Bedford Counselling Blog
We hope that these posts are interesting and informative. If, after reading these articles, you’re curious to find out more about working work with one of us, we’d love to have a free 15-minute phone consultation with you to talk more about how we can help.
The Pressure of New Year’s Resolutions
The Pressure of New Year’s Resolutions, and a Kinder Alternative for Mental Health New Year’s resolutions are often seen as an opportunity for a fresh start to improve habits, enhance productivity, and focus on well-being. However, for many, they can lead to increased...
Unlocking Emotional Self-Regulation: A Guide for Parents
Parenting is one of the most meaningful and emotionally complex experiences we can have. It brings moments of joy, pride, and deep connection — and it can also activate frustration, hurt, overwhelm, and self-doubt. Even the most patient parents find themselves...
Overthinking Everything? Why Your Brain Can’t Stop, and What to Do About It
Many people struggle with chronic overthinking, replaying conversations, anticipating outcomes, or mentally “fixing” situations that haven’t even happened. This pattern, known as rumination, can feel mentally exhausting and difficult to turn off. It's important to...
Healing Old Patterns: How Parent Self-Regulation Supports Kids’ Emotions
As parents, we want the very best for our kids. We want them to feel safe, loved, and supported — especially when they’re struggling with big feelings. But often, the hardest part of parenting isn’t managing our child’s emotions…it’s managing our own. This isn’t about...
Adult Self-Regulation: The Foundation of Emotionally Healthy Parenting
Our own adult emotion self-regulation in the context of parenting is both deeply personal and incredibly practical as a topic. As parents, we often focus on helping our children navigate their big emotions—supporting them through tantrums, tears, frustration, or...
VIDEO-Emotional Regulation for Parents: The First Step to Helping Your Kids
This video presents something essential, yet often overlooked in parenting: our own self-regulation. As parents, we often focus on helping our children manage their big emotions—but the real starting point is learning how to manage our own. This isn’t about blame or...
VIDEO-The Science Behind Emotional Regulation: Mirror Neurons and How They Shape Our Parenting
When your child is upset, do you ever notice yourself feeling just as overwhelmed—even if the situation has nothing to do with you? That’s not just empathy; it’s neuroscience. In this video, Dr. Adam explores the science behind emotional regulationand how something...
The Science Behind Emotional Regulation: Mirror Neurons and How They Shape Our Parenting
When we think about emotional regulation and parenting, we often focus on ourselves as individuals—how we process our emotions, how we cope with stress, or how we handle difficult situations. But what if I told you that emotional regulation in parenting isn’t just...
Emotion Regulation for Kids with Dr. Adam Kayfitz PhD, Psych
Are you a parent or caregiver feeling overwhelmed by your child's big emotions? You're not alone — and you're in the right place to learn about emotion regulation for kids. In this powerful and practical video, Dr. Adam Kayfitz, a licensed psychologist with extensive...
When You’re Tired of Walking on Eggshells: Parenting help with Emotionally Focused Family Therapy
Parenting can often feel like a delicate balancing act, especially when it seems like no matter what you say or do, your child or teen becomes more distant, agitated, or withdrawn. One moment you're trying to connect, the next you're in a shouting match or facing...
How Attachment Styles Show Up In Relationships
Have you ever found yourself shutting down during a disagreement while your partner insists on talking it out right away? Or maybe you long for deeper connection but feel like your partner keeps you at arm’s length? These kinds of mismatched reactions are often shaped...
How Do I Know If My Relationship Is Over?
Understanding Ambivalence Through the Lens of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) One of the most complicated and most painful questions many people quietly carry is: “How do I know if my relationship is over?” Maybe the spark has faded. You’re more like co-parents or...
Is My Child, Teen or Young Adult Ready For Therapy?
Great question! If you're asking this, chances are you're noticing something that doesn't feel quite right—and you're looking for support. It’s not always easy to tell whether your child, teen, or young adult is just going through a rough patch or needs extra help and...
