#1. Live longer.
#2. More ease.
#3. Greater personal satisfaction.

3 ways men benefit from therapy

LIVE LONGER.

No, really, I mean it. The stigmas that keep many men from seeking help
are driving them into the grave at at faster rate. There is enough evidence from the last
ten years of studies to suggest that some of the reasons men’s lifespans are shorter are

• due to a lack of connected relationships
• less attention to stress management
• not enough time spent on mental health.

We need more people around us as we get older,
and men with a greater number of connected relationships have more people looking
out for their well being, sharing in their ups and downs, and giving them a greater
sense of community. Men who attend to their inner turmoil, ( anger, anxiety, sadness,
etc. ) are more likely to have better health benefits

• lower blood pressure
• less risk of cardiovascular disease.

We live longer with a nervous system that is
cared for as opposed to ignored. Though therapy can occasionally be tough, it is
always a great way to learn to care for yourself.

MORE EASE.

Most of us do not grow up with a ready made bag of tactics for stress
management and/or tools for great communication, nor do most of us develop sure fire
ways to manage our expectations for our lives, but the way most men are raised in our
western culture leaves them at a greater disadvantage. Being in any relationship has
it’s challenges, be it with a spouse, a sibling, a parent, co-worker, or a child.

Men who actively learn better ways to communicate and manage stress find their relationships
more enjoyable and fruitful. Not to mention what it can do for the daily tasks of living.

Responsibilities and pressures mount, but they do not have to rule the day. Life should
feel less like punching at the ocean, and a little more like adapting to the ebb and flow
of the changes.

Therapy is great for learning how to do this, and more.

GREATER PERSONAL SATISFACTION.

Socrate’s gave us a great quote in “The unexamined
life is not worth living.”

Our world moves much faster and louder than his, still taking
the time and effort to reflect on your life is always worth it. Many men are trying to
engage with their lives within a set of values and beliefs they have had no time to stop
and examine.

All men have been affected by the idea of an “ideal” man. Mythologies
and legacies of “manhood” pervade every culture and family. Without examination,
without occasional reflection and reorganization of our perspectives, men can easily
loose sight of what might bring them more enjoyment, fulfillment, and meaning.

Often when this happens men can be left with a sense of shame, of not “measuring up”.
Simply sitting with someone who’s task it is to help you sort through it all, can be of
great benefit.

If you are looking for support and would like to experience some of these benefits, we are here to help.

The post 3 Ways Men Benefit from Therapy appeared first on BCA Therapy.

The impact on you. The impact on your relationship. 

By: Charlotte Nadler, MA, LMFT, CCSP-ADHD

It’s one of those days where you feel like you can’t even be honest with anyone about the level of intensity of your children and their needs. Maybe you have all the tools in the world and you know what to do, or maybe you don’t, but the feeling is the same—it’s beyond hard, you’re tired, and you are plain burnout. The summer can be confusing because it seems like the perfect time to step back, relax, and enjoy the slower pace that we crave. But sometimes it highlights the basic things that just don’t come natural to your family or kids. Raising neurodivergent children can be hard. It can feel overwhelming. There can be countless parenting conversations that leave you feeling like you’re in a hamster wheel with your partner about how to tackle your situation, and then after all the back and forth, it ends in an avalanche of conflict with no solution. It can take it’s toll on your relationship leaving you to feel alone and unsupported or maybe on the other hand, you feel like you can never do anything right as a parent and your partner is constantly on your back. And not to mention, how can you even take care of your own needs when you are feeling tapped out from the intensity of this type of parenting? 

There are many times you feel you’re at an impasse and for a whole host of complicated reasons that might not make it easy to apply the wealth of information you have been scouring all night online. You just want a real plan to make real progress based on your unique situation that takes into account the nuances of your situation—how your own wellness is impacted, how your child is developing, how your relationships are impacted, and how you find adequate support through schools and other outside activities. You want hope that things are going to move forward and you’re not always going to feel stuck. You might not even believe that’s a possibility anymore. Will anyone ever be able to understand all the moving pieces and put it together? Deep down you know there is a unique and beautiful child under all the challenging behaviors and you desperately want to see that shine through. You want to be able to weather the storms with your partner. You want to feel rock solid in how you connect, be able to support each other’s needs, and have fun again. The smallest little cracks seems to grow deeper and deeper, which disrupts your entire life. 

