Navigating grief during the holidays can feel especially heavy, even when moments of joy still appear. Balancing celebration and loss is difficult, but both emotions can coexist. This piece explores the Dual Process Model of grief, ways to honour loved ones, and gentle strategies for finding space for both remembrance and joy throughout the holiday season.

Discover what kids actually remember about the holidays—and why it has nothing to do with perfect decorations or expensive gifts. Drawing on insights from Viewpoint Calgary’s therapists, this guide explores meaningful traditions, communication, managing expectations, and creating emotionally rich moments your children will cherish for years to come.

In a world of nonstop headlines and endless scrolling, staying informed can come at a steep psychological cost. This article explores how constant exposure to distressing news fuels anxiety, vicarious trauma, and burnout—and offers therapist-backed strategies to create healthier media habits, protect your mental health, and stay engaged without becoming overwhelmed.

Taking the step to book couples counselling can feel both exciting and daunting. You've recognized that your relationship could benefit from professional support, and that awareness alone is a significant step forward. Understanding these key points might help you approach couples therapy with realistic expectations and set you up for positive outcomes.

Back-to-school season can feel overwhelming for families—especially when children are struggling academically, socially, or emotionally. This article offers therapist-backed guidance on recognizing when assessments may help, supporting kids who mask at school, easing family stress, and navigating the transition with communication, realistic expectations, and small daily moments of connection.

Summer promises perfect family moments, but reality often brings chaos and overwhelming expectations. Our team of therapists share practical strategies for surviving summer's beautiful mess while maintaining meaningful connections. Learn to trade perfection for presence, schedule intentional slow days, and create authentic memories that actually last.

Making friends as an adult doesn't have to feel impossible. Learn why modern life makes connection harder and discover practical strategies for finding your "Third Spaces" - those crucial places where real friendships begin.

Couples often find themselves balancing the elation of this new chapter with the conflicting opinions of others. Merging your lives as a couple can introduce emotional complexity that you may not have anticipated. Your love story likely has other characters that you need to consider when blending the traditions, expectations and emotional needs of two entire families. 

Struggling with intimacy issues in your relationship? Before jumping to sex therapy, discover why rebuilding emotional connection is the essential first step to rekindling passion. Learn how unresolved resentment, life stressors, and changing bodies can impact your connection, and why couples counselling provides the foundation for lasting intimacy.

Whose voice do you hear in your head when you are talking to yourself? Is there someone whose voice you hear telling you can do it and that you are gonna make it through? Or is there someone else whose voice is louder, perhaps a person from your past whose voice you wish you could unhear when you talk to yourself?

Do you ever wonder what your baby will look like before they are born? How many of us were experiencing the tremendous excitement and joy along with the anxiety of welcoming a new life into our family? How many of us were amazed by our toddlers who were developing quickly day by day? How many of us became ambitious when our children started school, hoping to see them to shine throughout their life?

Thinking about therapy? That's a huge step, and honestly, you should be incredibly proud of yourself for even considering it. Seriously, pause for a moment and acknowledge your immense courage. It's not always easy to reach out, and taking this first step is a testament to your strength.

In Part 1, we explored simple yet powerful ways to connect with your children throughout the morning and early afternoon. Now, let's focus on the evening, a crucial time for building lasting connections and creating cherished memories. These moments, shared in the quieter part of the day, can have a profound impact.

Being a parent is an incredible journey, a lifelong adventure filled with joy, growth, and wonder. It's also undeniably challenging and unfortunately, lots of the time, we didn’t get a “parenting 101” before we became a parent. We didn’t get a handbook about our babies when they came to our world. We are all fresh hands and didn’t get a chance to practice all the necessary skills to do our job properly.

Let's face it, creating healthy relationships can be tough these days. The world can throw a lot at us, and it can be hard to nurture our relationship and keep that loving spark alive. The many pressures we face can make taking the first step toward counselling feel a bit daunting. Maybe you're even feeling hesitant, unsure, or even a little scared. That's perfectly normal.

Social media has been a big topic of conversation this week with the (temporary?) TikTok ban. I’ve seen people joking about the withdrawals they’d experience if the app were banned, and while the jokes are funny it highlights that some of us (myself included) might not always engage in mindful social media usage. It would be unrealistic to say we should cut out social media entirely as for many of us it is required for work, or a tool we use to connect with distant families. However, social media, like any tool, has risks especially if we use it without critical thought.

So, you hate your therapist… or maybe it’s not that bad, but trying to talk to them feels sort of like wearing a pair of shoes that are just half a size too small… it’ll do but it’s not great. I bring up this topic, because one of the major predictors of therapeutic success is actually the quality of the relationship between therapist and client. If you are considering starting therapy, how do you choose someone who feels like a good fit for you?

I have never met an adult who feels like they have it all together all the time. Let’s face it, we all struggle at different points in our lives with feeling like everyone else knows something we don’t. Especially as we navigate the chaos of early adulthood—establishing our careers, identities, and relationships—it can feel like everyone else got handed the secret manual, and we… well, we’re winging it with the IKEA instructions at best.