Why ChatGPT Is Not Your Therapist: And What You Actually Need
By Justin Stum, LMFT | Licensed Counselor & Therapist Relationships are messy. They are supposed to be. The friction, the misunderstanding, the repair: that’s not a flaw in the system. That is the system that’s the painful but beautiful way relationships work. So when millions of people started quietly opening ChatGPT and typing out their […]
When the Body Says No: A Book Every Person in Therapy or Considering It Should Read
By Justin Stum, LMFT | Book Review If you’ve ever said “I don’t feel stressed, I just keep getting sick,” you’ve already stumbled into the central mystery that Dr. Gabor Maté spends an entire book unpacking. When the Body Says No: The Hidden Cost of Stress is one of the most compelling books I’ve encountered […]
EFT Couples Therapy: Finding Each Other Again in St. George, Utah
You didn’t fall in love to end up here. Sleeping on opposite sides of the bed, having the same argument for the hundredth time, wondering if something is fundamentally broken between you. Most couples who come into therapy in St. George, Utah aren’t looking for someone to tell them they’re doing marriage wrong. They’re exhausted. […]
What Is IFS Therapy: A St. George, Utah Therapist Explains
I’ve been doing this work for over two decades. In that time, I’ve watched a lot of therapy models come and go. Some useful, some overhyped, some that sounded good in a training room but can fall short with real clients. IFS has been different. Internal Family Systems therapy, developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, has […]
Social Anxiety During the Holidays
If holiday parties, family dinners, or work events make your chest tighten and your mind race, you’re not broken. You’re human. For many people here in St. George Utah and across Southern Utah, the holidays bring warmth and connection, but they also bring pressure. The good news is that there are real, research-backed ways to […]
Elevated Counseling and Wellness in St. George Utah
In April of 2022, I transitioned into a group practice setting in new offices and I’m so excited. New space and new offerings with great people, I’ve created Elevated Counseling and Wellness and we’re already up and running I’m just doing a blog post about it now on this page. Elevated Counseling and Wellness is […]
Family Vacations: Buy Experiences, Not Things
Getting out of the house and taking a vacation is an excellent way to spend some quality time with your family and unwind from the humdrum of everyday life. It’s easy to get into routines and just as easy to let the summer slip without the memories you’d really wish you had. If you plan […]
What Is It Most Women Really Want?
Many of my clients, both men and women, come to counseling seeking understanding and curbing of symptoms in their marriages and/or families. Most have their own stories, own perceptions, and own histories. Human beings are complex individuals with relationship histories and pasts that make each one of us all our own. As I have worked with […]
Emotional Codependency in Marriage and Parenting Relationships
Codependency has typically been associated or understood to be a dynamic that occurs with individuals that are addicted to substances and their partners or spouses. Today the phenomenon we call codependency can be associated with those that are in fact not using substances of any kind. Mothers and children, husbands and wives, friends and associates […]
Thoughts on Abating Anxiety, OCD & Stress
Anxiety and stress can be pervasive and wear on ones emotions as well as your body. Anxiety can manifest itself in a variety of manners, many of which are somatic, meaning in the body. It creates a chain reaction with symptoms of stomach pain, shakes, sweat, sleep difficulty, and fatigue. Most often anxiety can effectively […]