On Sunday 10/29/23, Christy Darcangelo was a part of a 5-person panel on end-of-life care within kinky and polyamorous communities hosted by the Chicago Rose. The panel included Brooke Benjamin, a funeral care director with Inclusive Funeral Care, Valerie Nerini, a death doula and celebrant with Our Inevitable Death, Bella Bathory, a death doula with […] Read more “Toward a More Conscious Engagement with Death”
Toward a More Conscious Engagement with Death
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Estimated: 7 minutes to read
Thriving in a Heteronormative World: Queer Empowering Skills and Actions
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FeaturedEstimated: 5 minutes to read
Living in a heteronormative world presents unique challenges for queer individuals. The assumption that heterosexuality is the norm can lead to marginalization, discrimination, and limited opportunities. The challenges faced by queer individuals in a heteronormative world are substantial and unavoidable. How do you navigate and thrive in various aspects of life? What’s your path to […] Read more “Thriving in a Heteronormative World: Queer Empowering Skills and Actions”
LGBTQIA+ Self-Care and Empowerment: How Can Therapy Help?
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Estimated: 3 minutes to read
You know that psychotherapy can play a vital role in supporting the self-care, self-expression, and personal empowerment you want as an LGBTQIA+ individual. Yet, navigating the complexities of identity, societal challenges, and emotional well-being can be overwhelming. How does psychotherapy help and what steps can you take to build momentum in a positive direction for yourself? Read more “LGBTQIA+ Self-Care and Empowerment: How Can Therapy Help?”
A Brave and Startling Truth
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Estimated: 3 minutes to read
The poem, “A Brave and Startling Truth,” by Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928–May 28, 2014), flew to space on the Orion spacecraft and Angelou dedicated it to “the hope for peace, which lies, sometimes hidden, in every heart.” Published in a commemorative booklet in 1995 and later included in “Maya Angelou: The Complete Poetry”. Read more “A Brave and Startling Truth”
Welcome Green House Cohort 5!
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Estimated: 3 minutes to read
Each January, LifeWorks welcomes a cohort of graduate therapists into its Green House training program. These therapists spend 12 months on staff at LifeWorks, work with clients and focus on: Developing cultural competence and knowledge related to LGB, trans and genderqueer, non-monogamy and kink/BDSM Strengthening their identities as therapists and learning how to use their unique strengths in clinical relationships […] Read more “Welcome Green House Cohort 5!”
Music that Carries Us
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FeaturedEstimated: 3 minutes to read
Staff Favorites has been a monthly installation of 2019 featuring the mental health and self-care picks of LifeWorks’ staff. Thank you for being on this human journey with us, and for sharing the various experiences, objects, books, music, art and more…. Your contributions have helped cultivate change and offer paths to relief and soothing during […] Read more “Music that Carries Us”
The Art of Noticing: Exploring Shifts in Attention
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Estimated: 5 minutes to read
Theoretically I am a strong believer in carving out creative time. I believe as a practice, it aids in self-reflection, cultivates connection and in turn, empathy. It has the power to remind us why we live. In the last several years though, I have struggled to make time for creative expression and prioritize it as […] Read more “The Art of Noticing: Exploring Shifts in Attention”
Visual Art
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Estimated: 4 minutes to read
This month Staff Favorites feature the visual art LifeWorks loves. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and many of us have found that sentiment to be true. Often human experience surpasses language and we are left with visualization, tactile sensation, music, or other forms of art. This month we are sharing the […] Read more “Visual Art”
Anchoring Rituals
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Estimated: 5 minutes to read
Staff Favorites is a monthly installation for 2019 featuring the mental health and self care picks of our very own LifeWorks Staff. We have been highlighting books, self-soothing items, blogs/instagrams, places to move your body around Chicago, and more — all personally endorsed by LifeWorks staff. This month we are talking about anchoring rituals. Anchoring […] Read more “Anchoring Rituals”
8 Ways to Love Yourself thru the Holidays
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Estimated: 9 minutes to read
This is your life and your holiday experience. You get to design it, enjoy savor it, and exercise the power of loving yourself, and the holidays are no different. Try out 8 embodied ways you can love and take good care yourself through the holidays: 1. Align Yourself to Your Desired State of Being What would you […] Read more “8 Ways to Love Yourself thru the Holidays”
