doucettetherapy

Have you heard the story of Punch the monkey? Punch is a young macaque living in a zoo in Japan who has captured the hearts of millions of people online. Punch struggles to fit in with the other monkeys in his enclosure, after a rough start to life and being raised by humans who work at the zoo. The other macaques seem to sense he is different and have been slow to accept him. Apparently in an effort to comfort him, the zookeepers gave him a large orange stuffed toy from IKEA. Punch's...

A few weeks ago, I had the honour of speaking with over 100 families connected to Village to Raise, a community organization based in Colombia. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I would be presenting in English while Spanish is their first language.​ Thanks to real-time translation on Zoom, parents were able to follow along in Spanish as I spoke and add comments in the Zoom chat. It was exciting and meaningful to witness how technology, when used intentionally, could help us connect, despite...

Recently, a parent I work with shared something that stayed with me: “My daughter says I don’t validate her the way her therapist does.” She said this with sadness and frustration. Despite trying so hard to be present and supportive, she was left feeling as though she was somehow not doing enough. It raises an important question for many parents: should they aim to speak to their teens the way therapists do? In my work as a family therapist, I do often introduce skills like active listening...