Finding the Right Therapist in Fort Worth

Finding the Right Therapist in Fort Worth

For someone first embarking on their mental health journey, the task of finding the right therapist may seem daunting. There are so many words, licenses, and ideologies to navigate which may be unfamiliar to someone who hasn’t explored them before. One may not understand the importance of finding the right therapist, assuming they all do the same work. Alternatively, they may not trust any therapists and write off the experience entirely as not being for them.

Therapy is a great tool that one can use to work through your emotions, relationships with others, and behaviors. Speaking as a student interested in becoming a therapist, I recommend therapy to pretty much everyone I know. However, it cannot be as effective for the client if their therapist isn’t a good match. If you are beginning your search for a therapist or counselor in Fort Worth, Texas, these are some great characteristics to keep in mind during your search.

Types of Therapy in Fort Worth Texas

There are many types of therapy and different specialties that therapists choose to pursue.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions when looking for potential therapists. Learn about their experience working with clients who have had the same challenges as you. If you are seeking counseling for a specific experience, you may want to look into a specialist with knowledge focused on that specific topic. Therapists are trained in different ways in order to treat different populations. If you are looking for couples or family counseling, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) is trained to work with those clients. Different counselors can use different techniques in sessions as well. Some focus on talk therapy, mindfulness practices, or emotional awareness. Different techniques can be helpful to different clients depending on the individual and their need. 

Therapy and Personal Values

Your personal values are important in all of your relationships, and in a therapist, it can be just as important. While your therapist doesn’t have to have an exact match to your personal values, it can help the two of you connect and create a better relationship. Some people may choose to seek a therapist which follows the same religion or has similar life experiences so that they can feel well understood. Feeling safe and comfortable with your therapist can facilitate more impactful sessions. Keep your most important personal values in mind when selecting a therapist. But, a good therapist will do their best to put any differences aside for the sake of the client-therapist relationship.

Finding a Therapist in Fort Worth | Cost of Therapy

A common limiting factor to people seeking therapy is the cost of treatment. Finding a therapist that is able to work within your budget is extremely important. If you have insurance, search for a therapist within your network so that you can find the best match for you. Therapy ranges in cost depending on where and who you are receiving it from. Private practices often charge a higher rate than a community clinic may. Working with insurance, programs, and benefits from school or work can help to lower the cost and make therapy more accessible.

How do I find a therapist in Fort Worth?

Once you know what you’re looking for, how do you find a potential therapist? If you already know someone attending therapy who has had a good experience, word of mouth can be a great way to begin the journey. Who you decide to book with could also depend on your school or work and what benefits they provide. If you’re looking online, some great sites are GoodTherapy.org and PsychologyToday.com.

Another great place to find a therapist is at Reconnecting Relationships Therapy located in Fort Worth, Texas. We have therapists available for booking, all with different fields of interest and experience. To learn more about them and find the perfect match head to our Find Your Therapist page.

Blog Contributor, Samara Schultz, is a recent psychology major graduate. She received her Bachelor of Science from the University of North Texas in May 2024. She is currently the social media assistant for RRT as she continues to explore a career in mental health, community service, and political science.

Self Harm Among Teens and Young Adults

Understanding Self-harm | Therapy in Fort Worth, TX

Non-suicidal self-injury or self-harm has been around for a long time. “Cutting” was a term commonly used before. This term is no longer used as self-harm and is not just about cutting yourself. The topic is incorporated into books, tv shows, movies and songs (I’m sure). A search on Google or social media can bring up a variety of information on this topic. There is information out there on how to engage in a variety of methods, support for individuals and families, dangers of the behavior and treatment options. This post is going to define non-suicidal self-injury, common misconceptions, and treatment options.

According to the International Society for the Study of Self Injury (ISSS), non-suicidal self-injury (aka self-injury) is the “deliberate destruction of body tissue without suicidal intent and for purposes not socially sanctioned.”  Socially sanctioned refers to piercing or tattoos.

Examples of self- harm include:  intentional carving of words or symbols, cutting the skin, burning, friction burning, hitting or biting self, pulling out hair, headbanging, multiple tattoos or piercings, embedding objects into the skin, or breaking bones.

