Do you find yourself having difficulty accepting the way life is right now? Maybe you find yourself experiencing intense emotions seemingly out of nowhere that feel hard to control. If so, you may benefit from learning new coping skills to enhance your recovery. In this blog are a few DBT skills that I’ve found to be especially helpful to enhance overall recovery.

Spilove Psychotherapy is working to do a better job about lifting marginalized voices including black and queer voices. One way we are working to do this is by highlighting and featuring these marginalized voices in our newsletter, blog and other social media platforms. We asked our friend, Christie if she would be willing to share her coming out with us for pride month and to use our platform to post about her small music business.

This Pride month there should be a call to all members, supporters and allies to reject inequalities more assertively than in the past. Read more here about the call to social justice through the LGBTQ+ and Black communities, and what you can do to support…

Does alcoholism or drug addiction run in your family? Are you married to someone or co-parenting with someone who struggles with drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, mental health issues or other things that affect your relationship with them? Are there times where you’re feeling angry and hurt because your loved one calls you drunk or abuses you during a mental health episode? Read here on ways to handle boundaries with family or loved ones with mental health issues.

What is the critical inner voice? How do we form this inner voice that often controls our life? How do we combat this inner critic that lives within us? Well, luckily I have got some answers for you, and you're in the right place.

Today marks one month since the beginning of COVID-19 quarantine lockdown and it’s been longer for some. While some people are feeling gratitude and connection with their loved ones, many are feeling anxiety, depression, trauma symptoms, PTSD symptoms, isolation, grief and loneliness. So, what do we do with the pain? The anxiety? The trauma memories if we’re not supposed to avoid them?

With routine being thrown out the window and heightened levels of anxiety around a pandemic that feels completely out of our control, many people are turning to their go-to coping mechanisms to manage this stressful time. If you or your loved one has a history of disordered eating, here is why this time may be particularly difficult and what you can do to support recovery.

Putting off self- care? Julia Salerno, one of our graduate level therapists, opens up about her journey to accepting her need for self-care..

You might be thinking in yourself, “ok, so my therapy sessions have been canceled, what do I do now?” Or maybe you were thinking of beginning therapy, but due to the current circumstances you feel that you have to, yet again, place your mental health on the back burner. Well, technically that is not the case, you can in fact continue your mental health care or begin your journey via telehealth!

During a crisis our bodies go into fight or flight mode (stock up on as much toilet paper as possible!) and we may experience emotions such as anxiety and fear. Yes, the COVID-19 crisis is scary and unknown. Yes, social distancing is a necessity and we must isolate ourselves from almost every part of our lives. Not fun. Now what? How do we get though the present moment while making it tolerable? How do we accept what is without resisting what is?

We are all currently scrambling to grapple with our current way of life. We are not used to the isolation of being alone, as we are social beings. Fortunately, there are numerous online resources that individuals and groups can take advantage of during this time of uncertainty. We did a little research to start your search….

Grief. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. But, what makes the grief process so difficult for us as human beings? In order to understand the five stages of grief, we need to understand what grief actually is.

As we near the end of Black History Month, we thought it befitting to speak about the role of counseling in the African American community. Here at Spilove we understand that there are barriers that People of Color (POC) face in seeking counseling…

Change your negative body image thoughts and induce self-love and acceptance.  Body image Support Group beginning March 7, 2020 in Philadelphia!

DBT therapy offers skills-based learning to strengthen coping skills for difficult emotions while also providing opportunities to develop a new way of thinking about life, emotions, relationships and your sense of Self. Learn more to see if this could be the right therapy for you…

We know it can feel a bit uncertain to see a counselor “in training”, but there can be many benefits that may go unnoticed. We want to provide you the low down on what it actually means to see a graduate level therapist. 

Recently, I created a list of questions to ask when vetting an eating disorder treament program to see what they actually provide. I thought I’d share this with all of you in case you’re looking for a higher level of eating disorder treatment.

I’ve created a list of 5 simple ways you can create more space in your day utilizing mindfulness to prevent burnout and overwhelm.

The aim of substance abuse counseling is to help make your life better, rather than just suppressing substance use. Through substance abuse counseling, you and your therapist can explore ways in which your life without substances can become better than your life with substances.

Questions to consider in determining the extent of your substance use.

Sometimes when people think of substance addiction, they imagine extreme compulsive and habitual use of substances that results in severe negative consequences. Substance addiction, however, can look different from person to person.

 Let’s face it, we’ve all had our fair share of funky relationships. Whether it’s with a friend, a partner, or a judgmental passive aggressive parent who always finds the need to point out a flaw. Whichever the case, these relationships after a while just no longer feel good. Find freedom now…

Recovery from an addiction can be extremely difficult and uncomfortable. A lack of hope and feeling of being trapped can feel overwhelming. It can be helpful to seek outside help from an addictions counselor to navigate the long and difficult road to recovery.

As you might have heard, depression, anxiety and suicide rates are significantly higher among the LGBTQ community. The question is what will help build some resiliency? Well, there are a number of ways to help build resiliency in yourself or in those you love who may be struggling. Here are Spilove Psychotherapy's top five.

When presented with all the colors fo the LGBT Rainbow during pride month, some folx question themselves “Am I queer enough to … (insert action here).” Here’s what our Director of Sexuality, Megan Speir, has to say about that…

You struggle with memories from the past and talking about it, hasn't helped. What if there was a way to heal your brain, your memory and your heart from the past without rehashing it every time. That's where EMDR comes in…

Do you feel like you’ve lost the connection you used to have with your partner?  Emotionally-focused therapy (EFT) can help in the process of rebuilding the relationship from the ground up.  Through the process of building more empathy and communication skills within the relationship, a path forward can be established.

When we experience trauma, our bodies store it, along with our memories, our psyche and our soul. When we experience sexual trauma, our second chakra (the energetic center around the sacral area of the sex organs) can be thrown out of balance.  

Effective communication is based more on how you say things rather than on what you actually say. A conversation can go very well or wind up in a lot of anger and upset, depending on the communication style used. Our means of communication impacts all facets of life.