Why The Church Won’t Recognize Abuse
As a therapist and advocate who specializes in recovery from abuse, I have been witness to many stories of how survivors of abuse were treated by their church elders and pastors. I can tell you that...
View ArticleAdult Bullies: The Bitter Bully
Disclaimer: For those of you who know me and my work around healing from abuse, please note that this blog is not about clinically abusive people (aka narcissists, sociopaths, or psychopaths). This...
View ArticleAdult Bullies: The Accusing Bully
Disclaimer: For those of you who know me and my work around healing from abuse, please note that this blog is not about clinically abusive people (aka narcissists, sociopaths, or psychopaths). This...
View ArticleAdult Bullies: The Calculating Bully
In this series on adult bullies, we have looked at the Accusing Bully who has a need to make you their scapegoat so they don’t have to look at their own shortcomings. We have also examined the Bitter...
View ArticleManaging Psychological Trauma
“Welcome to The Mental Breakdown and Psychreg Podcast! Today, Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall have the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Shannon Thomas, a licensed clinical social work supervisor, the owner and...
View ArticleEntrepreneur Life: Competing Brands
This last year of entrepreneur life has been a whirlwind and there are many words I could use to describe the past twelve months. Some that I have used are wonderful, fulfilling, blessed and one that...
View ArticleFour Levels of Change
People are unique and strangely similar all at the same time. By this, I mean that although no two people are identical, the way that individuals handle certain aspects of life are very similar to...
View ArticlePodcast: It Takes A Village
“Daily Mom Pressures, It’s Never Too Late & The Power to Change” I had a fantastic time laughing with It Takes A Village host, Ashley Carroll, about the challenges of motherhood, finding our way...
View ArticleWhy Should Anyone Care About Financial Abuse?
With the release of the second book in the Healing from Hidden Abuse series, Exposing Financial Abuse: When Money is a Weapon, I have innocently been asked why this an important topic to cover. It’s a...
View ArticleWhat is financial abuse?
With the release of my second book in the Healing from Hidden Abuse series, Exposing Financial Abuse: When Money is a Weapon, I’ve received many questions about what exactly qualifies as economic...
View ArticleAfraid to Speak
We are afraid to tell anyone. We are afraid to talk about the details. We are afraid of being blamed. We are afraid. Women have had horrendous things implied about them, said to them and done to them....
View ArticleA little sunshine and rain
In each life, there will be sunshine and rain. In Texas, sometimes these two weather events happen at the exact same moment. I have taken my fair share of pictures with sunshine in the distance and...
View ArticleThe Grief that Comes with Growth
As a therapist, I work with people on a variety of topics that can range anywhere on the intensity spectrum. Some individuals want to work on setting and reaching personal development goals, while...
View ArticleThe Truth of Living with Trauma
For those of us who live with the daily task of recovering from trauma, there are a few realities that we must authentically acknowledge and even embrace. Post-trauma life can be amazing, but we...
View ArticleThe differences between emotional and psychological abuse, and why it’s...
One of the most common misconceptions I see online in the abuse recovery community are people posting that psychological abusers are just wounded people who don’t know any better. Victims to their...
View ArticleWhy do victims blame themselves?
It is widespread for survivors of psychological abuse to blame themselves. The abuser blamed all the relationship issues on the survivor, and it is very easy to come into agreement with a false...
View ArticleMessy Authentic Self
In this season of constantly being told to love ourselves regardless of what others think and to radically embrace our uniqueness, what happens if we don’t authentically like ourselves? Where do we...
View ArticleTexas’ Collective Trauma
My fellow Texans,This week has been horrendous. Let’s just be real. For many, it has been traumatizing and that is not being overly dramatic.We know many of you were forced to sleep in your cars as...
View ArticleSometimes…
As I looked at this picture on my friend’s phone, I had the thought of “sometimes we need to put on a pink tutu and run through bubbles.” It got me thinking about some of the other “sometimes” moments...
View ArticleThings to Remember When on Empty
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” – Charles Dickens Almost three weeks ago I published my first sole-authored book. The lead up to launch day reminds me of this famous quote by Mr....
View ArticleYou Just Don’t Care
When a close friend shares with you that the pastor made uninvited sexual advances towards her and you argue that the pastor is a godly man and wouldn’t do such a thing, you just don’t care enough...
View ArticleI Got A Root Canal At Church
Imagine walking into church and in the lobby, you see a sign-up area for getting a tooth extracted or a root canal. You go up to the counter to learn more and the pastor of Family Ministry says “Hi!...
View ArticleWhen A Christian Meets A Sociopath
I was recently contacted and asked to share my thoughts on how a Christian is supposed to deal with narcissists, sociopaths and psychopaths. To some it may seem like an odd request but actually it...
View ArticleA lot has changed
A lot has changed since I released my first book, Healing from Hidden Abuse: A Journey Through the Stages of Recovery from Psychological Abuse, in the summer of 2016. If we’ve been on this journey...
View ArticleI tried to be a “good victim”
I honestly tried to be a “good victim.” I truly wanted to be a good victim, but for over two years, I failed. I could see it and, worse, feel it happening in real time. Watching myself fail at being...
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