Ryan and Matt are trying to adopt a child. This site will be used to post updates, provide information for fundraising events, and an opportunity to assist in building their family.
The article Learning from Our Kids: 5 Ways to Make Parenting More Fun by Vicki Botnick, MA, MS, MFTI really resonated with us. Matt and I very much believe that a key component to life is finding ways to make it more fun. It really takes a lot of the labor out of tasks. For... Continue Reading →
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr. Joy Degruy I first heard about this book at one of my many “Trauma Informed Care” conferences. When the speaker mentioned the book, most of the audience seemed to be aware of its existence and responded favorably to it. I pulled out my cell phone and ordered it on... Continue Reading →
As many of you know, I am a mental health therapist. I have worked with the homeless, those struggling with substance abuse, severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, trauma, and many other populations and diagnoses. But one of my favorite groups of people to work with my teenagers. I live for their blunt honesty. I... Continue Reading →
Hello again; this is Matt bringing you this blog entry. It’s been awhile since I’ve written; this time, I have a solo experience to report. Interestingly, even though I’m writing about my trip to Pennsylvania on own, I think this blog post is really about Ryan. I recently traveled to Pennsylvania for my cousin’s son’s... Continue Reading →
No-Drama Discipline Workbook by Siegel and Bryson I love the accessibility of this book. It is easy to ready and fosters parental insight without any shaming, but rather coaching and encouragement. Unlike The Whole-Brained Child Workbook, these skills seem to apply not only with elementary school children, but children across all age groups (no... Continue Reading →
The Whole-Brain Child Workbook by Siegel and Bryson This book a wonderful workbook for parents who have read The Whole-Brained child, has some base understanding of the concepts, but maybe lacking in confidence regarding application. One of my larger critiques of that book was a lack of parent support and focus on what the... Continue Reading →
Thanks so much to Dublin Roasters and Serina for continuing to allow us to sell our fundraising merchandise in the cafe! We have noted that fundraising has been much more successful at Dublin Roasters than on Etsy. We have temporarily closed the Etsy store and moving the remaining merchandise to Dublin Roasters. In addition to... Continue Reading →
No-Drama Discipline by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph. D I have to say, I really enjoyed this book A lot of the information is similar to that of their previous book (The Whole-Brain Child- see other review on this site), but in this one, the information seems to be organized in... Continue Reading →
I have spoken with some frequency about my grandmother in these blog posts, but I don’t want to take away from my grandfather. He too instilled many values in me. Among them were being kind and friendly to strangers (I am often the guy at CVS who has a stranger walk up to him in... Continue Reading →
June is Pride month. Throughout the month, I reflected on what Pride means to me. As you may have read in previous blog posts, I was a born-again, evangelical Christian attending a Puritan Christian school between two cornfields when I realized that I wasn’t straight. When I would reach out to others for support, I... Continue Reading →
It Takes a Village 