How to Create Emotional Safety in Romantic Relationships
.Emotional safety is the foundation of a strong, lasting relationship. It’s what allows couples to be vulnerable, express their true emotions, and trust that their partner will respond with care and understanding. Without emotional safety, people rely on their...
Parenting a Superfeeler: 5 Ways To Help Your Child Embrace Their Sensitivity
Parenting is a wild ride, full of ups and downs. And if your child, teen, or young adult is a superfeeler, that ride can sometimes feel like a rollercoaster with extra loops. Superfeelers experience emotions intensely—sometimes overwhelmingly—but their sensitivity can...
Mental Health Matters: 5 Powerful Ways Parents Can Support Their Teen’s Emotional Well-Being
Parenting a teen can feel a bit like navigating a stormy sea of changes; physical, emotional and social. It's a time when teens are figuring out who they are and how they fit into the world. As amazing as it to see teens grow and mature, it can also be heartbreaking...
Understanding the Differences: Psychology, Psychiatry, Social Work, and Counselling Therapy
Navigating mental health support can be overwhelming, especially with so many professionals offering care. Do you need a psychologist for therapy, a psychiatrist for medication, or a social worker to help navigate systemic challenges? What about a counselling therapist? This guide breaks down the key differences in training, focus, and roles of these professionals to help you find the right support for your needs.
Intention vs. Impact: How to Navigate Conflict in Your Relationship
Learning how to navigate conflict in your relationship is challenging, especially when it comes to addressing hurt feelings. Have you ever tried talking to your partner about something they said or did that hurt you, only for it to end in an argument? Or maybe,...
Emotion Coaching Workshop for Parents and Caregivers
Your child is struggling and it is so hard to see your loved one suffer, no matter their age. Despite all your best efforts to find the “right” answer, web searching, reading, talking to other parents, and going over and over things in your head, it can still feel...
How to Help Kids Balance School and Extracurricular Activities
Remember When Kids Could Just Be Kids? These days it seems challenging to help kids find balance betwen school and extracurricular activities. There was a time when young kids had a simple routine: they went to school, came home, did a little homework, and then ran...
Benefits of Teaching Kids Mindfulness
In today’s fast-paced world, kids are experiencing stress and distractions earlier than ever before. Teaching mindfulness to children can help them develop emotional awareness, manage stress, and build resilience. By learning how to stay present and recognize their...
3 Habits That Could be Affecting Your Mental Health
When we think about what could harm our mental health, our minds usually jump to the big stuff—losing a job, going through a breakup, or the passing of a loved one. And while those major life events certainly take a toll, it’s often the little things—the everyday...
How to Emotionally Survive a Divorce
Divorce is one of life’s most challenging experiences. It’s not just about the end of a relationship but also grieving the future you once imagined together. The emotional and practical changes—custody arrangements, shifts in friendships, and adjusting to new...
Is it Possible to Rebuild Trust After an Affair?
Discovering that your partner has had an affair is a deeply painful and traumatic experience. It shatters the foundation of trust in a relationship and leaves both individuals feeling hurt, betrayed, and uncertain about the future. However, despite the immense...
Post-Baby Disconnect? 3 Ways to Stay More Connected After Having a Baby
Welcoming a new baby into your lives is a transformative and joyous experience. However, it can also bring significant changes to your relationship dynamic. No more sleeping in on Saturday, then heading to your favorite restaurant for brunch with friends. These...
How EFT Couples Therapy Can Help With Feeling Angry and Frustrated With Your Partner
Couples therapy, also known as marriage or relationship counseling, is a form of therapy that aims to help couples resolve conflicts, improve communication, and strengthen their relationship. It provides a safe and neutral space for couples to explore their issues,...
When is the Right Time to Try Couple’s Counselling?
People often ask "When is it the right time to try couples counselling?" It can be hard to make the decision to go to couples counselling because it means you have to be willing to do some challenging emotional work and commit the time and energy to do so. There is...
