I really like new beginnings. I look forward to the first day of class with each new semester. I recall the fun of an exciting new job, and I can feel the warmth of the first 40 degree day after a hard winter.

One of my favorite parts of being a counselor is the opportunity to offer someone the hope of a new beginning. People often seek out counseling in the lowest moments. They are desperate for help when they are hurt the most, at their lowest or have no other place to go.

But, to seek out counseling also demonstrates an incredible ability to hope. The first counseling session is full of hope that a new beginning is possible. Someone new to counseling may think, “I hope this counselor can help me”, “I hope things get better”, “I hope my marriage survives”, “I hope the negative thoughts stop”. What many find in this first session however, is that the most powerful aspect of counseling is the ‘WE’. It is discovered that by connecting with another caring and compassionate human ‘WE’ can find a path through the difficulty. The first counseling session begins a relationship in which you are no longer alone, you are now a ‘WE’ and have a partner to walk alongside you on the journey.

Connections Family Counseling’s mission is ‘to help build resilient kids, strong marriages, and connected families’ in Quincy, Illinois and the surrounding areas. Therefore, we believe that every new beginning starts with hope, is powered by ‘WE’ and becomes resilient, strong, connected. For this reason today is a new beginning for Connections Family Counseling. We are excited to announce that our podcast, which had been known as “the connected family podcast” will now be titled ‘Resilient, Strong, Connected” We believe that this name more clearly reflects the mission and vision of Connections Family Counseling and is therefore a better vehicle to assist our community members looking for a new beginning.

We hope that you will continue to benefit from the podcast and will join us in becoming ‘Resilient, Strong, Connected.

Visit Connections Family Counseling Website

Christina Furnival, MS, LPCC is a wife, mom to two young children, licensed psychotherapist, writer, and children's book author. With over a decade of experience in the mental health field, she has worked in a variety of settings including a domestic violence center, hospital program, a non-profit providing parent support, education and coaching, outpatient clinics, and telehealth. Christina is passionate about supporting parents and children to understand themselves better, navigate challenges with confidence, and live the life they want.

Christina founded the internationally enjoyed blog, Real Life Mama, after going through postpartum depression and anxiety to support other moms going through the same thing.

Christina's writing has grown and evolved beyond her blog, enabling her to secure a children's book deal with PESI Publishing for an entire series focused on vital social-emotional skills.

Connections Family Counseling

Join the Facebook Group

Buy The Book Now By clicking Below

Going Deep To Heal Relational Pain

Matthew Leavenworth is a mental health counselor in Billings Montana with Yellowstone Counseling Center. He graduated from Adams State University in 2015 with a master in mental health counseling and is currently pursuing his PhD at Adams State as a counselor educator. He has extensive experience seeing children, adults, couples, and families dealing with a range of disorders, including anxiety, depression, and trauma. He uses rock climbing as an experiential component of therapeutic healing and is an avid rock climber and outdoorsman when he is not home with his beloved wife Kylie and daughter Huxley.

The Dock

By Matthew Leavenworth

I feel the sand under my toes,

The sky is blue.

The sun is opaque behind thin clouds.

A slight breeze blows across the water.

The dock is a hundred yards in front of me,

A peninsula out into a great expanse of water.

I have a towel in my hands.

My skin goosepimples and I shiver as the breeze picks up with a chill.

I think about turning back.

The water is too cold.

The wind will chill me to the bone.

There are sharks out there.

Instead, I throw the towel aside and start forward.

My steps are heavy at first,

The wet sand swallows my feet,

I can still turn back.

I don’t.

I start jogging forward,

My quickening steps find the wooden planks, faster and faster.

There is no railing; only the sparkling cold and deep that will swallow me.

The end of the dock looms,

The thought occurs.

I can turn back,

I can stop unless I take another step.

I leap forward.

Into the open unknown.

The water swallows me.

It is all the pain and the triumph and everything I am.

I am deep under water.

Deeper and deeper,

Until I see.

Other shapes in the water, like mine, staring back at me, swimming also.

Connections Family Counseling

Join The Facebook group