Why is interpersonal communication often so confounding, demanding, and just plain hard? From the communication styles perspective that’s easy to answer because when you are accounting for all seven communication components of both individuals there’s a lot going on—words, tone of voice, reasoning, images, feelings, internal awareness, and more. Read More
Frequently, I’ve heard from parents of a child I’m counseling, the child’s rendition of our session.
Parent: How was your session today?
Child: We played checkers. I beat him.
Parent: Did you do anything else?
Child: No.
Parent: Did you tell him about what happened at school yesterday?
Child: No.
I usually anticipate this type of interaction and explain to parents how careful they must be asking their children questions about counseling sessions, inadvertently inserting expectations, and not necessarily taking what’s said (by the child) as the whole story. Read More
When some years have passed since a divorce and each person has moved on in creating an independent life, certain feelings can linger that cause confusion. Here are some of the comments I hear from clients in counseling: Read More