Giving kids the social skills they need to succeed
“I said Lord please give me what I need. He said there’s pain and misery. Oh sweet oblivion feels all right.” – Shadow of the Season – by Screaming Trees “Self knowledge is a dangerous thing. The freedom of who you are.” –There is No Time – by Lou Reed Helping children develop insight into their strengths and weaknesses is a […]
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For many human service professionals, state licensing boards require the completion of a certain number of continuing education units in order to maintain licensure. Personally, I’m required to attend 30 hours of continuing education programs every 2 years in order to renew my license as a mental health counselor. Some of these presentations are excellent and the best of them […]
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In the 2 minutes each year in which I’m not working or with my family, my favorite thing to do is to play music with my band. Since 1998, I’ve been writing music, singing, and playing guitar with 3 of my closest friends. If the rest of the world felt the same way about our music as we do, we’d […]
» Read moreA few weeks ago, I was sitting in my office with a group of 3rd grade boys. We were finishing up our session with a snack and a quiet activity – to the extent that doing anything with a group of hyperactive 3rd grade boys can be quiet. As I asked the boys what they wanted for snack, one of them […]
» Read moreBashing the US Public Education system has become so popular that it seems to be giving baseball a run for national pastime. You’ll get no argument from me if you say the system has its faults. But taken as a whole, there’s a good deal more that’s right with our public schools than there is that’s wrong with them. In […]
» Read moreNPR just ran a story about a study published by researchers from Duke University and University of Warwick in England. It looked at what happens over a long period to people who were bullied as kids. According to the authors of the study, the results suggested that “Being bullied is not a harmless rite of passage but throws a long […]
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Once upon a time, a long time ago, I went to college. Hofstra University, located in scenic (not really) Hempstead, NY, is my alma mater. I was a liberal arts guy but Hofstra was primarily a business school. Far be it from me to come across as anti-business or even anti-business student but you could always tell the business majors […]
» Read moreIn the work that we do at Academy MetroWest, we run gym-based groups that center on cooperative, non-competitive physical activity, aimed at helping kids feel better about themselves and improve the way they interact with others. Groups of up to 6 kids participate in weekly 75 minute groups. In basing our groups around cooperative activities, we create a low stress […]
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“Sneakin’ out the backdoor to hang out with those hoodlum friends of mine Greeted at the backdoor with ‘Boy I thought I told you not to go outside’ Tryin’ hard to bring the water to your eyes […]
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Although the DSM-5 was published less than a month ago, it has already been the subject of a staggering amount of commentary. For those unfamiliar with the DSM-5, it was constructed by The American Psychiatric Association and its full title is Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fifth Edition. It provides a list of every “official” mental health […]
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