Red Herrings

by DrKatieBrazaitis | May 26, 2025 | Clinical Interventions, Enhancing Competency

I’m going to begin this blog a little differently than my usual posts. I’m going to share an example of how I’ve experienced today’s topic: Red Herrings. My Story My dad had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.  He had a lung transplant and was in...

Making Sense of Suicide: Safety Planning Part 4

by DrKatieBrazaitis | Apr 22, 2025 | Clinical Interventions, Enhancing Competency, Suicide

In a previous post, I talked about the rationale and considerations for making a safety plan. Then I went through each of the sections of a safety plan. This included warning signs and coping strategies you can do on your own, and coping strategies through community...

Making Sense of Suicide: Safety Planning: Part 3

by DrKatieBrazaitis | Feb 4, 2025 | Clinical Interventions, Enhancing Competency, Suicide

Part one of this sub-series introduced suicide safety planning. I reviewed the rationale for using them and key elements to consider. In part two, I started describing in detail the different sections of the safety plan. I covered Warning Signs and Coping Strategies:...

Making Sense of Suicide: Safety Planning, Part 2

by DrKatieBrazaitis | Jan 20, 2025 | Clinical Interventions, Enhancing Competency, Suicide

Back in November, I introduced Suicide Safety Planning. I reviewed the research and tips for making a high quality plan. Namely, I explained that all elements on a safety plan should be specific, accessible, feasible, and safe. In this post, I’ll start going...

Words to Heal By

by DrKatieBrazaitis | Jan 7, 2025 | Clinical Interventions, Clinician Wellness, Expanding Self-Care

As therapists, we use our words to mirror, to validate, to make sense, to clarify, to challenge. We offer words to heal by.  We are trained extensively to be selective and intentional in our words.  To guide them to land, and be ready to amend when they...

A DEAR MAN Holiday

by DrKatieBrazaitis | Dec 10, 2024 | Clinical Interventions, Enhancing Competency

The holiday season is not always merry and bright. It can be ripe with painful memories, unfilled hopes and expectations, and challenging interactions with loved ones. Today’s post is going to focus on the latter. How do we navigate setting limits and asking for...