Help Create a Caring Workplace and Economy!

As a psychotherapist and career counselor starting out in the mid-80’s, my biggest surprise has been how many people come in my office and complain not about their work, but about their dysfunctional workplace. They’ve talked and still talk about a lack of vision and organization among managers resulting in chaos and confusion, distrust among […]

We Don’t Arrive, We Grow

It’s common for any of us to become dissatisfied with work.   Whether we’re simply no longer happy or there is a longing for more meaning, it behooves us to address unhappiness at work and prevent it from spilling over to the rest of our lives. While work will never meet all our needs for personal […]

Why College?

This blog is primarily addressed to anyone unsure of the value of a college degree or who knows someone struggling with the decision to go to college. The following points may also apply to those weighing the time and investment in graduate or continuing education. A college education can be expensive, though there are ways […]

Perfectionism: Mapping the Vast Interior Part III/Going West

This is a continuation of a blog about perfectionism that began with a posting March 21 2017:  “Perfectionism: Mapping the Vast Interior Part I/Facing East.” Read it and Part II/Heading South before starting Part III/Going West if you can.  So happy to welcome you all as we resume our journey around the Sacred Medicine Wheel, […]

Multiple Identities a Sane Approach to Career Choice

Are you troubled by the timeworn question – What do you want to be when you grow up? A surprising number of my clients have a history of wrestling with this question. While asked innocently of children with the openness that you could be or do anything, our culture ups the ante for a single […]

Perfectionism: Mapping the Vast Interior Part II/Heading South

This is a continuation of a blog about perfectionism that began with a posting March 21, 2017: “Perfectionism: Mapping the Vast Interior Part I/Facing East.” Read it before starting Part II/Heading South if you can. Glad to welcome you all as we resume our journey around the Sacred Medicine Wheel, visiting the Four Directions and […]

Moms and Dads don’t give up on your other career dreams!

As a divorce coach and vocational expert in collaborative and mediated cases that are settled out of court, I have the privilege of supporting moms and dads needing to go back to work, as a result of their divorce. Typically the stay at home spouse has spent several years, often more than fifteen, out of […]

Ponder. Ruminate. Reflect. Process. Contemplate. Muse.

These are all words that mean a similar thing –  to think about carefully, to reflect. I find that fall is an excellent time to reflect, especially about career and livelihood. Driving to the coast today, the turning and falling leaves reminded me about letting go and change. At some point I will want to […]

On Not Letting Work Pre-Occupy Our Lives

How many of you who read the newspaper — be ready to symbolically raise your hand — read the obituaries? Hand-raisers don’t worry, you’re actually in good company, as over half of newspaper readers do. I do, and for me, these abbreviated biographies, the time and place of a person’s beginnings, their educational and career […]

Retirement Stories

“What are you going to do all day?” was a common question asked of retired friends and colleagues that I interviewed recently about their personal, emotional or psychological approach to retirement. Their answers to the question fit rather neatly into career theorist and author William Bridges’ model of transition. According to Bridges in his book, […]