, who is much bigger and stronger than a child is intentionally physically hurting a child, who has a developing brain not yet capable of rational thinking, to correct a behavior with which the adult is dissatisfied about. What?! That doesn’t make sense to me. If an adult physically harmed another adult, this would warrant an assault charge. Children are people too, and it’s about time our parenting approaches reflected that. Learn More...
A Reference For Talking with Your Children About Traumatic World Events
/in Family Life/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SSome 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...
Toddler Meltdowns
/in Family Life/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SAs 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...
Sleep Myths Debunked!
/in Family Life/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SAs 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...
Licensed Louisville Therapist Rebecca Street is Passionate about Helping Families, Children and Teens Express Themselves and Come Together
/in Creative Family Counseling/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SHere’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