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Therapy dogs can be more than our best friends; they can also help reduce clients’ stress and provide the emotional safety needed to process traumatic and painful life events.

Rachel Jacoby, a licensed professional clinical counselor supervisor, once worked at a community mental health agency providing counseling services to youth in foster care.

Counselors who understand the complexities of generational trauma can help clients acknowledge the role it plays in their lives, find healing and ultimately break the cycle.

As increasing numbers of youth turn to self-injury, counselors can offer empathy while guiding young clients to better tolerate their emotions and find healthier ways to cope.

Caregiving can take many forms. A woman in her 50s takes care of her husband who has a life-limiting disease. An adult child cares for an aging parent. Grandparents raise their grandchildren because their adult child is struggling with substance misuse.

Having an adult child who is in an unhealthy relationship can leave parents feeling helpless, but with the support of a counselor, parents can learn to navigate this situation while still maintaining their own well-being.

Counselors must help clients recognize and reject weight stigma before they can begin to heal and reconnect to themselves.

Faith can play an important role in a client’s healing process, but a lack of knowledge and training often makes counselors hesitant to incorporate it into the therapeutic session.

Friction between parents and teenage children is an inevitable part of adolescent development, but often the parents need as much — if not more — work in counseling as the teen to build the skills needed to navigate conflict.

The stigma attached to borderline personality disorder can make both clients and counselors resistant to treatment, but by working together, they can sort through these misconceptions and help clients rediscover themselves.