5 Amazing Outcomes that Can Come from Family Therapy
Families are as complicated as the individuals who make them up. Though each family is entirely unique, all can benefit from family therapy. Counseling can help family members improve communication and resolve conflicts. Family therapy is a powerful and transformative...
Navigating the Challenges and Joy of Parenting
Overcoming the Toughest Obstacles in Parenting Parenting is a profound and transformative journey that brings immense joy, love, and fulfillment. However, for many parents, this journey is not without its challenges. Balancing multiple responsibilities, dealing with...
5 Ways to Reignite the Spark in Your Relationship
'The Honeymoon' is a phrase that’s used a lot when it comes to the strong feelings in the early days of romantic relationships. In fact, you might have felt ‘the spark’ in the beginning of your relationship, and as a result, the early days were very exciting for you...
How to Deal with Infidelity in a Relationship
When infidelity occurs in a relationship, it can be very devastating for the parties involved. Infidelity involves breaking a promise to be completely faithful to your partner, and when it happens, it erases the trust that existed in the relationship. Dealing with...
6 Great Ways to Deepen Your Relationship Bond
Being in a relationship can feel wonderful and there’s nothing more amazing than feeling that the bond you share with your partner is getting stronger. If you’re in a happy relationship, you can keep it that way by introducing a few new things into your relationship...
7 Tips for Getting Through a Breakup
No breakup is ever easy, but some breakups can make you feel like you’ve had the wind knocked out of your sails. And during those times, it can become sincerely difficult to see a way forward. It can be especially isolating and hurtful if your friends and family don’t...
Does Online Couple’s Therapy Work?
The pandemic has caused most people to rethink about how they interact in the world. Whether it is a newly discovered convenience of virtual appointments or a need to take extra precautions due to health and safety, virtual and online meeting have become a part of...
How to Tell When You’re Feeling Burned Out
Many people think of burnout as simply being incredibly tired after a long week or month of work or school studies. But burnout is much more than a physical exhaustion; it has in fact been called the “triad of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and feelings of...
Can Effective Therapy be Done Online?
When the pandemic hit, many people began to work with their therapists online. But there were many others who were wanted to seek help but were hesitant to try therapy online. After several years of operating in a more virtual environment studies, have found that from...
Does Choosing The Right Therapist Matter
Finding a therapist that you feel totally safe and comfortable with is very important for your healing journey. In fact, it is one of the most important elements of improvements in psychotherapy. The Therapeutic Alliance Adam O. Horvath, PhD, a Simon Fraser University...
How to Support Your Mental Health Between Therapy Sessions
Therapy is a wonderful way to explore your inner world, process your feelings, and inspire transformation. But what clients can sometimes find is that a day or so after their session, they begin to feel a little lost, stressed or get back into old patterns and habits....
Benefits of Counselling for University and College Students
University Life: How Counselling Can Help You Handle Stress Being a university or college student can be an exciting time, but let's be honest—it's also incredibly stressful. Between keeping up with classes, part-time jobs, social lives, and maybe even being away from...
How to Have More Fun with Your Kids
Often it seems that today’s parents are expected to do everything perfectly. They’re expected to make healthy meals, help with homework – which often requires exceptional math skills -schedule play dates, drive carpools, and show up to every game, recital and...
5 Steps to Better Emotional Health
When it comes to our overall well-being, taking care of our emotional health is as important as taking care of our physical health. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) says that “there is no health without mental health.” This is because, according to the...
How to Recover from Infidelity
In my time as a marriage counselor, there is probably one statement I have heard more than any other, and that is, “I just don’t think I will ever get over this.” This statement is often said by my clients who have recently learned their spouse has had an affair. The...
6 Signs You Might Be a “Super Feeler”
Have you ever been told or felt you are too sensitive or too empathetic? If so, you are not alone. Many people find themselves sometimes overwhelmed by their own intense feelings or feel like you are taking on others’ feelings or problems. If so, you might be a "super...
What Is An Extroverted-Introvert – And Are YOU One?
