Articles about Healing
Christmas Then and Now
Brenda Spina, M.S., LMFT, LPC
Providing a personal perspective of Christmas as a child and then as an adult allows us to implement the power of our faith during this stressul time of the year.
Removing the Burden
Brenda Spina, M.S., LMFT, LPC
The habit of pushing oneself through for the sake of performance or accomplishment is a trap. Involving our relationship with the Lord reveals His promise to remove the burden from our shoulder and bring His pacing to our daily life.
Worshipping Comfort
Brenda Spina, M.S., LMFT, LPC
Comfort is natural and necessary in our developmental processes. The lack of comfort may set off a cycle of thinking and doing that feeds an inappropriate focus for comfort.
Elderly and Families: Intergenerational Respect and Love
Mary Lambrecht, M.S. LMFT
Suggestions on how family members can bring emotional, practical, and spiritual support to older loved ones
Attachment Wounds: Ten Steps That Heal
Mary Lambrecht, M.S. LMFT
Childhood story illustrating bonding and attachment wounds and ten steps for healing
Parenting Perspectives on Behavior and Bonding
Mary Lambrecht, M.S. LMFT
A child's oppostional behavior may indicate emotional pain. Article explores larger perspectives, including need for bonding and healing.
Daring to Laugh: When Celebration and Sadness Join Hands
Mary Lambrecht, M.S. LMFT
Pain and joy often occur together in life. Learn how God's faithfulness, sovereignty, and hope can be found in the midst of brokenness, failure, or other difficult circumstances.
Childlike Needs in Adult Losses
Mary Lambrecht, M.S. LMFT
Author's experience of a brother dying of AIDS portrays how Christ brings commfort through filling unmet childhood needs.
Redeeming Our Life Stories: Narrative Family Therapy
Mary Lambrecht, M.S. LMFT
Our lifetime experiences can have positive and negative impacts on us. Narrative Family Therapy can be a tool in allowing Christ's redemptive love, and other positive stories of our lives, to "re-author" our painful past.
Depression in the Soul: Five Steps to Freedom
Mary Lambrecht, M.S. LMFT
Depression can distort and inhibit God's true plan for our lives. Article suggests five steps to bring restorative thinking and behaviors that battle sadness, low self-esteem, and hopelessness.
Family Systems and Generational Bondage
Mary Lambrecht, M.S. LMFT
Article describes how past generational patterns can influence current family functioning, and how God can equip us in healthy family functioning.
Grief and Changes
Mary Lambrecht, M.S. LMFT
Change within a family life cycle can bring feelings of grief and loss. Article lists six ways to weather the storms of family changes.
Bread of Bethlehem
Mary Lambrecht, M.S. LMFT
Family and the sharing of communion is the backdrop of this article, which explores how to receive life-giving and healing attributes of God during the Christmas season.
God's Forgiveness
Christine Vander Wielen, M.S.W., CAPSW
God's forgiveness is complete. He moves us from shame and guilt to being set free.
Marriage Relationships: Strengthening the Bond thru God's Love
Christine Vander Wielen, M.S.W., CAPSW
A couple's journey from blaming each other to helping each other
Escaping the Role of Scapegoat
Christine Vander Wielen, M.S.W., CAPSW
A vignette portraying a family scapegoat moving from cooperating with the role to rejecting the role
Overcoming the Role of Family Hero
Christine Vander Wielen, M.S.W., CAPSW
A vignette portraying common characteristics of the family hero
God's Presence in the Midst of Suffering
Christine Vander Wielen, M.S.W., CAPSW
Moving account of experiencing God's presence in the midst of horrendous suffering
God's Peace in the Midst of a Crisis
Christine Vander Wielen, M.S.W., CAPSW
Moving account of a young woman who experiences the peace of God in the midst of a personal crisis
Addictions: Many Forms But Never Satisfying
Christine Vander Wielen, M.S.W., CAPSW
Addictions cannot satisfy our needs but only serve to destroy joy and peace. God desires more for us!
Stress Management: Young Children Can Teach Us Well
Christine Vander Wielen, M.S.W., CAPSW
Stress management via lessons learned from young children
Perfectionism: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Christine Vander Wielen, M.S.W., CAPSW
Perfectionism is harsh and demanding. However,the Lord does not require it.
