Counseling News from the Week of June 12, 2026
Explanation: Although I scan the Internet primarily for counseling articles, in the process I run across quotes and interesting facts that I sometimes include in these first two sections. If you’re just interested in the counseling articles, you can skip these first two sections and go directly to the section called Counseling Articles. HV
Interesting Quotes
“Too much credit is given to the end result. The true lesson is in the struggle that takes place between the dream and reality. That struggle is a thing called life.”
GARTH BROOKS
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
Bobby Kennedy
“The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.”
Frederick Douglass
The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.
Confucius
"Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts."
Charles Dickens
"Men and women are like right and left hands; it doesn't make sense not to use both."
Jeannette Rankin
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
Anne Frank
Fascinating Facts: Because of the large number of good counseling articles this week, I’m going to omit anything from this section this week.
Counseling Articles
“Questions Every Christian Counselor Should Consider” Now Available
To review the offering, purchase and download the book go to sfacc.net, look for the new tab, bookstore and click on it.
Could a Newborn Credit Produce More Newlyweds?
Many of us are suspicious whether government subsidies for having children and for couples getting married would help raise the birth rate or increase the marriage rate. But a recent study found that “well-timed, targeted support for low-income moms, right when a baby is born, can strengthen—not substitute for—marriage.” See article for supporting details.
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New Orleans Transforms Public Education With All-Charter Model
Although not an article about counseling, this article could be of interest to any parent or any counselor who works with young people. Twenty years ago New Orleans public schools were some of the most poorly-performing schools in the nation, with high crime in the city, high violence, high drug use, and poorly-prepared teachers. Then Hurricane Katrina hit. The state of Louisiana decided there needed to be a major overhaul of some of their poorest-performing schools. They set up a program to accomplish this. Louisiana now has some of the schools with the highest College Admission scores (99th and 98th percentile) in reading and math. (Compare this with California, where math teachers say that students admitted to colleges there cannot even do middle-school math.) Read how New Orleans accomplished this.
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What Kipling’s Poem ‘If’ Can Teach Boys About Manhood
In our contemporary culture the definition of manhood has been seriously eroded. This article contains Kipling’s poem with some brief comments.
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4 of the most controversial quotes from Talarico’s now-viral 2022 sermon
James Talarico, a very polished speaker and seminary graduate, running for the U.S. Senate from Texas, is extremely liberal, and some modern theologians have said that liberal Christianity today is not true Christianity, but a serious deviation from it.
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Os Guinness receives William Wilberforce Award for work in post-Christian age: 'It can turn around'
Anyone who has heard Os Guinness speak recently knows how sharp he is at 84. When I was in seminary 50 years ago, he was already a respected biblical scholar.
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Scientists Edit Human Embryo Genes With Startling Precision
Last Saturday scientists said they had developed a new method of using CRISPR to edit genes while babies are embryos without harming the developing embryo (earlier methods sometimes caused harm). This raises the exciting possibility of making changes in in mutation-causing DNA that could later lead to diseases. It also raises the challenge of having legal safeguards so that parents and others do not design children based on certain features.
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Human Judgment Is Your Edge in an AI Content World
There has been the prediction and the concern that AI will eventually replace many jobs. But as this author points out, even though AI can assemble many facts rapidly, human judgment about the significance of those facts is something that only humans can do.
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The Parenting Trap: How Modern Parenting Is Making Adolescence Harder
This writer, who is one of Gallup’s principal researchers of trends over the decades and is familiar with the writings of John Haidt and other commentators, has some insightful comments for parents, teachers, and counselors. He cites the work of two psychologists, who identify four types of parenting, and discusses how some of the parenting trends embraced by many Gen-Z parents (e.g., permissive parenting, neglectful/parent-centered parenting) are not the best way to help children develop into healthy adults. Highly worthwhile reading!
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Some Children’s ADHD Might Be a Sleep Problem. Here’s Why.
I don’t think many counselors or physicians who assess children for ADHD check how they are sleeping at night. But as this author points out, disordered sleeping problems such as sleep apnea and other abnormal sleep patterns can affect cognitive functioning and produce symptoms that mimic ADHD. If you do assessments for ADHD, this is a good article to read.
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Things I’d Tell My Younger Self”
This woman, who wasn’t diagnosed with having ADHD until she was in her 40s spent the first 40 years of life with lots of shame because she thought her ADHD symptoms indicated some significant flaw in her personality. Her diagnosis during her 40s gave her a totally different perspective on those struggles, and she shares what she has learned about ADHD with the hope that it will help young girls avoid the years of misery she experienced. Please share with young women who have been diagnosed with ADHD or whom you may suspect may have it.
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New Report: How Parents Can Help Their Kids Build a Faith That Lasts
We know that parental influence is a major contribution to whether children will maintain their Christian beliefs when they become adults. This article describes several ways that parents can use to increase the likelihood of their children continuing in the faith after they leave home.
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Slow to Build, Fast to Break: Commitment and Betrayal
Jason Whiting and D. Scott Sibley have co-authored this article based on interviews with more than 80 in-depth interviews with individuals about their closest relationships, betrayals they had experienced (sometimes it was not a sexual infidelity, sometimes it was just a betrayal in feeling safe with a person), such as when they had lashed out in anger. Their interviews revealed important things about what causes people to feel betrayed, how the process of regaining trust is sometimes a slow one, and what people can do to rebuild trust with their friend or partner.
