Alex Klein Therapy

Therapy, Crisis Consultation & Collaborative Care - Madison, CT

Connecting the Mind & Body

The older we get, the faster life seems to move. And taking care of ourselves only gets more important with age. For parents, life can feel like warp speed. The responsibility of caring for others can sometimes make caring for ourselves feel like an afterthought. But ensuring our own health by connecting the mind & body is the single most important thing we can do before we can effectively take care of others.

While this is going to be a different journey for everyone, we can all recognize that there is a connection between how we feel emotionally to how we feel physically. And finding the right balance between the two is fundamental to a happy and healthy lifestyle. [Read more…] about Connecting the Mind & Body

Teens and Screens

Parents have spent generations shaking their fists at “kids these days.” For decades, adults worried that television was raising their children. And while some of these debates revolved around content, the lasting result was an ongoing conversation about the relationship between teens and screens. But if television was a headache for parents in the past, then smart phones and tablets are likely causing migraines for parents in the present. As much time as adults may spend glued to their phones, its still hard for many to understand the relationship that millennials have with their phones and electronic devices. [Read more…] about Teens and Screens

Talking to Kids about School Shootings

There is nothing easy about talking to kids about school shootings and confronting the feelings that follow horrific events like the one that occurred at a high school in Parkland, Florida just over a week ago. From overwhelming heartbreak to furious anger, its normal for emotions to be raw, conflicted and full of passion and pain. But as school shootings increase, one of the most frustrating feelings to emerge is familiarity. Following the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, people reacted with horror and confusion. It was one of the first school shootings of its kind and people struggled to comprehend how such a thing could happen. After the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, the despair was so deep that a lack of action to address this trend felt incomprehensible. So more than five years later, with events like these accumulating by the dozens and with literally no legislation on the horizon, one of the hardest emotions to reconcile after last weeks shooting in Florida is the ines-capable familiarity. Somehow, school shootings have gone from being a rare tragedy to a tragic reality. [Read more…] about Talking to Kids about School Shootings

Vapes, Juuls, and A Whole New Generation

As the popularity of Vapes and Juuls have skyrocketed, smoking has declined more quickly than anyone could have imagined. And while the initial intention may have been to eliminate the use of tobacco, one of the unforeseen consequences is a marketplace that still delivers nicotine, often in much higher (and more concentrated) doses. So disguised in all types of fun-looking flavors, society has once again found a way to get its fix.

There was a time, in the not too distant past, when people smoked cigarettes without a care in the world. Before they were linked to cancer, cigarettes might as well have been an everyday accessory, and they were certainly a staple of modern society. But as the twentieth century came to a close, it was hard to ignore the connections between smoking and serious health risks. For the first time, the tobacco industry struggled, and smoking carried a negative stigma. But customers trying to quit cigarettes represented an opportunity and technology wasted no time in filling the void. With electronic cigarettes, people could quit smoking tobacco by using their very own personal vaporizer.

[Read more…] about Vapes, Juuls, and A Whole New Generation

Parenting Complex Adolescents

Parenting complex adolescents has never been easy. And in 2018, it’s never been harder. While hormones and angst have accompanied adolescence since the beginning of time, we live in an ever-complex world. Gender identification, sexuality, and cyber bullying are just a few examples of complicated issues that kids are now facing more openly than ever. And with advanced technology at their fingertips, teenagers today may sometimes even feel as though they have to navigate two lives; the one they lead in reality and the one they have created for themselves online and/or via social media. As kids struggle with these new issues, they can often withdraw and isolate, sometimes presenting as angry and irritable in the process. For parents, this can be an alarming turn of events. Most of the time, this dynamic is just a frustrating reminder that a child is growing up. But in some cases, the problems may run deeper and be cause for greater concern.

While they don’t get paid for their efforts, it often feels as though a teenagers job is to be difficult. Its normal for them to feel misunderstood and confused. As a result, a teenager may feel angry, alone and lost while facing complicated issues about identity, peers, sexual behavior, drinking and drugs. Parents may feel frustrated that their child no longer responds to authority appropriately. Methods of discipline that worked well in earlier years may no longer have an effect. Parents may also feel frightened and helpless about the choices their teen is making. [Read more…] about Parenting Complex Adolescents