Blog

Today’s post is a peek into podcast episode #7, The Making of a Veteran with PTSD. Tolly and I had a very special, and handsome, I might add, guest—my husband Paul. All kidding aside, I’m so grateful to Paul for … Read More

Today’s blog post features a short excerpt from episode #6 of the What Drives You? podcast. In this episode, Tolly and I discussed several stories inspired by my years of experience as a therapist. These client stories, although all names … Read More

Today’s blog post features a snippet from our special holiday episode of the “What Drives You?” podcast. Check it out and then click the link at the end to hear the full episode. I’ll be sharing a mindfulness practice you … Read More

Episode #4 Can I Make It a Good Journey? Everybody has their family car. And every car has lots of stories, and everybody develops positive things in their car as well as negative things in their car. And the goal … Read More

Ellen podcast #3 What Kind of Car Did Your Family Have? I talk about four cars: the chaotic car, the controlled car, the perfect car, and the real car. Families within each of those types of cars have specific and … Read More

Today’s blog post includes a snippet of episode #2 of the podcast, “Where Did You Sit In the Car?” Check out this little peek into our conversation and then click the link at the end to listen to the full … Read More

Today’s blog post is an excerpt from the first episode of my new podcast, “What Drives You?” I’m so excited to share these conversations with you! We’ll be exploring our family of origin dynamics through the metaphor of the “family … Read More

Each of us learned strategies as children that help us feel safe and comfortable. I learned to avoid in my family. My role was peacekeeper, soother, distracter, chameleon. I would do anything to keep things from overheating. Maybe this resonates … Read More

The headlines this year have been so unexpected that I didn’t think I could be surprised any more. But, really, who would have thought that “bubbles” would appear at the top of the news? I’m reading about sports bubbles, college … Read More

We are living in unrecognizable times. I cannot remember ever living with this much uncertainty in my adult life.  We are facing big decisions. Life and death decisions. Do we send our kids back to school? Do we visit with … Read More

The pandemic hit me in the face today. For the last 23 years I have been an adjunct lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Social Work.  I taught classes almost every semester of those 23 years, which means … Read More

This has been hard. But now we can look forward to lockdown ending, right? Hmmm. Anyone else find that less than reassuring? Do you know the song, “Anyone Have a Map” from the musical Evan Hansen, (which was canceled this … Read More