Conflict Management in Marriage
by Nick Steffen, LMHC, Pastoral & Clinical Counselor Drs. John and Julie Gottman, a couple who happen to be some of the foremost relationship researchers today, discovered that 69% of all conflict is perpetual. Most of the conflict couples experience comes back again and again over the course of
Lent 2023: Part 2 Re-imagine
“So, here you are.Too foreign for home, too foreign for here.Never enough for both.”– Ijeoma Umebinyuo Life as an expat stretches our imaginations and experiences about people, the world, and God in refreshing ways. But if we’re honest, sometimes it also comes with a cost. For all
Self-Compassion: Helpful for a Christian?
Steve Scruggs, Psy.D. I became a believer as a teen and was very taken by the gospel. I learned that my sins were forgiven, my fracture with God healed, and my standing as God’s child secure because of Christ’s work on the cross. However, I soon learned that many of my new friends who grew [&hel
Advent Week 4: Stillness
How has your spirit been this Advent season? Have you given yourself space to ponder the COMING HOPE, the celebration of a birth that would change the world? So much of life can feel like rushing from one thing to the next. So this week, in the midst of holiday preparations, traveling, or rush
Gratitude for All Seasons
Gratitude is an emotion, and certainly you’ve experienced it spontaneously before- perhaps when you received a thoughtful gift, an answer to a heartfelt prayer, a call from a friend when you’re feeling lonely. But gratitude is also a practice, the conscious act of turning your attention to what
Living (Involuntarily) on the Pedestal
by Corrine Gnepf, LCMHC, NCC “You are so brave!” How many times have I heard those words from people in my passport country when they found out where I used to live or now currently live. Sometimes the first comment was followed by “I couldn’t do it.” In that person’s mind I had re
Serving While Single
by Amber Goodloe, LPC A couple months ago I was standing at my kitchen sink doing the dishes and then suddenly I was covered in water and standing in a puddle and couldn’t figure out why. When my brain was finally able to register what had happened, I discovered that my sink had literally come [
Let’s Talk About Anxiety, Shall We?
by Lisa Green, LPC-MHSP, Executive Director Let’s be honest, shall we? Anxiety is extremely prevalent in society today- and not just “out there” society, but among “us” as well. Globally, anxiety disorders are the mostly commonly diagnosed mental health problem, and the World Health Organi
PREPARING FOR SUCCESS
by Nick Steffen, LMHC Attention is costly The primary mechanism of our computer’s ability to multitask is something called “context switching.” Essentially, the processing unit saves a task off to memory in a way that it can later retrieve and then shifts over to another task. Each context swi
WOMEN –THRIVING, NOT JUST SURVIVING THE REALITIES OF LIFE ON THE FIELD
Rebecca Leverington, LMFT, LPC, LMSW Associate Director, Olive Tree Counseling Center Living on the field has unique spiritual, emotional, physical, and safety challenges that most of us as women have not experienced previously in our home cultures. Understanding and actively building in