Elemental Human Experiences — Getting in Touch
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Estimated: 5 minutes to read
Feeling divorced from the world or alienated from neighbors who are all around us are common complaints. It’s nothing new. People have lamented the rush of modern life at least since the Industrial Revolution pulled them to factory work. When reliable electric lighting became pervasive we began losing our connection to the natural rhythms of […] Read more “Elemental Human Experiences — Getting in Touch”
Green House Experiences & Insights
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Estimated: 8 minutes to read
We are now accepting applications for the Green House 2019 Cohort. Launched in 2016, the Green House is LifeWorks’ postgraduate psychotherapy training program. Participants join us here in Chicago for 12 months of tuition-free learning and real-world clinical experience centered on self-development, individual supervision, and cultural competence. Wondering if the Green House is right for […] Read more “Green House Experiences & Insights”
Anam Cara: Soul Lessons From Anxiety & Panic
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Estimated: 4 minutes to read
There is a phrase in Gaelic, anam cara, which means “soul friend.” According to the Anam Cara Therapy Center in California, anam cara is: A teacher, companion or spiritual guide … where consciousness is dulled, distant or blind, its presence grows faint and vanishes. Therefore awareness which brings integration and healing, is one of the […] Read more “Anam Cara: Soul Lessons From Anxiety & Panic”
Eating Meditations: A Practice of Equanimity, Gratitude and Blessing
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Estimated: 7 minutes to read
Can mindfulness be useful for difficulties with food and eating habits? Many think so. Here is an exercise I came across years ago that may help you slow down, name your experience, start to tune into your body and be thoughtful about how you nourish yourself. For this approach, at first, try using a small […] Read more “Eating Meditations: A Practice of Equanimity, Gratitude and Blessing”
Dreaming Our Way Into the Future
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Estimated: 1 minute to read
At this time in our world, we may need the power to dream and the ability to understand one another’s dreams more than ever. Our colleague, David Bedrick, J.D., Dipl. PW has been writing about dreams and other psychological and social issues for many years now. In the blog below, originally published by Psychology Today, David […] Read more “Dreaming Our Way Into the Future”
Take Heart, Heroes
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Estimated: 2 minutes to read
We vote with every moment, With every choice. With our attitudes we elect our reality and the world we yearn to share. We long for heroes to hold our hope and express our power, Our rage, our pain, our kindness, To make our struggle righteous, To champion our smallness. Yet, We are never larger than […] Read more “Take Heart, Heroes”
Finding Possibility
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Estimated: 6 minutes to read
Umair Haque is a thought leader, consultant and author whose personal journey from the achievement and trappings of success to a devastating fatal diagnosis and beyond helped him find peace, happiness and a passion to give to others. Here is an excerpt from one of his reflections called The Sky in Us: Holding Possibility, an argument […] Read more “Finding Possibility”
Cultural Competence and Bias
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Estimated: 2 minutes to read
As therapists, we recognize our ethical obligations to know and acknowledge the limits of our training and skills. We know that our expertise grows over time with experience and supervision, training, reading, dialogue and further training. These activities contribute to our mastery of specialized areas, methods or skills. But what about cultural competence? How do […] Read more “Cultural Competence and Bias”
The Pain is Our Pain
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Estimated: 2 minutes to read
The pain is our pain. It is the wound in the world and we are of the world. I know that all moments, across the whole of humanity, are occasions of suffering and joy, beyond my scope. I suppose that when a blow lands so close to heart and home, the perimeter I hold […] Read more “The Pain is Our Pain”
In the Shadow of Disney World
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ORLANDO SHOOTING JUNE 11, 2016 When I think Orlando, I think of sun filled days, blue skies, parents and grandparents offering up days of fun and excitement, showering their children with the time of their lives at Disney World. But from yesterday on, I will think of Orlando in a different way. I will think […] Read more “In the Shadow of Disney World”