Working with individuals who engage in self-harm and having to inform parents or caregivers about self-harm has confirmed some common misconceptions about self-harm. From my own practice and research, here are some of the most common misconceptions:

• Only adolescent females engage in NSSI. FALSE: Females and males engage in self-harm. Methods may vary. While it is often considered an “adolescent issue,” it can start in childhood or adulthood. While it may start in adolescence, it does continue into adulthood.

• Only people diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder engage in self-harm. FALSE: People who have a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder may self-harm. Many individuals who do not meet criteria for this diagnosis also engage in self-harm.

• A person has been abused. FALSE: Just like the personality disorder myth, individuals who self-harm may or may not have been abused.

• There’s no help available. FALSE: There is help available. Books, trainings, support groups for individuals and caregivers and individual therapy. There are trainings for individuals, families and professionals.

• It is a failed suicide attempt. FALSE: This is a common misconception. Many of the clients I have worked with have no intention to commit suicide. Medical attention may be needed if in cases of NSSI. 

• A person is seeking attention. FALSE: I have heard this from caregivers/parents when they learn their adolescent is engaging in self harm behaviors. The way I talk to parents about it is the adolescent is crying out for help. Treatment is about replacing this unhealthy coping skill with a healthy coping skill.

• A person could stop if they wanted to. FALSE: As with any behavior associated with mental health, treatment is recommended for many individuals who self-harm.

Help is available. Individual or group therapy is recommended. Family therapy is also recommended. Involving parents or caregivers in treatment is recommended.

Involving caregivers in treatment is key. Parents may feel shocked, confused, sad, isolated or guilty. Parents may experience secondary stress as NSSI is often not visible, can be chronic and, as mentioned above, parents may feel isolated as they fear how others will react. Just like with any mental health issue, educating parents and families about NSSI is key. Having parents involved in treatment is important too especially around communication. Finding support for parents helps too.

Here are some resources:

• Healing Self- Injury – J. Whitlock, Ph.D. & Elizabeth Lloyd-Richardson, Ph.D.

• Self-Injury Recovery & Resources: Great resources for individuals, caregivers, and therapist

  Melissa K. Zawisza, LCSW-S owns Reilly Counseling PLLC. She opened her practice in August 2020 and serves teens and adults. Her specialty areas include anxiety, self-harm, grief, and trauma. At this time, all services are conducted online. Prior to private practice, Melissa worked in a variety of settings including schools, and agencies and spent thirteen years at a hospital-based clinic. Melissa is also a board-approved supervisor.

Mediation for Single Parents

Family Therapy in Fort Worth | Mediation for Single Parents

There are 13.6 million single parents raising 21 million children in the U.S. The 2010 census reported that 40.7% of new births in the U.S. were to unmarried women. Mediation can be a valuable tool for unmarried parents to establish effective co-parentings agreements. Issues that remain unsettled add to the disharmony, strife, and resentment of these parents and set a tone that leads the children toward emotional damage. What are some of the co-parenting pitfalls that can overcome in mediation?

1. When is each parent going to have possession of the child?

2. Who is responsible for transporting the child between parents’ homes?

3. What outside care-takers are acceptable to both parents? Who’s to pay?

4. Who is to provide health, dental, and vision insurance for the child?

5. How about the co-pays, deductibles and non-covered items?

6. Will there be a parent designated as primary custodian (parent A)?

7. How about child support? Who pays and how much?

8. Should alcohol and recreational drugs be prohibited during possession of the child?

9. What limitations can be agreed to regarding exposing the child to new romantic interests?

10. Who is to decide and who is to pay for summer camps and other extracurricular activities?

All of these obstacles and more can be addressed and resolved in a written settlement agreement negotiated with the help of an experienced family mediator.

Jerrell “Jerry” Cosby is one of the most experienced mediators in in the field. He is Owner and Divorce Mediator at Texas Mediation Group in Fort Worth, Texas. Jerry began mediating family related cases in 1999. He has mediated hundreds of divorce cases. In 2020 he was named “Tops in Tarrant” by the readers of Society Life Magazine.