Are you one of those people who has never quite felt like an introvert but are definitely not an extrovert? Have you read descriptions of either personality and thought, “Mmmm, close, but not quite?” If so, you might be what is called an extroverted introvert...
How to Tell if You’re a Highly Sensitive Person
Some people seem to be born with nerves on the outside of their skin. These people tend to be more sensitive than their parents, brothers and sisters, or the kids in their class. They can’t get through a movie (even a comedy!) or a TV commercial without shedding a few...
How Family Therapy Can Help During This Lingering Covid Crisis
It has been almost a year since the world changed with the Covid-19 virus. After months and months of being locked down, many families are experiencing burnout from being forced to be home together so much.While the vaccines are being rolled out, we are still getting...
3 Ways Individual Counseling Can Help Your Marriage
Even happily married couples can hit obstacles along the way. When this happens, couples can either go it alone and try to work through their issues themselves, or they can seek the guidance of a trained and experienced marriage counsellor. At times, only one partner...
How to Cope with the Stress and Anxiety Caused by COVID-19
April and May have been tough months in Nova Scotia as we've had to cope with the disappointment, stress and anxiety caused by increasing COVID cases and the restrictions put in place to curb them. If you're like most people, you are doing your best to stay calm and...
5 Strategies to Calm Your Anxiety Quickly
When you live with anxiety, any moment can become one that creates a slow-rising panic within you. Life is normal one second and the next, you feel your chest tighten and your heart begin to race. You may begin to hyperfocus on future events and find yourself getting...
Don’t Get Mad, Get Involved: Helping Your Child with Class Behavioral Issues
No parent likes hearing that their child is acting out in class. At first, most of us want to blame ourselves and figure out what we’ve done wrong. When we come up empty, we tend to put the blame on our child, and sometimes we even get angry.The truth is, parents do...
Five Warning Signs of Postpartum Depression
Being a new mom can cause you to go through a rollercoaster of emotions. You might feel overwhelmed with love or bliss, or you might feel panicky or anxious about your responsibilities as a new mother. It's natural to feel a variety of both positive and negative...
A Parent’s Grief: Coping with the Death of a Child
The natural course of life is that a parent passes on, and their child grieves their passing. The antithesis of this is not only the most unnatural, but the most devastating for everyone affected.If you’ve experienced the death of a child, then the grief you’re...
5 Suggestions for Coping with Grief at Work
The loss of a loved one is one of the most painful tragedies that humans suffer. The impact of this loss is usually crushing, and in the aftermath of loss, we often feel like we have no control over anything. Grief is a natural response to loss. It’s perfectly normal...
Tips for Dealing with Grief Around Summertime Holidays
As we head into summer, many people are already getting their backyards and patios ready for big family BBQs and holiday get-togethers. Summer is definitely a time for relaxing and having some fun with the people you love most.But the summer holiday get-togethers can...
Creative Expressive Therapies for Kids and Teens
Life hasn’t been the same for any of us for many months now. As we continue to try and adapt our lives to safely deal with this novel coronavirus, it has taken its toll on many, both financially and emotionally.Kids have been hit particularly hard during this time. At...
Does Therapy for “Baby Blues” Work?
Having a baby is one of the most amazing and awesome events in a person’s life. Babies bring joy and laughter into the house. But the reality is, they also bring sleepless nights and inevitable and irreversible change.Having a baby also brings changes to a woman’s...
Compartmentalization: How it Hurts Men’s Relationship with Women
You’ve no doubt heard the expression “men are from Mars, women from Venus.” And while we can all point out some major differences between the sexes, typically those differences all start in one major organ – the brain!One of the biggest complaints women tend to have...
3 Reasons Why Men Should Try Therapy
Men have taken on a specific role in human development over the span of hundreds of thousands of years. While roles have very recently shifted somewhat, historically speaking, men have been the ones to fight the wars and build society. And if you think about it, it’s...
