Open Door Counseling Center Blog

Empty Nest, Full Emotions: Adjusting When Grown Children Come and Go

For decades, your nest has been full, bustling with noise, laughter, and general busyness. It wasn’t always perfect, but it was yours. It was comforting; it defined home and family. When your children leave for college, you may brace yourself for the emptiness you feel when they walk out that door for the first time.

Holiday Stress: Why It Often Hits After the Holidays Are Over

When we think of holiday stress, we think of over-scheduled calendars, long shopping lists, and high-pressure family gatherings in December. Despite common assumptions, though, many people don’t feel the full weight of holiday stress until January, after the decorations come down, everyone’s back to work and school, and life gets back to normal. December may

Healing Through Play: How Play Therapy Unlocks Emotional Growth

Therapy doesn’t always have to involve a serious setting with the patient and therapist facing each other in chairs. In fact, this scenario may be intimidating for some people, especially children. That’s where play therapy comes in. This is a powerful tool for clients of all ages to explore emotions, reduce stress, and develop healthy

Blended Families: Navigating Fairness, Behavior and Connection

The portrait of today’s family looks much different from it did even a few decades ago. Many of them are forming new bonds through second marriages, partnerships, and co-parenting arrangements that don’t necessarily fit into the traditional mold of nuclear families. According to the Step Family Foundation, 1,300 new stepfamilies form every day, with more

The Power of Calm: How Vagus Nerve Therapy Can Help You Reset and Regulate

Stress can sneak up on you at the most inopportune times—in the grocery line, during rush hour traffic, or even while scrolling through social media on the phone. Our nervous systems are constantly being bombarded by stimuli, and sometimes our bodies and minds struggle to process it. Without access to the right coping tools, it’s

Somatic Therapy: Unlocking the Mind-Body Connection For Emotional Healing

Our emotions aren’t just in our minds; they are deeply intertwined with our bodies. Whether your stomach is in knots when stressed or you feel that tightness in your chest when worried, this is your body’s way of reacting to those complex emotions. Somatic therapy explores the link between emotional stress and physical ailments. By

Therapy For Therapists

Why even helpers need help—and how Open Door Counseling Center can guide you Therapists are trained to help their clients navigate emotional storms, but when the tide turns, who is there to support them? We assume that because therapists have schooling, training, and experience in helping others, that they always have it together. But therapists

Coping with Anxiety

Anxiety can often feel draining and take the motivation right out of you. The interesting fact about anxiety is all of the different ways it can affect your body. The symptoms associated with anxiety can be felt in your head, stomach, chest, and other areas of the body. Some of these symptoms could include: headaches,

Talking to Your Teens About Sexting

We live in an age where our phones are usually never further away than arm’s reach. As the capacity for cell-phone usage has grown, it has undoubtedly become a centerpiece for the way we interact with one another and the world. The call to begin more conversations around its usage, especially for our up-and-coming teens,

What to Know About Working with a Counseling Intern

The novice, the apprentice, the trainee, the student, the underdog, the intern – these are all names for newbies in various fields of work. It’s normal to worry about whether they have enough knowledge and/or experience to take clients, patients, or customers under their wing. In the world of counseling, though, you can absolutely trust

A New Challenge to Try for Your Mental Health

If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you like the idea of a challenge, which means you’re already off to a great start! Fair warning: this challenge might take some persuasion; however, you’ll be proud you gave it go, and I think the effects and benefits you’ll experience from it will be worthwhile. So what’s the

Seven Ways to Make the Most out of Therapy

You’re here! I’d be willing to bet you’ve either just started therapy, have made the decision to set up your first appointment, or you’re still contemplating it and leaning toward the “let’s do this!” side. Wherever you are, I applaud you and I applaud your interest in figuring out how to squeeze the most juice

Lean In

At times life can seem hard. We feel like we are all alone or must do things all by ourselves. Can you relate to any of these situations? – You have had a rough day at work. When you come home you just want to relax. However, dinner still needs to be made. The kids

10 Tips for Better Sleep

Life can be busy. With all the things that need to get done in the day, it is easy to cut back on sleep. However, by cutting back on sleep there are various benefits we lose out on. Sleep has various health benefits such as improving our immune system and increases heart health by giving

10 Ideas for Self Care

Life can get busy. We spend time at work, taking care of our families and homes. There are dishes to be washed and laundry to be done. A lot of our time is spent on taking care of others. We keep pouring out of ourselves and sometimes forget to spend time filling ourselves back up.