LIFTing is difficult work. Especially when we’re feeling a lot (and I should probably add when we’re not feeling at all). Emotions that brew from a place of frustration, disappointment, loss, anger, confusion, uncertainty, worry, or being stuck, to name a few, require exploration and awareness that most often brings about discomfort. Unfortunately, we have to ‘feel’ that pain to overcome it. As a social worker, I practice a person-centered, strengths-based, trauma-focused approach to therapy. I have worked with individuals that have been victims of trauma, teens that struggled with compulsive behavior and emotional distress, families that just can’t seem to work through their differences, adults that want more out of life and to worry less, and couples longing for strengthened marriages. What every single one of them, every single one of us, has in common, is a hopeful desire for better understanding and deeper meaning about themselves, as well as fostering and nurturing healthy relationships; especially the one they have with themselves.