Therapy for Divorce
When we say the words, “I do,” we never imagine that one day those words will turn into, “It’s over.” But the statistics point to the fact that many marriages do not make it. In fact, the CDC reports that 42% of marriages have a high probability of ending in...
Parenting An Angry Teen
Raising a teenager can be one of the most challenging experiences a parent will go through. Teenagers are in an awkward stage, dealing with hormonal changes that are out of their control and a developing brain. They’re awakening to new realizations about themselves...
What is Positive Parenting?
“Because I said so!!”How many times did your parents say this phrase to you? How often were you spanked as a child? How much yelling was there in your house growing up?It’s safe to say that parenting styles have changed over the years. While spanking may have been...
3 Ways Teens Can Benefit from Therapy
Not many of us remember our teenage years as walks in the park. That’s because this time in our life is punctuated by uncertainties, social pressure, and a surge of hormones. Because of this perfect storm, many teens act out, which can cause a lot of chaos and...
How to Navigate Challenging Life Transitions
When we’re young, life transitions are fun and empowering. We go from crawling to walking, walking to running. We start with training wheels but soon no longer need them. As we age we graduate into higher grades and become more independent.But as adults, life...
Yes, New Fathers Suffer from Depression Too!
Having a baby is an event that typically brings a lot of joy and excitement for couples. However, roughly 60% of new mothers suffer from postpartum depression (PPD), with symptoms being either moderate or severe. Fortunately, PPD is a common health issue with much...
Can Marriage Counseling Really Help Your Relationship?
When I first started my practice, I remember reading a statistic about divorce that I found shocking. And that was that 40-50% of all marriages in the United States ended in divorce.According to recent surveys, however, the divorce rate in the U.S. fell by 18% between...
The Mental Health Impact of COVID-19 on Families
If you asked any of us a year ago what would life be like in 2020, it’s doubtful anyone would have guessed we’d be going through a global pandemic, replete with lockdowns and self-quarantining. At the beginning of the year, some families might have thought of being...
How Sex Might Change During and After Pregnancy
Many couples are thrilled to find out that they will soon be expecting a baby. Hours are spent picking out the perfect name, perfect paint color for the nursery, and perfect crib or bassinet.And then a reality suddenly dawns on them… how will being pregnant affect...
4 Ways to Improve Communication in Your Relationship
How to Improve Communication in Your Relationship and Reconnect with Your Partner If you’re reading this blog post, chances are you and your significant other have hit a snag in the relationship. Perhaps you’re spending less time together, or you've started to feel...
Family Therapy Can Help Families Be Resilient During COVID-19
All of us have struggled in our own way to deal with the effects of the Coronavirus. But if you are a parent, you most likely have even more concerns about how the stress of what is going on in the world is impacting on the emotional health of your children. This may...
5 Warning Signs It’s Time to Try Couples Counselling
Even a few years ago, you never could have imagined considering couples counselling. When you first fell in love with your partner things were great. But now you find that everything they do is so irritating; even the sound of them chewing makes you want to scream!...
Clinic Update
We are excited to welcome the newest member of the Bedford Therapy team- Deborah Hubble Smith. She is passionate about helping people ignite long-lasting, caring relationships with themselves and others. She helps people to embrace greater compassion for themselves,...
When Will I Start Feeling Better? Grieving for the First Time
One of the most devastating experiences we must endure in life is grieving the loss of a loved one. Although we have the knowledge that everyone will eventually die, and we logically understand the finality of death, no amount of information can prepare us for the...
What is Mindful Parenting?
How many parents have said at one point or another, "I wish my child would have come with a users' manual,"? Nearly every single one. Nothing can really prepare us for parenthood. No class, no advice, and no user manual can give us all the tools we require for raising...
How to Heal After a Loss
Experiencing the death of a loved one is the hardest thing we can go through in this life. What can make grieving even more challenging is the feeling that we’re somehow doing it wrong.But grieving is a unique experience and there is truly no “right” way to do it....