There is a different way! We can build a deeper understanding of our kids and the way they are naturally wired, our own unique neurobiology as a parent and what messages we received growing up, and ultimately what we want in our partner relationship and how to actually get on the same page. There are many levels of care that are not always integrated and working together. 

Neurodivergent parenting: 4 quick tips to help get you back on track and begin the movement forward to finding deeper and sustainable answers.

• Set your kids up for success. As author Dr. Ross Greene says, “Kids do well when they can.” Lagging skills may be at the core of issues that keep coming up. We might assume that based on our child’s chronological age that they should be able to do something, when in fact, certain skills are not developed and it’s taking longer to acquire these skills naturally. Something that seems simple to us, such as flexibility, adaptability, frustration tolerance, communication, or problem solving can be extremely difficult. As a parent, try to think proactively about what skills need to be explicitly taught and developed before turning to useless punishments. That’s not to say consequences and ways to clean-up behaviors should be dismissed, but there is a need for skill development to be done ahead of time instead of being reactionary. It’s also important to notice that some environments produce more difficult behavior. Find activities that you know work for you. For example, maybe hiking in the woods has a slower pace, room for exploration, and in turn limits sibling fighting, as opposed to a family bowling outing. Pay attention to what works for your family and do more of those activities to build upon little successes.
• Think about basic needs and sensory dysregulation. One internal sensory system called interoception (one of your senses that helps you feel what’s going on inside you and can be under-responsive for some neurodivergent children) can make it harder for some kids to stop when they are tired and take a break, feel temperature changes when it gets too hot/cold, grab a drink, or a snack. In general, the ability for some children to understand when they need down time, or connection time, or how they can get their energy out, doesn’t always come easy. Slowing down the pace when you need to transition from activity to activity, investigating how/when to integrate a “sensory diet” to better balance regulating or stimulating activities can be helpful. You can also remember the acronym H.A.L.T. (hungry, angry, lonely, tired) to problem solve when your child is having difficulty articulating their needs. Hopefully there will be less of a chance for a meltdown when you take some of these factors into consideration for your sensitive child. 
• Develop affective calmness and use less words. Dr. Russell Barkley (neuropsychologist and ADHD guru) succinctly explains, “Act, don’t yak.” Using less words and remaining grounded, calm, and assertive will go a long way versus speaking from a place of your own emotional dysregulation, which typically increases the volatility of the moment. Barkley goes on to say, “The more you blather, the more you natter, the more you nag, the less influence you have. So stop thinking that one more sentence will be enough to tip the scales in favor of obedience.” 
• Make communication a priority with your partner when you are both calm. Talking about how both you and your partner are experiencing the demands of parenting is beneficial. Many times communication comes in the heat of the moment, which is not productive. Each of you might have different bandwidths of what you can withstand emotionally or physically. Understand each of your strengths and then capitalize on those strengths, versus focusing on your deficits and then falling into the trap of placing blame on one person. Also, enlisting your natural supports, those people who are trusted and have your best interests in mind, can give you needed respite when you feel you’re in a difficult cycle with your child.

For more information and immediate support, connect with Charlotte now.

The post Big Feelings and Big Hearts: Parenting High Needs Children. appeared first on BCA Therapy.

Both our Wayne and Yardley location have been selected to be honored among the 2024 Best for Families! We have been selected for the “Main Line Parent 2024 LOVE Award Winner – Mental Health Champion” and “Bucks County Parent 2024 LOVE Award Winner – Mental Health Champion”!

We love and care for our clients deeply. This only reinforces that we are providing quality care every single time and it’s making a difference!

The post We Have Been Honored Among the 2024 Best for Families! appeared first on BCA Therapy.

After being honored as a Main Line Parent and Bucks County Parent Woman of Influence in 2023, Ivory Tree Portraits’ Founder and Owner, Lara Mattey, has invited several fellow Women of Influence into the photo studio for a chat and a Headshot Session. It’s been a wonderful way to get to know a diverse and driven group of local women doing amazing things in our local community!

Meet Brynn Cicippio, Founder and Owner of BCA Therapy, a private therapy practice comprised of a group of compassionate, ethical, and experienced therapists offering individual, couples, and family therapy. With two practices, one in Yardley and the other in Wayne, Brynn’s supportive work has helped many and has earned her a Main Line Parent and a Bucks County Parent Women of Influence Award in 2023.

The post Bucks County Parent Woman of Influence in 2023 Chat! appeared first on BCA Therapy.

