Wilson Counseling: The Armchair Chronicles

When you bury your emotions, they have a way of coming out anyways I always keep tissues in my counseling office. For a lot of people, once they start to open up, the emotions just find their way to the surface. Those emotions have been buried and pushed down long enough and the body knows. It needs an outlet. It needs to cry. It's interesting that people often apologize when they start to cry in my office. I always reassure them that tears are a perfectly normal and healthy part of getting better. I point them in the direction of the tissue box. I like to think of the box as a reminder that they are not alone in feeling overwhelmed. Lots of people cry in my office. You don't need to apologize for your tears; they are a sign of your humanity I have one client who jokes with me about how I like to make him cry. He's a stocky, muscular guy who played football in college. It's not exactly true that I like to make him cry, but I am grateful that he feels c...

Criticism leads to shame. Self-compassion leads to action. This year, instead of making a resolution that I won't keep, I am resolving to focus on being more compassionate to myself. Sounds hokey, I know. "What does that even mean?" you may be asking. Self-compassion is largely about treating yourself with the same compassion you would treat others you care about even when you fail. So, for example, instead of berating myself for parts of my body that I don't like, I can acknowledge that I work hard and use my body well and that I am a work in progress. It's okay if parts of me are not what I want them to be at all times. That compassionate attitude towards myself allows me to work on what I want to change without shaming me. Shame, after all,  just leads to inaction and poorer self-esteem. "Suffering, failure, and imperfection is part of the shared human experience." --Dr. Kristin Neff Kristin Neff is a researcher and professor who ...

I was attending church, and during announcements, one of the members (who happened to be George H W Bush’s grandson) got up to encourage people to get involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters. It is an organization that he himself was very involved with and was passionate about. He talked about how his grandfather had taught him that he is responsible for being a point of light in the world.  When 41 spoke about the 1,000 points of light, I always assumed it was just a political talking point. But, I realized at that moment, that it was more than just a talking point. It was part of the Bush legacy, something he passed on to those who were willing to listen, including his grandchildren.  No one who does anything of importance has a spotless or perfect record. That’s not what life is really about anyways. Life is messy, love is messy, caring and fighting for what you believe in is messy.  But, when it’s my time to go, I would like to know that my lega...

Andrew was just 11 years old when it happened. His mom had to work nights, so him and his twin brother Jack were being watched by a close family friend, Florence. She was kind of an Aunt figure to the boys. She woke the boys sometime in the dark of night, and said one horrifying word he can not forget, "Fuck." She forced him and then his brother to repeatedly perform cunnilingus and then have intercourse with her. Each time saying "again, and again, and again." Andrew remembers her musty smell, the chill in the air and the glow from the moon in the hall. He remembers desperately hoping that someone would hear them through the opening in the door and rescue them, but a rescuer never showed. Trauma can work in strange ways. There are some parts of the traumatic event that can imprint in your brain as clear as if you are watching them on TV right in front of you. Other memories get buried and can be hard to access. Keeping the secret of abuse After An...

Andrew was just 11 years old when it happened. His mom had to work nights, so him and his twin brother Jack were being watched by a close family friend, Florence. She was kind of an Aunt figure to the boys. She woke the boys sometime in the dark of night, and said one horrifying word he can not forget, "Fuck." She forced him and then his brother to repeatedly perform cunnilingus and then have intercourse with her. Each time saying "again, and again, and again." Andrew remembers her musty smell, the chill in the air and the glow from the moon in the hall. He remembers desperately hoping that someone would hear them through the opening in the door and rescue them, but a rescuer never showed. Trauma can work in strange ways. There are some parts of the traumatic event that can imprint in your brain as clear as if you are watching them on TV right in front of you. Other memories get buried and can be hard to access. Keeping the secret of abuse After An...

It is hard to believe it has been almost a year since Hurricane Harvey rolled through our beloved city and dropped 50 inches of rain, flooding entire swaths of Houston. Even a year later, I still feel shocked when I see the dramatic photographs of freeways and homes and cars submerged, of what looks like all of Houston under water. I feel sad when I see the pictures of homes gutted and belongings tossed in large piles on the sidewalk. via I still remember the feeling of dread when my husband woke me at 5am on August 27th, 2017, looked me in the eyes and said, "the water is coming in." I remember walking on our wet wood floors to wake up my daughters, scrambling to try to move things off the ground and then all of us sitting on our sofa as the waters rose and wondering "What are we going to do now?" I remember moving to higher ground at a neighbor's second story home, and then, when it became clear the rain would not stop, being evacuated from the seco...

Wilson Counseling is pleased to welcome our newest contract  therapist, Dr. Xin Wang. Dr. Wang is a bilingual Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who has experience in both academia and clinical practice. She is passionate about helping people reach their goals and get rid depression, stress and grief.  Dr. Wang has experience in counseling various age groups including adolescents, young adults, and seniors from diverse cultural backgrounds. She draws on client's own strengths and a variety of techniques to collaborate with clients and help them feel better and gain control of their lives. Her specialties and interests include: ·              Stress management ·              Chronic disease, particularly cancer ·              Grief and loss ·     ...