Finding Balance
Christine Vander Wielen, M.S.W., CAPSW
Finding balance in life through focusing on the Lord
Tearing Down the Wall Through Forgiveness
Christine Vander Wielen, M.S.W., CAPSW
What forgiveness really is and how relationships can be restored
Healing at Christmas
Suzan Myhre, M.S.S.W., LICSW, LPC
This article describes the decisions we all have when entering the holidays. We can choose to stop "the war" in our relationships, to enter a time of peace.
Children of Divorce: Between Two Worlds
Lynda Savage, M.S., LMFT, LPC
Children walk through the high pain and intense feelings around divorce but they do not have the same ability to recover from the process of their parents' divorce. Research shows that parents seem to take about three years to recover from divorce. This is not true for children. The effects of divorce on children lasts for decades.
Guidelines for Help When You Feel Vulnerable or Lost
Lynda Savage, M.S., LMFT, LPC
Sometimes there is a straight-forward need for some written steps to take when feeling depressed, anxious, crummy, full of discouragement, or when listening to lies in thinking about God's ability to redeem a seemingly failed life. Here are those steps.
Gratitude, It's Own Memory Chain
Lynda Savage, M.S., LMFT, LPC
Memories triggered at times of yearly occasions are not always pleasant. How do you deal with triggered memories? Can we move from reacting to certain memories to providing ourselves with a plan? See ways people are able to set in motion a positive chain of memories both personal and spiritual.
Because God Loves Me: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
God's love made personal
Serve Your Generation
Brenda Spina, M.S., LMFT, LPC
Meeting the challenge of any new year keeps us mindful of how we have opportunity to be all that God would have us be. A personal look into the life of one serving in the face of loss is described beautifully and challenges us to look at those around us in a new way.
Forgiveness in the New Year
The process of forgiveness, tips on inviting Jesus into the journey of forgiveness, as well as the forgiveness of self and others are discussed in this article.
Words When It Matters
Lynda Savage, M.S., LMFT, LPC
Our hearts go out to those who have just experienced loss. What can we say to them? This article explains the importance of words to the grieving person and gives five great ideas of what is helpful to share.
Affliction and Fear
Brenda Spina, M.S., LMFT, LPC
The healing process for each one of us requires ownership within ourselves of the behaviors and attitudes that often create our own daily battles. What has been discovered is that fear is often behind those patterns of thinking and acting. Scripture tells us that if we are afflicted we are to pray. Knowing what fears we face help us know where to begin in overcoming those core fears.
Who I Am In Christ
Author Unknown, Edited by Brenda Spina, M.S.,LMFT, LPC
Knowing how God sees us and what we have available with Him is important in the developmental process of being His child. What follows are scriptures that identify who we are, what we have, and the things we can do when we believe the truth of His Word.
Mine, Mine, Mine: A Look at Greed
Lynda Savage, M.S., LMFT, LPC
Sometimes we humans are as selfish and greedy as a two-year-old. We try to obtain some illusive something by wanting more, more, more. Feeling cheated or deprived is one thing. Using money and power to feel better is another. Craving and greed need a healthy look and this article will help us do just that. In it is healthy food for thought and questions for you and you alone.
DRUNK WITH HOPE: God's Help for Addiction and Emotional Wounds
Mary Lambrecht, M.S. LMFT
Emotional wounds can negatively influence relationships which can lead to addictive behaviors. Article explores how to put God’s truth into emotional pain, thus taking the first step in freedom from addiction.
RELATIONSHIPS AND THE BRAIN
Lynda Savage, M.S., LMFT, LPC
Our brain is sending out signals for hormone release in all of our relationships. These hormones are either the "feel-good" kind or they are the fight or flight kind. Therapists at the Center for Family Healing give healthy response training to our clients to bring about the results they would like in their relationships.
Feeling Crazy - The Effects of Addiction on the Family
Suzan Myhre, M.S.S.W., LICSW, LPC
This article describes the serious and debilitating effects of addiction on the family. Hopes for rehabilitation are addressed.
