Gatewell Therapy Center | Miami FL
Evidence-Based Individual, Couples, Family, and Group Counseling + Nutrition Therapy in Miami (Coral Gables)
In our teaching of DBT skills, I always say that radical acceptance is one of the hardest skills to learn. To do. To embody. I feel this way myself. As much as I talk about acceptance, I find my brain constantly wants to err on the change side of the acceptance-change continuum. It wants toContinue reading Radical Body Acceptance
Participating in sports offers our kids so many benefits: physical activity, teamwork, working toward goals, socialization, fun, and more. Unfortunately, there are some aspects of youth sports that are harmful and detract from the multiple benefits. Here are five observations (as an ex-athlete, a graduate of a master’s program in sport psychology/clinical psychologist, and aContinue reading The Psychology of Youth Sports: What We Continue To Get Wrong
Coping With Emotions Have you ever felt flooded with emotion, so much so that you didn’t know what to do? Maybe it was so intense that you froze or got really down on yourself or felt like you were being swept up in riptide of distress. . . . One of the questions we getContinue reading Coping with Emotions: A Five-Step Approach
If you think about it, the human condition offers us of an almost infinite number of problems – issues with relationships, jobs, money, health, managing our homes, etc. Despite the wide range of problems we might encounter, there are a limited number of options for solving them. According to DBT, there are four possibilities forContinue reading Options for Solving Any Problem – DBT in Action
We exist in relationship to other humans: family members, friends, colleagues, members of our communities. Inevitably, as part of existing in shared spaces, we will cause harm, even if that wasn’t our intention. Interpersonal rupture is part of the human experience. Ideally, a repair follows a rupture. Repairs make amends and can actually serve toContinue reading How to Apologize: A Three-Step Approach
Parenting isn’t always the rosy picture we see portrayed on social media. Most parents struggle sometimes or often, and one of the significant triggers for their distress, especially when their children are young, is meltdowns. Meltdowns, or tantrums, are emotional storms that take their toll on anyone present. And while we can’t really prevent theseContinue reading Coping with Meltdowns: DBT in Action
For some, the winter holidays aren’t all festivities and fun. They might be fraught with discomfort or distress. Experiences of grief, loneliness, anxiety, and an uptick in trauma symptoms are not uncommon. We’ve assembled some tips in this holiday coping guide to help get you through the season. Acknowledge your struggle. Acknowledge that this timeContinue reading Holiday Coping Guide
TIP Skills The TIP skills in DBT help you cope with a difficult situation or crisis without making things worse. They represent part of our crisis survival skills. You might use them when flooded with emotion, when in distress, or when you have the urge to engage in a destructive behavior. With the TIP skills,Continue reading TIP Skills: Regulating Our Bodies to Cope with Distress
What Is A Dialectic? One of the main concepts in DBT is the goal of balancing opposites. That’s actually the “D” is DBT, “dialectical.” A dialectical stance incorporates multiple – even potentially conflicting – points of view. It’s a both/and versus either/or way of thinking. One of the primary dialectics in DBT is acceptance andContinue reading Wise Mind: A Balanced Synthesis
Struggling with body acceptance – It’s Not Your Fault But It Is Your Problem Most of us are socialized to be critical of our bodies. Whether it’s our families, communities, or our culture at large, we are bombarded by messaging regarding what constitutes an acceptable body. Children as young as preschoolers learn that certain bodiesContinue reading Body Acceptance Practices – Stop Hating Your Body Today