My son Alex, an avid fan of the Game Theorist YouTube channel, last week sent me a remarkably compelling video Losing the Battle. It is the Game Theorist himself offering a tribute to his friend and video editor. I’ve attached it to this post and I hope you’ll watch it. If you don’t talk a…
Insta, Finsta, Snapchat, Nudes: Teens and Sexual Expression on Social Media
Nicole and I are just finishing our chapter on Sexting, Snapchat, and Finstagram for Consent-Based Sex Education, Book Two: Parenting Teens in an Internet Age. The book is going out to our focus groups, likely in October. Book One: Parenting Teens for Sexual Competence is finishing it’s focus group run and should be to reviewers…
Considering Informed Consent For Clients of DBT Therapists
I was on Joel Becker’s show Tuesday morning discussing the community response to seven staff leaving Bert Nash Mental Health Center. As I commented on the air, our practice is dependent on BNMHC to allow us to broaden our client base because the center gives us a place to refer clients who need services beyond…
Pet Instagrams: Grace Makes Her Debut On Fox 4 Evening News
I think an Emmy is in the offing for Grace the Therapy Cat. She made her TV debut on July 23rd in a segment on the Fox 4 News at 10pm as the only cat featured in a very doggy piece on how Instagram brings the joy of pets to its many users. Grace does…
Fox 4 Therapy Thursday: The Easiest Solution for Limiting Phone and Game Access I've Ever Seen
I’m pretty tech savvy. I know how to set up an alternative, filtered web browser on my son’s iPhone. I can time his cellular access from the Verizon website. I can shut down my router after 11pm. But even I don’t want to do that every time I need to redirect him to homework or…
Teens and Social Activism
When millions of Americans saw the students of Parkland High School speaking before the cameras about their experience of gun violence following a particularly brutal school shooting, many couldn’t believe their poise and disciplined presentation. Many in conservative media claimed they were some kind of “crisis actors” coached by adults to spew a leftist agenda…
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
When I talk to clients about using Dialectical Behavior Therapy or DBT as part of their treatment process, they can be skeptical. Often, they don’t understand what DBT is or how it might help them. So, I wanted to take a moment and explain DBT for readers who might like to know more, particularly as…
Teens Are Saying "Me Too" Too
Rape culture, misogyny, sexual harassment, abuse of power. In the last few months, these terms have all come to the forefront of our national discussion under the banner of the #MeToo movement. But, I can safely say from countless discussions over the last decade that those topics are nothing new to teens and young adults.They’ve…
Teaching Kids to Be Good Consumers of Media
The term “Fake News” has come to mean something completely different than it’s original intent, making it that much more difficult to help teens, pre-teens, and even young adults, sort through what’s real and what’s not. In this segment of the KLWN morning show, I join John Flood and Joel Becker to discuss ways to…
Finstagram: Weird or Wonderful
According to traditional media, teen culture is weird. We can’t define what “dating” is, we send nudes to each other and think nothing of it, we can’t afford diamonds, we’re always on our phones, and we waste our money on avocado toasts. We’ve detached emotion from our sex lives, make memes, and laugh about our…