When play therapy starts working — and you’re not sure why After you start applying a more systematic approach to play therapy with your child clients, you might begin to hear feedback like this from parents or teachers:“I don’t know what you’re doing in that playroom, but something is working.”Or:“I’m not sure what has changed, but things with my child seem a little better this week.”When this happens, it can feel like you’ve tapped into the magic of play therapy.And then comes the...
22 days ago • 1 min read
Pen to Progress with Jen Taylor Issue #42 Intentional Writing, Empowered Action, Meaningful Change Two Sides of the Bravery Coin Hello Reader There's a quote that is insanely popular, but every time I see it, I want to scream at the person posting it. This quote is from a wonderful author (who I love, but disagree with on this particular issue). The author is Brianna Wiest and the quote says, "Remember that the minute that you take the first step into the life of your dreams, the first to...
9 months ago • 3 min read
Pen to Progress with Jen Taylor Issue #41 Intentional Writing, Empowered Action, Meaningful Change Are Old Habits Helping or Hurting You? Hello Reader I haven’t always been a runner. I only started running after COVID, when my usual plan—working out in my home gym—became too much with everyone at home. So I started going for walks, which eventually turned into runs. After some time, I grew into this new identity and that is how I became a runner. When I adapted the mindset that I was actually...
9 months ago • 2 min read
Pen to Progress with Jen Taylor Issue #40 Intentional Writing, Empowered Action, Meaningful Change Maybe Not Knowing Is The Path to Knowing Hello Reader I don't know why I'm pursuing a doctorate degree in social work at the University of Kentucky. Today, I enter my third and final year of the DSW program at the University of Kentucky and I still can't explain why I'm doing this. That might sound a little ridiculous, even stupid or just plain privileged, right? But, I'd like to normalize...
9 months ago • 4 min read
Pen to Progress with Jen Taylor Issue #39 Intentional Writing, Empowered Action, Meaningful Change The Power of a Good Question Hello Reader I collect questions the way other people might collect inspirational quotes. Why? Because great questions become great journal prompts. In writing therapy, we call them "Springboards" because questions serve as a jumping off point from which your writing might go into unexpected directions. The other thing to know about questions is that our brains our...
10 months ago • 3 min read
Pen to Progress with Jen Taylor Issue #36 Intentional Writing, Empowered Action, Meaningful Change How to Dig Yourself Out of A Hole Hello Reader I think we all have areas where progress feel elusive. There are areas that we've neglected for weeks - months - even years! Common areas of neglect are things like weight, debt, mental health, relationships, even physical clutter. First, let's acknowledge that there are reasons that we've been unable to make progress in these areas: Trauma -...
10 months ago • 4 min read
Pen to Progress with Jen Taylor Issue #35 Intentional Writing, Empowered Action, Meaningful Change Holding Space for Endings and Beginnings Hello Reader Our neighborhood has deer. A lot of deer. We see them in our backyards, they sleep in our neighbor's front yards. They watch with curiosity as we walk past them and then go back to grazing on the grass. It's one of my favorite parts of my neighborhood. This weekend, one of the deer was hit by a car and killed. During my weekend run, as I...
11 months ago • 3 min read
Pen to Progress with Jen Taylor Issue #33 Intentional Writing, Empowered Action, Meaningful Change Gratitude Forensics Hello Reader How was your weekend? From the looks of the many social media posts I reviewed over the weekend, there's a good possibility that it was pretty wonderful. There was a theme that I noticed over the weekend and that was one of gratitude. Social media posts and private messages were filled with expressions of gratitude. Gratitude is an essential element of...
11 months ago • 3 min read
Pen to Progress with Jen Taylor Issue #32 Intentional Writing, Empowered Action, Meaningful Change The Paradox of *Could* Hello Reader You may have heard the expression "don't should on yourself" as a reminder of the problems associated with the word "should." Should's are obligations based on our perception of what is morally right in a situation, or what is expected of us in a social or cultural situation or some other belief or value that we hold that is meant to guide our behaviors. I...
11 months ago • 4 min read