Let nothing disturb you. 
Let nothing frighten you. 
All things are passing away. 
God never changes. 
Patience obtains all things. 
Whoever has God lacks nothing. 
God alone suffices.

This short prayer/poem by St. Teresa of Avila hits the nail on the head as she reveals the reality of God's providence and pervasive presence in our lives. In it, she encourages us to recognize that no matter what, all truly will be well and that all we truly need is God - the only One...

From a presentation given by IDDM Mentor, Ryan Nash.

My first job fresh out of graduate school was as a mental health counselor in a prison.

My days were spent listening to the inmates talk about their intense levels of trauma, both in regards to the crimes they had committed but also the equal or worse crimes and traumas they had suffered themselves.

Not only was the prison understaffed, but there was also an awful amount of paperwork that went along with the job. To make matters worse, the...

Written by Dr. Bryan Violette, CatholicPsych Chief of Staff and IDDM Training Director.  

Throughout my work as a psychologist (and now Mentor), I’ve had a lot of experience exploring relational patterns, especially some of the common dynamics between men and women. 

The almost universal complaint about men from the perspective of women is that men try to "fix" their feelings when all they really want is to feel understood. There’s a very funny portrayal of...

Have you ever read a passage from the Gospel and asked yourself, "I wonder what Jesus was feeling in this passage? What emotions was he experiencing here?"

(I would be willing to bet it isn’t all that often.)

For some reason, it’s easy to forget that Jesus actually felt things as we tend to gloss over the real experience of Jesus. 

In his humanity, he knew what it was to feel sadness, joy, and amusement … the sting of rejection, anger, apprehension…

To...

Why is this relationship so draining? Do I just need to cut this person out of my life completely? 

I can't handle my [parent/child/boss/etc.] anymore! Every conversation we have ends in an argument! Should I stop communicating with them for good?

I get questions like this all the time from clients and friends alike. The questions aren't about just one kind of relationship either. From friendships to dating to parent/child relationships, the question of healthy boundaries pertains...

Life is hard.

Doing this human thing can be pretty challenging at times. It can feel overwhelming. 

We all have a list of things to point to that justify why we feel overwhelmed: the kids, the deadline, the job insecurity, the commitments, the family conflict...you name it.

However, if we take a step back and look at how overwhelm works, we’ll realize that overwhelm doesn’t creep in because of what's happening in the present moment.

Overwhelm takes over when we let our minds...

This blog article is an excerpt from The Mindful Catholic.

Catholic mindfulness presupposes faith that God the Father is a good Father. But if God is good and all-powerful and loves us, why does he let bad things happen to good people?

I once sent out a flyer for a mindfulness course that mentioned “trustful surrender to God who loves us,” which prompted a letter from an upset woman. She asked how she could be expected to practice mindfulness based on a God who loves her...

Ideally, the Christmas holiday is a magical time of year...a time that means really good food, exchanging of gifts, holiday movies, and family togetherness. But in reality, the holidays oftentimes bring along some less-than-ideal feelings. A time of the year which should be reserved for celebrating the birth of our Savior is oftentimes ravaged with stress instead. 

This scenario has been depicted in many a Christmas movie - crowded stores, long lines, overcooked...

"Become who you are."

These words from St. John Paul II have echoed in my heart since I first heard them in 1997 at World Youth Day in Paris. My journey has taken me from being a student in the classroom of Peter Kreeft to a Franciscan Friar with Fr. Benedict Groeschel, and eventually to earning a doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2012 before forming the CatholicPsych Institute. 

I formed CatholicPsych to empower people to become who they are by providing services and resources that...

On the CatholicPsych Facebook page, I once shared a post that ended up getting more shares, comments, and reactions than any thing I've ever posted. (Even now, years later, I still periodically receive notification of a new comment on that particular post!)

I shared this particular post because I’m a huge proponent of integration: the belief that our psychological and emotional lives are deeply united with, and deeply affecting, our spiritual lives, and vice versa. 

So...