If you’ve been wondering if you or your child should go to therapy, this post is for you. Most of us know when it is time to take our car into the shop, to finally schedule that dentist appointment or when our child’s symptoms warrant a trip to urgent care. Do we know when it’s time to start seeing a therapist for our mental health?

Let’s talk about feelings. Have you every been blindsided by your emotions, like getting hit by a rogue wave at the beach? You were enjoying a nice day and then all of sudden you are overwhelmed and enveloped by anxiety, anger, grief or sadness. You are not alone. In my work with kids, teens and adults we often begin by discussing how familiar a client is with identifying and naming their emotions and where they feel them in their body. For example, when you are anxious does your stomach tie in knots, or when you are angry or stressed do your fists or jaw tighten?  If we don’t know what we are feeling when we are feeling it, we can become quickly overwhelmed and swept up in our wave of emotion.