Mckinney Tara Mft

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Welcome to recoverlife.net. Here, you’ll find information about Tara McKinney, M.A. MFT and her counseling and psychotherapy services.
"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."

Tara provides a safe, compassionate setting for self discovery, healing and change, and through her psychotherapy services may be able to help in the following areas:

Depression-some signs of depression include: constant sadness, lack of motivation, trouble concentrating, feelings of isolation, not as involved with family or friends as usual, hopelessness, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, thoughts of death, low energy, trouble sleeping, sleeping more than usual, significant weight change.

Anxiety-some signs of anxiety include: excessive or unrealistic worry that is difficult to control, restlessness, tiredness, shakiness, muscle tension, shortness of breath, feeling edgy, trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, general state of irritability.

PTSD-some possible signs of PTSD include: exposure to actual or threatened death or serious injury to self or a loved one that resulted in intense emotional response of fear, helplessness, or horror; intrusive and distressing thoughts, images or dreams associated with the traumatic event; avoidance of thoughts, feelings or conversations about the traumatic event; sleep disturbance, irritability, lack of concentration, hyper vigilance, exaggerated startle response.

Communication Skills-most relationship problems begin with poor communication skills. We forget that the ultimate goal of relationships is for connection and mutually meeting each other’s needs. Some of the things that impede our ability to communicate effectively are fear, social conditioning, the need to be right, inability to negotiate win/win situations, not listening effectively, and avoidance.

Couples Counseling- some issues that may improve with couples counseling are: frequent arguing, lack of effective communication, blaming, pending separation or divorce, affairs, physical, verbal or emotional abuse, lack of trust, problems with sexual intimacy.

Self worth and self esteem issues-the only person in life who will never leave you is you. Some signs there may be a problem: self-blame, self-criticism, or constantly putting others down through guilt, blame, shame, or faultfinding, extreme emotional reactions to stress, inability to forgive, addictions, approval-seeking, feeling like a victim and not taking responsibility for creating the life you want, not defining the life you want, chaotic personal life, dependency and letting others make decisions for you and then blaming them for not consulting you, controlling others, fear of change and reluctance to take risks or lack of consistency in you life, constant negativity or being so optimistic that reality is denied, reacting to others with extreme emotion or no emotion, arrogance, lying, embellishing, exaggerating, and overbearing behavior around others, lack of personal integrity, need to be “right,” needing to have agreement or have your own way most of the time, or constantly acquiescing to the will and opinions of others, comparing yourself to others and feeling inferior or superior.

Addiction and drug or alcohol abuse- The difference between substance abuse and addiction is very slight. Addiction begins as abuse, or using a substance or behavior recreationally and eventually as a way of coping. You can abuse a drug, alcohol or a behavior (like shopping, gambling, overeating, internet surfing, gaming) without having an addiction. People can get addicted to all sorts of substances and behaviors. Addiction means a person has no control over a substance or a behavior, even in the face of personal, legal, emotional and professional consequences. According to Alcoholics Anonymous and other similar self-help groups, if you repeatedly drink or use more than you intend or want to, if you get into trouble, or if you have memory lapses when you drink or use, you may be an alcoholic or addict.

Stress reduction-work, family, kids, activities, deadlines, relationships… Life puts an endless supply of demands on us. Some stress is good, it adds excitement to our lives and is overall rewarding. Some stress is unpredictable, unavoidable and exhausting. Life is a balance of positive and negative stress and if we get out of balance, we can get run down, exhausted and unfulfilled. And too much stress can cause us to feel overwhelmed. Some signs are: Out-of-proportion and out of character anxiety, excessive moodiness, withdrawal from responsibility, insomnia, poor emotional control, chronic fatigue.