5 Ways to Encourage Your Teenager to Talk to You
It's tough trying to get your teen to talk. Science has shown that the teenager's brain has yet to fully develop the frontal cortex, which is the area that controls our ability to reason, and to think before we act. As your teen's brain develops, they're also learning...
5 Things A Parent Can Do If Their Teen Is Talking About Suicide
The statistics on teen suicide are staggering. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, "Suicide is among the leading cause of death in 15-24 year olds in Canada, second only to accidents". Unfortunately, there is still much stigma surrounding depression...
How to Help Children Understand Terrifying Events
As a parent, your job is to make sure your kids grow and develop in a safe and healthy environment. While it’s possible for you to control your immediate environment – your home – it’s simply not possible to ensure the greater world around your child is safe and free...
How to Lovingly Parent a Depressed Child
Being a parent is the hardest job on the planet. But being a parent of a child or teen struggling with mental health concerns can feel unbearable. All parents want to do what’s right for their kids, but when your child is not doing well, either physically or mentally,...
A Parent’s Guide to Teen Depression and Suicide
The statistics on teen suicide are staggering. According to the Centers for Disease Control, each year, an average of 8% of American teens will attempt suicide. This makes suicide the second leading cause of death for kids aged 10 to 24. In fact, it is believed that...
6 Signs of Depression in Teens
Ask any parent what their main job is and they will tell you it’s protecting their children and keeping them safe. New parents spend hours, if not days, baby-proofing the house. They research the best car seats and bike helmets and figure out ways to ensure their kids...
5 Ways to Get Your Teenager to Talk to You
It's tough trying to get your teen to talk. Science has shown that the teenager's brain has yet to fully develop the frontal cortex, which is the area that controls our ability to reason, and to think before we act. As your teen's brain develops, they're also learning...
What is Conscious Parenting?
How many parents have said at one point or another, “I wish my child would have come with a users’ manual,”? Nearly every single one.Nothing can really prepare us for parenthood. No class, no advice, and no user manual can give us the tools we require for raising...
The Healing Power of Families; Why Empowering Parents Matters
When I explain to parents that I work with them directly to help their child's mental health or other struggles, rather than with their loved ones, they wonder "why me?" "Why am I going to counselling when it is my kid that has the problems? Wouldn't it be better that...
4 Exercises to Help Teach Young Children Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the practice of being aware of your body and feelings in the present moment. If you're silent for a moment, you will notice the subtle smell of your freshly washed clothing, the sound of your breathing, and watch a small leaf blow past your window....
How to Bring Up Resilient Children
Have you heard the phrase “helicopter parent?” It describes a mother or father that ‘hovers’ around their child 24/7, overseeing their life to keep them from every potential danger, pitfall and mishap. It looks good on paper, but this kind of parenting forgets one...
Helping Kids Cope with Loss
Parents do their best to shield their children from the harsh realities of the world. But as much of an effort as they put in, parents can’t always protect their children from experiencing the pain of loss. Whether it’s the loss of a beloved pet, a childhood friend,...
How to Help Your Child Deal with Their Anger
Many parents believe in the same myth: if they do everything right, their children will be happy. But that’s not how childhood works. No matter how much you love your child or how much you give to them in the way of attention and material items, kids are still going...
Finding the Sweet Spot: Is Your Child Over-Scheduled?
Families are busy these days. Between a parent's busy home and work life, and kids in school with after school activities, it can be hard to figure out a balance. Certainly activities outside of school will enrich your child's life, but at what point is it adding...
How to Talk to Your Kids About Divorce
Going through a divorce can be one of the most stressful and emotional times in a person’s life. It’s hard enough wrapping your own head around the event, but trying to break the news to your children can be especially difficult.Many parents struggle having this...
4 Reasons You Should Try Family Therapy with Your Teenager
As parents, it can be challenging raising a teenager. Teenagers are at the stage where they begin to question the beliefs and values they were raised with, while challenging authority and parental restrictions.Sometimes, teens are struggling with even more issues in...