Do you get frustrated with your patients not listening to your pleading to make seemingly simple lifestyle changes? When we realize that we cannot push, pull or drag our patients to change their behavior, we open the door to a new conversation: One that centers on relating to the fact that all people face struggles with change.

For therapists, traditional ways of getting the word out—a discrete ad here, a few hints to colleagues there, even a fancy website—just won’t cut it anymore. In a sound-bite-saturated world of information overload, having a brand that stands out is the only way to attract potential clients.

For 40 years, as both a researcher and a clinician, Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., has studied those living with trauma. Among them were soldiers, torture victims, child abuse survivors, and many others. What has he determined after years of research?

Our emotional brains are primed to override the rational mind with patterns that persist until we intervene with something this feeling brain can understand: a compelling emotional experience that completely changes how we feel, not just how we think. Orchestrating such felt experiences with your clients is easier than you think. Here are 10 strategies...

The cyber age has provided a breeding ground for bullying, and our clients can be bombarded daily with negative comments, images or untruths about themselves. Understanding how your clients use social media can be key to successful sessions.

When a client comes to you in emotional distress and you sense that childhood wounds are the cause, your instinct is to spring into action. We want to stitch them up and slap on a new metaphorical bandage.

But you can't fix them. And here's why...

In recognition of Veterans Day, PESI is proud to participate in the 4th Annual Joining Forces Wellness Week in conjunction with the Office of the First Lady of the United States, Center for Deployment Psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Join us Nov. 9-13, 2015, and earn free CE when you join any of the five free webinars focused on the health needs of veterans and their families.

I began seeing that most of what came out of my mouth was about my discomfort with silence. It felt too naked. My incessant talking was a way to fill the void. As I accepted that I couldn’t sing, and I couldn’t speak, the voice in my head began to quiet.

When you use trauma-sensitive yoga as a therapeutic intervention with your clients, part of your role is to monitor the state of your client's autonomic nervous system, and to use somatic interventions when they need to bring it back into regulation. Here are 3 somatic interventions you can use with your client.

You don't have to tell Martha Teater about the mental health crisis in Africa. She's witnessed the tragedy with her own eyes. Here she describes her time spent at the only Zambian psychiatric hospital where the patients appear to be either clearly psychotic and agitated, or over medicated to the point of drooling and appearing almost catatonic.