• Want to be a better leader, father, partner or friend.
• Have lost track of your goals or purpose.
• Are curious about what it means to be a man in today’s world.
• Struggle to express your joy, passion, and pain with those you love.
• Eager to connect with like-minded men.

Our wonderful therapist Steven has created a safe and supportive place for men to really connect and take a deep exploration at what they want for themselves and how to make it happen. For $25 you can register for the new 5-week therapy group for men!

Group details–

• Date and Time:
  • April 2nd – April 30th
  • Tuesdays, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
• Location:
  • Wayne, PA
• Men, 21 years+
• Sign up at hello@bcatherapy.com

The post New Therapy Group for Men! appeared first on BCA Therapy.

We have no control over others behavior, even those we love and care for. We can’t make people be nicer to us, kinder to us, care for us, or love us in the way we envision. What we can do is take care of ourselves, be clear with our needs, and then choose what relationships are healthy for us to maintain and what ones we need to let go.

The post Can We Control How Others Show Up in Our Relationship? appeared first on BCA Therapy.

It is important to have something you can look at that will help you know that you are not alone, and you can recover from your addiction. This can be done by knowing the 7 C’s of Addiction.

The 7 C’s of Addiction can help you or others suffering from addiction:

• I didn’t CAUSE it.
• I can’t CONTROL it.
• I can’t CURE it.
• But I can help take CARE of myself.
• By COMMUNICATING my feelings.
• Making healthy CHOICES.
• And CELEBRATING me.

Let us know if the 7 C’s worked for you! Let’s DO THE WORK and celebrate the recovery!

The post Remember the 7 C’s of Addiction appeared first on BCA Therapy.

Here are some ways to practice self-care in a relationship:

• Setting boundaries. Doing this is very crucial in a healthy relationship because it keeps a balance between you and your partner. This also helps reduce conflict, because it sets an example of what you and your partner expect from each other. This will help bring you and your partner closer together because setting boundaries creates open communication.
• Hanging out with a group of your own friends. It is important to have a social life outside of your relationship.
• Maintaining independence is important in a relationship. Don’t rely on or allow your partner to control your judgement or tell you what to do.
• Let your partner know what you like and don’t like. It’s also difficult and may lead to some conflict. But it is important to say how you feel and eliminate anything that is not making you feel good and don’t like. If something is not making you happy you don’t have to do it and that brings the importance of the word “NO” and setting boundaries.
• Having a hobby. This can create a safe space that makes you happy or time set away from your partner that you like. You don’t always have to be doing everything with your partner. Just get a hobby of your own. For example, doing a craft, gardening, collecting coins, going on a hike by yourself. These are examples of self-care.

When you and your partner practice self-care in a relationship you both will be happier in your relationship. It is not selfish in a relationship, and you and your partner will be happier in your relationship

The post Importance of Self-Care in a Relationship appeared first on BCA Therapy.

According to NAMI, “You are not alone”, as a 2021 survey showed that three in five Americans feel the holidays negatively impacted their mental health [1].

So, what are ways that we can care for our self during the holiday seasons?

Here are some tips to prevent holiday stress and depression:

1. Take care of yourself. This can be done through self-care and forming healthy habits. For example, going on a walk, doing yoga, going to the gym, watching a movie, reading a book or something that can help you feel less worried and take your mind off a stressful environment and help you boost your mental health and deal with stressful activities.
2. Ask for help. Talk with a therapist or make plans with a trusted individual, best friend that you can trust, or a trusted family member.  Asking for help is not a weakness, it shows that you are strong and have the courage to do so you matter. If you are sad, anxious, depressed, stresses please don’t be afraid to ask for help. BCA Therapy has therapists in Wayne and Yardley that can help you today!
3. Focus on what you can control. Don’t worry about things that are out of your control. If something is bothering, you that is out of your control quit worrying about it and thinking about it, there is nothing you can do about it. This will help you relieve a lot of stress and help you focus on what is in your control.
4. Avoid drugs and alcohol. Just because everyone around you is drinking doesn’t mean you have too as well. If someone offers you a drink and you don’t want to drink say “NO”. It is important to set boundaries for the holiday season no matter who is around. By avoiding drugs and alcohol you avoid an increase in depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.
5. Identify holiday triggers. Triggers could be people, places, and things that remind you of past trauma or upsetting events. Examples of holiday triggers could be traumatic memories, a narcissist family member, a loss of a loved one, stressful family relationships, or emotional breakups. To avoid holiday triggers put a plan in place ahead of the holidays to avoid these emotional holiday triggers. These plans can put a plan in place to avoid those triggers and help you reduce holiday related stress.

