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Summer/Fall 2011
Compass is composed by Keith Miller, LICSW
| Vol 4, Issue 1
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| A Confession, New Faces, and Renovation | First a confession. It's been almost eight months since my last "quarterly" Compass e-zine has been released! I have to admit to completely falling off the Compass horse. And, while only a few of you (dear faithful souls you know who you are!!) observed this and ventured a passing query about it here or there, I am not sure to be heartened there were no real complaints or sobered by the more likely reality that it was an unconscious and perhaps welcome "one less email to wade through" for busy lives.
Nonetheless, all of our stats tell us that hundreds of you do open and read each Compass edition, many of you click through to recommended resources, and some offer welcome feedback about the impact of some sections.
I will admit to having a great excuse to put off writing newsletters this year: There have been a lot of changes to the practice as we continue to grow!
 | | Whoa! The Dupont Demolition: View through two previous offices and former waiting area far right. |
In May I welcomed two new staff to the growing number of counselors affiliated with Keith Miller Counseling. Dr. Mark Jacobsen is now seeing clients in the Dupont Circle office and Dr. Marjorie Strachman Miller has been working temporarily out of a satellite office in Woodley Park until she moved into our bigger space at Dupont on September 1st.
 | The New Suite 200 Waiting Room at the Dupont Office
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Starting September 1st, we are also pleased to welcome Carl Mojita to our counseling staff, and Matt Siblo is joining the practice September 29th.
In addition, Tynisa Gaines was hired as the Office Administrator in August. Her primary job is answering the phones and and bookkeeping.
Lastly, we renovated our Dupont office after I became the primary tenant of Suite 200 in August. The new office has a much-needed re-decoration and an enlarged and private waiting-room entrance. We are glad the dust has settled and things look great!
Enjoy the rest of this great weather and have a wonderful Fall season!
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New Faces: Welcome Mark, Marjorie, and Carl!
|  Dr. Mark Jacobsen is a licensed clinical social worker with 24 years of experience as a mental health practitioner. He works with couples and individuals and specializes in the treatment of depression in men, addictions, and improving communication with couples.
Mark works in the Dupont Circle office after 5pm weeknights.Call Mark at 202-629-1949 ext. 5
Read Mark's full bio Dr. Marjorie Strachman Miller is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who works with individuals, couples and families. She specializes in addressing symptoms of anxiety (including PTSD), family counseling, and LGBTQ issues. Marjorie works in the Dupont Circle office weekdays and evenings.Call Marjorie at 202-629-1949 ext. 6
Read Marjorie's full bio 
Mr. Carl Mojta is a Post-Graduate Resident in Marriage and Family Therapy and is pursuing his full license (LMFT). Carl's areas of expertise and interests include substance abuse addiction, military mental health issues, step-family issues and helping couples successfully transform difficult polarities into healthy relationships.
Carl works in the Dupont Circle office weeknights and Saturdays Call Carl at 202-629-1949 ext. 7 Read Carl's full bio  Matthew Siblo is a licensed professional counselor who has worked with individuals and couples struggling with depression, anxiety, relational difficulties and interpersonal conflict. He supervises the clinical training of counseling students at The George Washington University community counseling center and is also doctoral candidate at GW. Matt has a particular focus on issues of diversity including culture, and sexual and religious orientations.
Matt will work in the Dupont Circle office weeknights and Saturdays after he joins the practice September 29th. For Matt's scheduling please call Tynisa Gaines at 202-629-1949 ext. 1 |
TED Talk - Brené Brown on the Power of Vulnerability
|  Many of you are familiar with TED talks already. For the uninitiated, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Started in 1984 as a one-and-done conference on the West Coast, TED has become a sort of online, elite classroom, assembling "best-of" speakers related to cultural and scientific advancement. All of the talks are a short 18 minutes, and there are more than 900 free video presentations online. Past presenters include Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Richard Dawkins, Bill Gates, educator Salman Khan, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and many Nobel P rize winners.
Brené Brown studies human connection -- our ability to empathize, belong, and love. I resonated with her humorous and poignant stories, during her TED talk, about what it is like to lean into discomfort to find deep and unexpected strength. Do I have the courage to be imperfect? Do I embrace vulnerability or do I mistake life for all of the things I do to fill it up, round off the edges, and polish the outside? If, like me, you get exhausted by your hamster-on-a-wheel voice saying "work more, do more, fix more, be more..." then put yourself in "park" and listen to Brené.
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Kaiser's Valuable Giveaway & How to Meditate In a Moment
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I was VERY impressed to learn about Kaiser Permanente's free guided imagery meditations. Who  says big insurance doesn't care about their peeps? Ok, we won't get into that.
The website above has a library of two dozen downloadable audio files, specific to conditions like headaches, pregnancy and fertility, pain, insomnia, cancer, grief, anxiety and panic, weight loss, and anger and forgiveness. They are all recorded by Belleruth Naparstek, an impressive and well-regarded figure in the mind/body health community.
I also came across a cool video short (less than 5 minutes) that explains the concept of how a mediation/mindfulness practice includes the use of even a short moment's pause in the middle of a stressful event to cue your body's relaxation response.
Have you ever caught the Showtime airing of Paul McCarthy (the Beatles) in his post-9-11 New York concert documentary The Love We Make? In it, you see him throughout his stay in NYC after being near ground zero. The film shows him after almost every intense social encounter he has in public somewhere, saying a kind of mantra out loud to himself: "And...relax." Then he takes a moment to himself before he's off to another important act of stardom. Who knows what the back story is about those subtle moments, but I wondered if he is cuing his meditation-learned relaxation reflex and doing his own version of the "moment meditation"
described in the video below.
 | | How to Meditate in Moment (short YouTube video) |
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| Cool Gadget of the Month: 1Password |  I would not exactly call myself a technology evangelist. But when I find a cool techie thing that really makes life easier, I have to share the goods.
This is the case with a software called 1Password. For about $50, it stores all of your online login password information, and fills in online credit card forms with one click.
Some people may not feel this is worth the risk putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak. But I can tell you that compared to the nightmare of juggling dozens of online passwords and routinely getting snagged in the time-suck of the password retrieval gymnastics routine, this tricky little app gets you out of the weeds and quicker on your online feet. You can do a 30 day free trial to check it out, and it runs on Mac as well as Windows OS and optional sync to the could with your mobile device.
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We love referrals -- Help someone find us
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Did you get something useful from this edition of Compass? Have you appreciated being helped by one of our counseling staff? We welcome your recommendation of our services to someone you may know that might appreciate the resource. Or, please say "thanks" by inviting a few friends to join the Compass e-zine.
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