9500 Ray White Rd.
Fort Worth, Texas 76244
817-300-6666
Jerry@TexasMediationGroup.com
www.texasmediationgroup.com

Rebuilding Your Relationship When Dealing with Addiction by Paige Johnson

Addiction ruins things. It can ruin your health, it can ruin your bank account, and it can ruin your reputation. One of the things many people see ruined by addiction is their relationships. While dealing with an addiction, you may do things that erode trust between you and your partner; things like infidelity. In fact, in a 2014 article published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, almost half of the alcohol addicts surveyed had also gone through with a divorce at some point in their lives.

The sad truth is you may not be able to repair the damage done to your relationship. Your partner may feel too hurt with too much trust lost to go back to the way things were. If they decide to walk away, there’s nothing you can do about it with the exception of acceptance.

On the other hand, some people feel such a sense of guilt for the things they did due to their addiction, they want to end their relationship as a way of atonement. It’s important not to make any major life changes during your first year of recovery. This includes ending a major relationship such as your marriage as well as starting a new one. Your road to recovery may be the thing that helps save your marriage.

Know Things Have Changed

When you recover from addiction, there’s no going back to the way things used to be. While you may feel the desire to work toward a simpler time in the past, there’s no possible way to get there so accepting your position is crucial. You may not even realize all the ways your behavior has impacted your relationship.

Your partner had to grow and change to deal with watching your self-destruction. They may seem cold and callous when they were once warm and loving. It’s unfair for you to expect them to be the same after all this time, so accept the place they are at now.

Work to Mend What Is Broken

Chances are, you and your addiction did more than your fair share of destruction in your relationship. Some people miss important events or disappear for weeks at a time when they’re on a bender. Others stick around and show up, only to act irrationally and violently towards the ones they love. And some relationships have to face the ultimate test after one of the parties cheats on the other.

Infidelity is traumatizing. It causes the wronged party to question you, your relationship, and themselves. If you committed adultery and have come clean to your partner, it will take time to rebuild the trust that is now lost. To build this trust, you must be completely honest with your partner. This is difficult for many people as addicts have a hard time being honest with themselves. However, the work is necessary if you want to save your relationship.

Accept Responsibility for Your Actions

You will not be able to move on if you do not accept responsibility for the things you’ve done. This means you cannot play the victim when you relate to your partner why you’ve done said things. Life is tough; we all have to deal with our own traumas every day. Trying to use your own traumas as a scapegoat for your behavior only shows that you are not ready to be honest and move on from your addiction.

Listen to Your Partner

While you are going through recovery, you will be talking a lot. You talk to your therapist, you talk to your group, and you talk to your higher power. When it comes to rebuilding your romantic relationship, it is time to listen. Take in everything they have to say and ask questions when you need clarification. It may be difficult to have to listen to all the ways you hurt him or her, but the pain is a fraction of what they felt when you were doing it.

The key to rebuilding your relationship during recovery is acceptance. You must accept the continuation of time and how it changes people. You need to accept that the process will be long and arduous. You need to accept responsibility for what you’ve done and the communication your partner offers you. But in the end, you must also accept forgiveness from yourself. Forgiving yourself is the only way to truly open yourself to being forgiven by your partner so you can rebuild your loving relationship.

Paige Johnson calls herself a fitness nerd. She prides in doing strength training, cycling, and yoga. She is a personal trainer and regular contributor to LearnFit.org.

The Continuum of Addiction and When to Reach Out For Help

A lot of people have a difficult time truly understanding addiction and alcoholism and why some people become addicted to drugs and alcohol.  While there are some differences between the two, this article uses terms addiction and alcoholism interchangeably.  A lot of times you’ll hear people say things like, “Why don’t they just stop?” or “They said they want to stop so how come they just don’t?”  A lot of times people mistakenly think that it’s due to a lack in willpower, and that it is just a matter of choice.  Unfortunately, sometimes it is just not that easy and not that black and white. Drugs and alcohol can change the brain in ways that makes quitting drugs a lot harder than someone who drinks or uses recreationally.  Addiction is a very complicated disease that requires interventions beyond willpower.  Back in the 1950s, the American Medical Association classified alcoholism as a disease. Alcoholism is a progressive disease that has the potential to have devastating effects. While at the beginning of drug or alcohol use choosing to say no might be easy, to others further into the cycle it is not that easy.