Source:

[1] Mental Health During the Holidays: 8 Tips That Can Help | NU

The post Mental Health during the Holiday Season appeared first on BCA Therapy.

The post Great Medical Practice: Making the Most of Therapy appeared first on BCA Therapy.

The definition of an affair varies between partners or couples. An emotional affair is still considered infidelity for some people, despite the absence of a physical connection. But, if your partner cheats, what should you do?

• Give yourself all the time, room and space to process the infidelity.
• Have open and honest conversations about how you both feel when you both can truly hear it.
• Remind yourself that even though this happened, you are still enough.
• Remind yourself that everything you feel is valid, and you can allow all of it room and space to be.
• Remind yourself that it’s completely normal and okay for your insecurities to be louder as a result.

Marriage counseling or couple therapy aims to help couples understand each other, resolves conflicts, and improve the couple’s relationship overall.

Here are reasons to seek marriage counseling after an affair:

• Come to understand how it happen.
• Learn to communicate rather than act out your dissatisfactions.
• Learn to work together to re-build trust and a better relationship.
• Argue in a healthier way.

AT BCA Therapy, we have trained marriage and family therapists that can help you get through the toughest points in a relationship! Couples in therapy can expect that both sides will be heard.

The post How can you Rebuild a Marriage After Infidelity? appeared first on BCA Therapy.

To experience true love, we have to rebuild and repair our idea of loving and fulfillment from within ourselves. This begins with loving ourselves and knowing how we want and deserve to be treated.

If you find yourself constantly doing things for your partner and can’t seem to remember the last time your partner did something for you, you may be taken advantage of. It is very important to have equality in a relationship. Let your partner know that you feel this way and have a sit-down conversation with them.

Don’t allow your partner to disrespect you! The lack of healthy boundaries could be reason why they are treating you poorly, WHICH IS NOT AN EXCUSE. Create healthy boundaries with your partner and let them know, if they don’t respect your boundaries the relationship cannot continue as it is way to toxic. It is important to distance yourself when the partner cannot respect you or your boundaries. There is only so much one partner can do and take. As much as we like to, we cannot change how a partner behaves, treats us, and fix their behavior in the relationship.

At BCA Therapy, we have therapist who offer family, couples, and individual therapy. If you are looking to find a solution or need help in a relationship. WE OFFER HELP. Let’s “DO THE WORK” together, we want to help you.

We have therapists in Wayne and Yardley that look forward to helping you.

The post Don’t Allow Someone to Treat You Poorly in a Relationship! appeared first on BCA Therapy.

1. Setting Goals for your children. You can do this by establishing short-term SMART goals. SMART goals provide the detail, support, guidance children. 
   1. S: Specific: This will help them get extremely detailed about the goals they set.
   2. M: Measurable: Will help them keep track of their goals.
   3. A: Attainable: Make sure to set achievable goals that are challenging but are reachable goals.
   4. R: Realistic: Make sure their goals are at least within reason. Setting realistic goals can be done by little successes. Not all goals have to be achieved at one time. Just like recovery small steps matter. This will give children self-esteem and give them the confidence they need to strive for bigger goals.
   5. T: Timely: Help your children break their goals down into smaller steps to get there.
2. Don’t get upset at your children’s small mistakes. Mistakes are powerful and can be used as learning tool. When you increase children comfort making mistakes, you’ll build their willingness to think outside the box and interpret information with wider perspective. Help your children recognize they’ll build the confidence, problem-solving perseverance, and creatively by understanding that mistakes can be brain boosters.
3. Decreasing the negative chatter from your children. Encourage children to stop talking negative about themselves, saying I can’t do something, or saying I am terrible at something. Enforce to them they can do something they put their mind to and work hard to achieve. Also, reinforce to your children that you can get better at something by studying and reading more in school, practicing at something they are good at for example, sports or a musical instrument. By doing this, they will improve!
4. Be a good role model for your children. If you want your children to be confident, you will also have to do everything that you are preaching to your children. You will have to be confident as well, set goals for yourself, not talk negative around your children, and improve on your mistakes and apologize for your wrong-doings and grow from them. Your children will follow you in the way in which you behave and by your actions. Be a role model!
5. Make sure your children don’t get upset about their mistakes. You want to make sure they grow from their mistakes, and don’t make the same mistake next time. If they continue to be upset about their mistakes, and don’t do anything to fix the mistakes. The mistakes will continue to happen. Do something to fix those mistakes, to be confident you don’t make the same mistakes again.