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America’s Unmarried Birth Rate Puts 1 Million Kids at Risk a Year
There is some encouraging news about America’s annual crop of newborn babies: more babies are being born to mothers who are college graduates and fewer to mothers who are high school dropouts. What’s more, these positive trends are occurring among Hispanic and Black infants as well as among White and Asian newborns. But the proportion of babies born to mothers who are unmarried at the time of their infant’s birth is one troubling birth characteristic that, in recent years, is not decreasing.
The author talks about the depressing research about what happens to most children who are born to single mothers. Women offering casual sex to men, some of whom they know are not marriage material, is part of the problem. It is clear that something needs to be done to encourage both genders to develop deeper relationships and evaluating whether the other person would be a compatible marriage partner before engaging in intimacy, and to persuade young men that casual sex is not appropriate, including possible legislation that makes fathers responsible for paying toward the child support of their children.
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Is there a safe level of alcohol intake?
I carried an article on this topic when this research first came out, but it bears repeating, and there may not be some who read it before and were unwilling to accept it at that time.
Although for decades we were told that moderate use was beneficial, even heart healthy, now the medical consensus is that alcohol in any amount can have detrimental effects on several medical systems.
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Pervasive Substance Use Among Economically-Inactive Men
The book of Genesis says that God created the universe in six days (the Hebrew word means this could have been six creative epochs) and that he rested on the 7th day. Part of our model for human beings, who are made in the image of God, is that we be productive human beings, using our gifts and talents to somehow make the world a better place. When people do not have something productive to do, they can and often do use their time in less constructive ways..
Tbis research was done on 27,000 men between the ages of 18 and 64. They have been labeled NEET men, which stands for Not Employed, In Education or Training. The research indicated that a significant portion of these men, rather than working, were using multiple psychoactive substances and then met their financial needs through government social programs or by living with their parents.
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Erica Komisar on Parental Divorce
Erica Komisar has been a marital and family therapist for 30 years. She believes that children do best when raised by two parents who love each other and their families. She identifies the periods when she thinks parental divorce is hardest on children (before the age of 3 and early adolescence–ages 11-14). Most children believe they are responsible for their parents’ divorce, even when the parents assure them otherwise. She believes most divorces are preventable, but for those which are not, she has written a book to try to help divorcing parents ease the situation for their children. The book is The Parent's Guide to Divorce: How to Protect Your Child's Mental and Emotional Health through a Breakup or Separation.
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Omega-3s for Bipolar Disorder: 9 Facts You Need to Know
Omega-3s are being promoted by advertisers for those with bipolar disorder. This article gives 9 facts to help clients with bipolar disorder know whether Omega-3 can help them and what it does not do.
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The High Cost of Silent Classrooms
This is from the New York Times, so I’m not sure if it is an article you can read without a subscription, but it’s one that is especially relevant for educators. In some classrooms AI tutors are being used in place of teachers. For example, in one class that the author visited, AI tutors were attempting to teach students basic math, such as fractions. Some students were able to use the AI tutors successfully to arrive at correct answers, but other students didn’t understand something, and the AI tutor approach did not work. It became apparent that a teacher was needed to help understand what a student didn’t understand and be able to fix that.
A neuroscientist, looking at AI tutors in education, asserted that for deep learning to occur, students must be able to connect what they are learning to real life, and for some students, this only happens with a skilled human teacher.
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Pentagon amends 'Christian' designations after Mormon members of Congress complain
The Pentagon had recently amended the list of religion designations to be used by chaplains from about 200 to a group of about 20. However, after some members of Congress who were members of the Church of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) objected that their denomination was excluded, the Pentagon made a second revision. The Pentagon clarified they were trying to eliminate redundant classifications. They further clarified that their job "is not to adjudicate theological debates, but instead to ensure sincerely-held faith is respected and encouraged in our ranks."
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In Children with ADHD, Neuroimaging Data Reveals 3 Distinct Neural Biotypes
The DSM-5 has typically viewed ADHD in binary terms, either the primarily hyperactive type or the primarily inattentive type. But some professionals who have studied ADHD individuals have indicated this binary way of classifying these individuals is too simplistic and does not capture the variety of ways ADHD may manifest.
This new research, using about 500 individuals with ADHD and about 500 control subjects, found three distinct subtypes of ADHD, which for some professionals, may help us understand the variety of ways ADHD manifests in individuals.
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Is It Possible to Rewire Your Brain Through Neuroplasticity?
For many years physicians and related professionals believed that the brain was relatively fixed throughout adulthood. Recent studies have revealed something different—neuroplasticity. With healthy habits, such as adequate sleep, exercise, good nutrition, and a stimulating mental environment (such as learning a new skill, a new language, etc.) the brain can develop new neural connections throughout its lifetime. Harsh, repeated punitive experiences can also impact the brain’s neuroplasticity in negative ways.
There are limits to such neuroplasticity: serious physical damage can limit its ability to repair itself.
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5 Behaviors that Rebuild Trust After Infidelity
You may not be able to read this article if you don’t have a subscription to Psychotherapy Networker. The entire May/June 2026 issue is devoted to helping couples recover after infidelity, and I recommend you add a subscription if you don’t already have one. Here is one of several good articles from that issue.
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I hope you have a wonderful week!
Henry Virkler