Self-Harm: It Makes Sense
"For a burn or a cut might be shown, might be nursed, might scar or heal... would anyway be there, on the surface of her body, rather than corroding it from within." Sarah Waters, The Night Watch
“My head was full of wild ambitious urges to hurt myself... I wanted my interior pain out in my body... I wanted this vague pain to be specific. That’s how I explain it.” Charles Baxter, The Feast of Love
Respecting My Kids: The Case Against Spanking Children
“A person's a person, no matter how small.” Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who!
"Elizabeth Gershoff... has been studying corporal punishment for 15 years, and is known as the leading researcher on spanking in the United States today... 'There's no study that I've ever done that's found a positive consequence of spanking,' Gershoff said." Sarah Kovac, CNN
To Risk or Not to Risk
"What did I know of life? I who had lived so carefully? Who had neither won nor lost, but just let life happen to him? …Who avoided being hurt and called it a capacity for survival?" Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
I’m sitting at the computer, wondering how to get into this topic. The room is quiet. I glance at my phone, half hoping for a distracting text...
Feedback
"Feedback is an opinion, grounded in observations and experiences, which allows us to know what impression we make on others. The information is revealing and potentially uncomfortable... But the upside of painful knowledge is so much greater than the downside of blissful ignorance." Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Read MoreSaying Goodbye to a Pet
"I was hoping Penny wouldn't die in the night, but I thought she might. I wanted two days with her. Today wasn't very fun because we couldn't pat Penny." Rachel, age 4
"I imagine her in a house sort of like ours, with colorful flowers all around." Clara, age 6
About Lynn
I am a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor with a Master of Science in Pastoral Counseling from Loyola University in Maryland. I have been in private practice for over twenty years and have experience working with adults and adolescents, addressing a variety of issues: anxiety, depression, relationship problems, past or current trauma, eating disorders, self-mutilation, bereavement, parenting concerns, boundaries, and self-care.