The Maratos Blog

This is the hard part.  Start by acknowledging that NOBODY is perfect.  Parents will screw up, and kids will screw up. When we are hurt, angry, frustrated, overwhelmed, we are ripe for screw-ups.  Think about this (and teach your kids to as well). When you are feeling like you are “losing it”, ask yourself these HALT questions:  Am I Hungry Am I Angry Am I Lonely Am I Tired I also add an...

Day Three READ THIS IF YOU HAVE SCHOOL AGE KIDDOS AND/OR TEENS Talk, talk, and talk.  Have a chat about how the kids think parents can help them develop these values and the habits that go with them.  Start with brainstorming and then move to develop some concrete rules around conduct and behaviour in the home. Parents, be vulnerable.  Share how it is hard for you to maintain the...

Day Two Take some time to think about the vision you have for your family.  Think back to when you looked at your sweet, delicate infants for the first time.  I am sure you had dreams for your babies from day one. You jumped ahead to the distant future, picturing them as an astronaut, a physician or a judge.  However, once reality kicked in, you knew that you needed to examine your family...

Day One So here we are, settling into Covid Family Life.  This is a time marked with uncertainty as to where this is going, and for how long.  Most of us have experienced the roller coaster of emotions associated with this experience.  From shock, to sadness, depression, anxiety and back through again. Hopefully, you are moving into accepting this situation for what it is today, and are now...

I am often asked by people what is the best therapy “advice” that I have ever given. It may appear that answering this question would be difficult because I see a wide variety of individuals who come to me with a wide variety of reasons for seeking therapy.  However, the question is not a difficult one for me to answer at all. The reason is because I generally don’t give advice! Let me...

All of us have attempted to change or modify our behaviours at one time or another.  That all means all of us have experienced the frustration when change does not come easily, or it does not come at all.  In the 1980’s, researchers Prochaska and DiClemente developed the Transtheoretical Model to explain how people embark on a path toward change.  This biopsychosocial model integrates...