 According to research, there are several stages in the continuum of addiction.  These stages are: abstinence, experimentation, abuse, dependence, addiction, and death. Here’s a quick explanation of the different stages:

Abstinence: The first stage in the progressive model of addiction is just simply not using at all. This is the time period prior to any type of use whatsoever.

Experimentation: This is the first time that people use and usually has to do with curiosity in social settings and is amplified with peer pressure. While some use because they are curious and for social reasons, others might use as a way of acting out.  Another potential reason is due to emotional problems, such as problems dealing with grief and loss or feeling lonely.   More often than not, the ones that use for the emotional reasons have a higher likelihood of progressing in this cycle.

Abuse: Substance abuse is simply the continued use despite negative consequences. These consequences can be a failure in fulfilling major role obligations at work, school, or home. It can also be continued use despite legal problems, despite persistent and recurrent social or interpersonal problems.

Dependence: A big shift happens in this stage and this is most notably defined with the onset of increased tolerance and withdrawals. The want becomes a need. Tolerance can be defined as the fact that it takes more and more to get the same effect.  For instance, 2 drinks to get a buzz now takes 4 drinks.  Tolerance can also be defined as a diminished effect.   The diminished effect can be that no matter how much the person uses they are no longer able to get the same desired effect. Withdrawals can be physiological and psychological. The withdrawal symptoms vary depending on the substance and as a general rule of thumb whatever effect a substance has going into the body will have the exact opposite effect going out of the body. 

Addiction:  This is when the substance takes priority. It is when the substance causes people to do things that they otherwise would not have ever done. Just because someone is “highly functioning” doesn’t mean that they cannot have a problem. Chronic drug use leads to individuals having a clouded perspective that shifts what is actually reality.  There's a good chance the “highly functioning” is not the work output the person would be doing if they were on their “A game”.

Death:  Unfortunately, addiction can lead to death and can have an extreme impact on individuals, families, and society as well. Whether it is from an accidental overdose, liver failure, heart attacks or other major health problems caused by chronic drug or alcohol use, thousands of people die every year from the fatal disease of addiction.

Here are some signs and symptoms that indicate a need to reach out for help:

• You cannot stop using the substance.

• Your drug or alcohol use has led to unsafe behavior and become impulsive.

• You are having withdrawal symptoms.

• You need the substance in order to function.

• Someone that cares about you or even a physician tells you that you should stop.

• Lying

• Spending too much money on your substance

• Problems at school or work

• Health problems

• Decreased hygiene

• Changes in behavior

• Continued use despite a desire to stop.

If you or a loved one is struggling, then I highly encourage you to reach out for help. Chances are if you are questioning whether or not you should reach out, then you should.  The severity of the presenting issues will dictate the type of substance abuse treatment that is needed. Treatment options range from inpatient treatment in a residential setting to outpatient therapy. The bottom line is that if it is causing problems in your life, I would highly encourage you to reach out to someone for help.  It all starts with a phone call and putting the right team in place to help you on your journey. When one door closes another one opens.

Rane Wallace, MS, LPC, LCDC has a huge passion for helping those still struggling with addiction and their families as well. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor. He has worked in the field of addiction for over 10 years and is the Owner at Fort Wellness, PLLC, an Associate at LifeSquared Counseling & Consulting, and a Counselor III for the Tarrant County Community Supervision & Corrections Department. www.fortwellness.com

Recommiting to Your New Year's Resolutions

We've all been there. We've made a list of New Year’s resolutions, which include a diet plan to lose weight, a new workout routine, or a complete resolve to stop eating the chocolate we stashed in our desks at work. Yet each year by the time February comes around, those ideas have already turned into next year’s resolution list.

Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to suddenly make several significant life changes overnight? Change is possible, but the key to making lifelong adjustments is having the patience to adapt over time. So instead of waiting until next year for a fresh start, give yourself permission to start right now with a few simple, long-term ideas to start leading a healthier life.

