What does a cow know about psychology? Apparently, a lot. I have learned many lessons from my dealings with cows in my youth. I grew up on a small dairy farm in Southwest Missouri, in a hilly region known as the Ozarks. The farm was approximately 20 miles from the nearest town, which got its first stop light when I was a senior in high school. To this day, the county I grew up in has more cows (74,000) than people (12,300).
CONTINUEHow often do you know what to do in a situation, but you don’t do it? Knowing what you should do and actually doing it are two different things. One of my past supervisors described this as the difference between “knowing knowledge” and “doing knowledge.” Just like music or athletic skills, patients must go through a process to use therapy skills in daily life. Therapists use the term skills transfer to describe the learning process from knowing to doing.
CONTINUEI have thought repeatedly about writing a post about procrastination…but I kept putting it off! We all deal with procrastination to some extent. People can vilify, tolerate, or celebrate this tendency. The appealing nature of procrastination is reflected in common sayings such as “hard work pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now.” As Mark Twain famously said, “never put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well.”
CONTINUEPsychology is not plagued by social stigmas as much as in the past. This is mostly a positive change. One of the negative effects of this change, however, is inaccurate understanding of psychological terminology as it seeps into the general culture. One such term our culture commonly misunderstands is the concept of boundaries.
CONTINUEHave you ever said you would start something after you felt like it, but then the motivation never came? The truth of the matter is that waiting for motivation before acting often leaves us waiting…and waiting. Alternatively, if we start acting, motivation tends to follow. Motivation works more by pushing an action from behind rather than leading the action from the front. This is what the process of behavioral activation feels like.
CONTINUELBHC will close for spring break March 9-10, 2026. If you are missing a therapy appointment during this week, remember to use the skills you have learned in session. For emergencies, please call 911 or go to the emergency room. You can also access the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
CONTINUEAs my own children began to grow up, I learned an interesting truth. Parenting does not end when your child turns 18 and graduates from high school. For parents of adult children, a behavior contract can help with this continued parenting relationship.
CONTINUEI never intended to develop a specialty in potty training or handling urinary and fecal incontinence (e.g., bedwetting or soiling oneself). Before graduating with my Ph.D., I completed a one-year internship at Oregon Health and Science University. I worked at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. One of my supervisors was Dr. Kurt Freeman, who ran a specialty clinic for toileting issues. Each intern completed a 3-month rotation in his clinic. Every Monday afternoon, all the patients I saw experienced various toileting problems.
CONTINUEI was introduced to self-compassion quite accidentally. Psychologists are required to complete a certain number of continuing education hours. I have earned my hours many times by attending the annual convention for the Texas Psychological Association. One year, I made a last-minute decision to drop in on a self-compassion workshop by Kristen Neff, Ph.D., a professor from The University of Texas. She was one of the first to study self-compassion.
CONTINUEOur workshop series has been in the works for multiple years. In previous years our staff presented workshops for various groups. This included training for other psychologists on long-term patients and the business side of psychological practice. We offered a parent training session on school refusal. Dr. Gotowka provided a training session for pre-school teachers at a local day care the past two years. After Dr. Gotowka obtained his psychology license, he took the lead starting this project as an added service to the community.
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