At BCA Therapy, we have therapist who are experience in family therapy and children/teen therapy. If you are looking for a therapist learn more about our team by, click here. We have therapist who can support your needs in Yardley, PA and Wayne, PA.

Sources:

Use SMART Goal Setting to Build Self-Esteem in Kids (mysouthernhealth.com)

What to Do When Mistakes Upset Your Kids | Psychology Today

The post Building Confidence in Your Children! appeared first on BCA Therapy.

Taking care of your physical, spiritual, psychological and social needs will help you feel your best so you can be the best parent you can be. It’s important to set aside a little bit of time for self-care even when you feel like you don’t have a single second to devote to yourself. While there are many different self-care strategies for parents. It’s important to experiment with them to figure out which strategies work best for you.

 1. Spend Time in Nature

Nature and forest therapy is a research-based framework for supporting healing and wellness through immersion in forest and other natural environments. You can participate on a guided nature and forest therapy walk.

2. Set Time Out of the Day to Be Alone

It’s important to give yourself a few minutes of alone time. Even if it’s 10 minutes each day that you set aside to relax by yourself, a little solitude can help you unwind. That can mean waiting for your child to take a nap or waiting until a friend or family member is watching your child, give yourself permission to charge your batteries with a little alone time.

3. Schedule Time with Friends or Family

If you schedule a future social activity for yourself, it gives you something to look forward to. Which is a good for your mental health and is a good self-care strategy in itself. Then, actually engage in social activity will give another boost to your psychological well-being.

4. Get Out of the House

That doesn’t mean going out to food shop or commuting to work. We need more than just our office space and our kitchens. Going out for a walk, walking your dug, riding a bike can reduce the feeling of confinement and clear your head. Consider having a parent night out once or every other week.

5. Treat Yourself

From time to time, it’s okay to treat yourself. Our kids get treats but shouldn’t parents sometimes as well. We can treat ourselves by buying a new pair of sneakers, going to a sporting event, going to the movies, or going out to get desert for yourself. Parent need treats too!

There are many ways to practice self-care for parents, we hope these ideas can help you think about how you can bring self-care into your daily life as a parent.

The post Self-Care For Parents Is Crucial! appeared first on BCA Therapy.

• Time management– College can be more demanding than high school, plan to devote more time to your studies. Plan out your days and create a routine that you stick to every week. Having an assignment book to mark important assignments and tests can make your experience of college so much easier.
• Socializing– It can be fun to meet your roommate(s) and others on the floor in your building. Just remember that some people thrive on social interaction while others may struggle with that, so be kind to one another.
• Independence– Now that you’re on your own, you may feel the need to test your limits. Don’t make bad decisions based on peer pressure. Say “NO” to things you don’t want to do. Setting boundaries is very important and do not let people step over your boundaries and respect other people’s boundaries.
•  Resources– Be sure to use to familiarize yourself with the resources on college campus. Consider joining a student organization and being involved. There is also learning assistance and resource centers, and student health services and counseling centers that can assist you if needed.
• Stress– Being aware that some amount of stress and anxiety is normal. You are in a setting with new people and new challenges. You can do this!

Sources:

Family Matters: Making the Transition to College – West Chester University (wcupa.edu)

Planning Ahead for Your Mental Health Care as You Transition to College | The Jed Foundation

The post How to Prepare Your Mental Health As You Transition to College appeared first on BCA Therapy.

https://957benfm.com/episodes/brynncicippio/

The post Brynn Cicippio shares Her Story with Kathy Romano appeared first on BCA Therapy.

How can a narcissist impact your life? Let’s look at the jar here is how:

How much more are you going to take from a narcissist? Don’t you think it’s time to get away from them? The answer is you should take no more from them and get away from them. They are ruining your mental health. The jar can only hold so much just like your emotions! Don’t let it get that full before it overflows. This requires courage and strength to stay away from narcissists. But at BCA Therapy, we believe everyone is capable of doing this if you are willing to put the work in and do so. It will be so worth it, and the extra baggage will be lifted off you mentally.

Visit BCA Therapy we are located in the Bucks County and on the Main Line in Wayne, Pennsylvania! We have therapists that specialize in narcissistic abuse can help support you on your journey to recovery.

The post Narcissists Can Impact Your Life for the Worse! appeared first on BCA Therapy.