Revise Your Resolutions

What were your New Year’s resolutions for your health? Don't throw them out completely, but use them as a broad vision statement of where you eventually want to be. Then, scale them back to a more manageable daily adjustment. For example, if your resolution was to join a gym and go five days a week, maybe start by just going one day a week. One small change can make a huge impact on your health over time. Then once you have consistently followed through with that goal, you can slowly added a new one. In time, you will be able to push past your limitations and take your health to a new level.

Healthy Habits

We all have our go-to comfort meals, our favorite sugary drinks, or our guilty sweet pleasures. If your goal is more important than indulging in these, try cutting back on some of them. Replace the habit with a few healthy foods or drinks that you still enjoy. If you are a hamburger lover, trying eating it without the bun. Replace a bag of chips with a bag of dried fruit. Drink unsweet tea instead of sweetened. Make sure that you fill your pantry with healthy foods that you like so that it will be easier to transition your taste buds toward craving healthier options.

Tips on Drinks

For the caffeine fiend or alcohol connoisseur, the idea of removing these drinks from your diet is very challenging. However, the benefits of lessening or removing them from your system entirely outweigh the temporary craving that your current habits call for. In fact, alcohol has a greater potential to cause harm to your body than to benefit you, and depending on your level of consumption, caffeine can do the same. In order to lessen the potential of addiction to either of these things, you will need to slowly decrease your intake over time. If your body is accustomed to alcohol or caffeine and you stop drinking them suddenly, you may experience severe withdrawal.

Why Health is Important

Longevity of life is at the top of the list of reasons to live healthily, but there is more to the picture than that. Healthy living not only has an impact on us physically, but mentally as well. Exercising and eating healthy can help with chronic pain, depression, and anxiety.

Our families, our friends, and all that we have worked for in our lives is worth the time and effort it takes to maintain our health. For those with children, consider creating healthy family habits, like cooking meals together as a family or creating a family workout plan. Teach them through your example that their life is worth the work it takes to be healthy. 

Your life can be as enjoyable and healthy as you will allow it to be. Consider all of these tips and other ways that you can incorporate healthier practices. Start by recommitting to your New Year’s resolutions and transforming them into a renewed lifestyle.

Paige Johnson calls herself a fitness nerd. She prides in doing strength training, cycling, and yoga. www.learnfit.org

Telling The Children by Jerry Cosby

Once the level of suffering and pain has become intolerable, when dreams have been shattered and hope for the future has been lost, one or both of the parents may decide to divorce. Telling the children is an undertaking of great importance; lives will be changed.  After wrestling with this gut-wrenching decision to divorce, most parents desperately dread the idea of making the announcement. Some parents make the mistake of allowing the children to find out when one morning the children awake to a catastrophe - Dad and his belongings have disappeared into thin air. In any case, the children will remember this day for a lifetime and reassess the understanding of it at every stage of their development. Conversation, done fully and well, will ease the pain and comfort them.  Conversations done poorly will profoundly add to their confusion, anxiety, and pain. And this devastating conversation takes place at a time when the parents are angry, hurt, and in torment themselves. Here are several suggestions.

1.     Both parents and all the children of appropriate age should be present when communicating the decision to divorce. Do not meet with them one parent at a time as they need to see the two of you together and observe your body language and hear the inflection of your voice as each of you contributes to the discussion. Meeting with them alone invites favoritism and promotes confusion and suspicion.

2.     Speak slowly and simply.  Remember they will hear what you say, how you say it, and what you don’t say.

 3.     Choose a quiet time when you and they can have a lengthy conference without interruption. Turn off the TV, telephones, and computers. Watch out for the distractions and pressures of pending homework, business telephone calls, arriving guests, and other disturbances.

4.     Make sure that you frame the conversation as a final announcement, not a pending decision.  They will hope and fantasize that you will change your mind and will continue to do so for some years.

5.     Ask them what they understand about divorce and their friends’ experiences with it. As painful as it may be, encourage them to speak up about their fears, anger, and concerns; they may have some misconceptions that you can correct. Some children will be frozen into silence. Even so, their minds will be running at full speed. Expect that they may lie about how they feel to comfort you, especially if you have been crying during the discussion.  They may also be concerned about having little or no input into the decision-making process. Not paying enough attention to their wishes often leads to a combination of anger and powerlessness which can undermine their initiative later in life and can result in resentment that carries through deep into adulthood.

