Jessica Wilkerson, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist #104464

02/24/2025

Teenage brains go through a period of pruning. Have you ever noticed a teen who suddenly forgot how to load the dishwasher or double knot their shoelaces? Their brains are pruning the information no longer needed to make room for everything they need to learn for adulthood. In the same vein, we need to regularly and internally prune our habits, priorities, relationships to make room for new and beautiful opportunities! What can be cut out or pared down so there's room in your life for new blessings when they arrive?

07/10/2023

07/10/2023

She co-founded the National Breast Cancer Coalition and sought to eradicate the disease, which remains the second deadliest cancer for women in the U.S.

07/10/2023

😩

03/04/2023

We've been getting multiple calls a day, every day looking for sessions after work or on weekends. Instead of turning people away we want to help them better! We're currently hiring one full-time clinician and multiple part-time therapists. You can learn more at www.inspiredlifechico.com/careers

11/13/2022

One barrier to couples therapy can be trying to get two people across town at the same time to sit in the office. With online couples sessions each person can be in different locations while they work toward healing and growth for their relationship. We have a specialist in providing online couples sessions! She's amazing!

10/06/2022

Teens and eye rolling... amiright? It can be so gosh darn frustrating. I asked my associate what she thought about that trait and she had a great take on it! You can read more of her thoughts here.

by Emily Emmerman, MSW, ASW

09/17/2022

I love this so much!

If they mix play-doh colors, or if they mix paint colors and accidentally make brown for the 234th time, or if they squeeze too much glue out on the paper, or if they peel the paper off the crayons, or if they sharpen the pencil too much, or if they color with the marker too hard, or if they color outside the lines, or if they explore using any other craft or art supply in the “wrong” way…

I have a secret for you: they’re still learning from that. 😊

(Also, with the paint or the playdoh, if you’re tired of brown, you can always put out limited colors that don’t mix to make brown—i.e., only making harmonious/analogous colors available, such as red, orange, and yellow.)

***

I'm adding an edit here because of good, important discussion in the comments!

It's true that not all parents can afford limitless amounts of craft supplies.

It's also true that you can get playdoh or glue or crayons pretty cheaply, and it helps to know if your child is in a "explore everything, even quantities" phase more so than a "use materials carefully and sparingly to create a craft" phase.

It's ALSO true that regardless of what parents can afford, the point I was making -- that kids are still learning when they "waste" materials; that "waste" isn't an appropriate word at all because it's literally learning and growth -- is still true.

Children are inherently "wasteful" -- it's how they learn. If adults don't have the means for them to have limitless amounts of x material, then I would *extremely strongly* recommend only making available to the child as much of the material as they are able to use all of at any given time. Because it makes sense that using too much -- more than the adult is able to be comfortable with them using -- causes an adult to stress. And adults hovering around stressing out is like, the opposite of freely playing and learning.

An adult can squeeze out a tiny amount of glue into a bottle cap and give it to a child with a Q-tip or a paintbrush, for example. Or the adult can manage the glue application for a school project if necessary. Or the adult can obtain an empty glue bottle and fill it with something cheaper (flour+water? 99-cent shampoo? water mixed with some chalk powder? just straight up water in the bathtub or outside?) for the child to explore squeezing as much as they want to as part of process art and hand strengthening. Lots and lots of creative solutions!

[Image description: A screenshot of a tweet from Abbey Williams, MSW, LSW, whose handle is . The tweet reads, “Once you stop being stressed if they mix the play-doh colors, the second part of your life begins.” End description.