6.     Assure them that they did not cause the divorce nor can they fix it. Also, that they are still loved by both parents, that they are the best parts of the marriage, and that you will continue to take care of them until they are grown, just as you always would. 

7.     Schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss future plans after everyone has had a chance to think things over. At that meeting, promise to keep them informed with details of what’s happening currently and events that are coming.

8.     Arrange for a time to take them to the new surroundings. Remember to repeat some of the information as young minds can’t assimilate information on one or two hearings.

Knowing that this will be one of the worst days of their lives, will this plan of intelligently going through a family meeting counteract the effect of this massive disappointment for the children? No, it will not.  But, it will go far in reducing the fear, suffering, and loneliness of the crisis.

Jerry Cosby is an experienced mediator specializing in divorce who gives emphasis to the healing of the spouses and children. To find out more about his services, please visit www.texasmediationgroup.com.

Why Healthy Habits Fail (And How Yours Can Succeed) by Paige Johnson

By now, many people have either forgotten about their New Year’s resolutions or just given up on them. Pledging to be more healthy this year is a great idea, especially if it’s what you really want. Then why is it so hard to get on a healthy kick? More importantly, what can you do to get healthy habits that can last a lifetime?

Image Source:  Pixabay

Why Habits Fail

The problem is that many people expect to make a huge change in their lives without much effort. If you’ve ever heard someone say, “Yeah, I’ll just hit the gym a few times a week this year,” then you know what that sounds like. Here are a few reasons why such a change is hard to do.

Too much focus on a goal: Sometimes, being healthy is so enticing that you forget to plan how to get there. If you’re thinking about losing 25 pounds to look awesome in that wedding dress, that’s a great motivator — but it’s not a plan. It’s a goal. You still need to change your unhealthy habits or you’ll never get there.

Going too far at the start: Often, people go too far and try to change everything at once. You might think that you need to make an extreme change, and that could be true. But any plan that includes dropping all snacks and desserts when you’ve been enjoying both every day for years is doomed to fail. Your mind isn’t ready for such a drastic change.

Tricks To Getting Healthy Habits

Don’t worry, just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible. You just need to focus on three tricks to help get those healthy habits to stick around.

Start with small, concrete changes to your daily routine: Don’t worry about the goal yet. That will happen if you follow the right steps to get there. Instead, create a list of concrete, actionable tasks. Don’t bother with vague plans like, “I’ll eat fewer calories,” because what does that mean in your day-to-day life? What changes are you able to make that leads to fewer calories?

If you can mentally mark off a checkbox with it, then it’s more likely to become a habit over time. “I will stop ordering that 600-calorie frappuccino and get a plain, unsweetened cup of coffee instead” is something you can clearly see and do. (Or not do, as the case might be.)

Focus on your most unhealthy habit: Have you ever tried carrying in every bag from a huge grocery store trip? Even if you manage to not drop stuff, it's probably not good for your back or hands. That’s why you need to stop trying to change all your unhealthy habits — it’s just too much to do at once. Instead, pick your worst habit and change it.

If your goal is to be happier, don’t try cutting out everything that makes you sad. Find the one thing that really gets in the way of happiness and change that. Wait until the change sticks, then move on to something else.

Spend more time with people who already have healthy habits: Doing something occasionally is not a habit. You need to do it repeatedly over time or it’s not a habit. But that gets hard to do when the people around you are doing the exact opposite.

If drinking too much beer is the unhealthy habit you want to change, hitting the bar with your drinking buddies is a bad idea. You don’t need to stop being friends with people, but at least until the habit is established, spend more time with those who already have those healthy habits. Let peer pressure actually work for you.

Remember that you already have unhealthy habits. You’re not starting with a blank slate. That’s why getting healthy habits is tough. By staying focused on actionable changes, targeting your worst habit first, and surrounding yourself with supportive people, you can make those New Year resolutions turn into lifelong, healthy habits.

Paige Johnson calls herself a fitness nerd. She prides in doing strength training, cycling, and yoga. She is a personal trainer and regular contributor to LearnFit.org.