Millennium Counseling Center + Northern Illinois Recovery Center For more than 20 years, Millennium Counseling Center has stayed focused on what matters most: providing thoughtful, excellent clinical care. Over those…
Dating in your twenties already comes with a long list of uncertainties. Will they text back? Did I say something weird? Are we casually seeing each other or slowly entering…
Key Points: Mental Health in College Sports College athletes receive extensive physical performance support but limited proactive mental health care. Performance pressure increases vulnerability to anxiety, burnout, and depression. Untreated…
Key Points: Athlete Performance and Mental Health When self-worth is tied only to results, performance becomes emotionally fragile. Chasing external validation can lead to burnout, anxiety, and injury. The body…
I grew up in sports. Early mornings, late practices, weekends spent at fields, courts, and the gym. I learned discipline, teamwork, resilience, and how to push through discomfort. Sports shaped…
Key Points: Therapy Isn’t the Miracle Hour Therapy is a catalyst for change, not a one-hour fix. Real healing happens between sessions, in daily choices. Insight alone doesn’t create change;…
Key Points: Perfectionism Perfectionism feels like chasing a finish line that constantly moves. Achievement rarely brings relief for perfectionists; it raises the bar instead. Chronic striving often leads to burnout,…
Key Points: Proactive Mental Health Care Mental health is far more manageable before a crisis than during one. Stress accumulates quietly through subtle signs like disrupted sleep, irritability, or low…
Key Points: College Athletes’ Anxiety Anxiety often shows up as physical symptoms. Performance pressure keeps the nervous system stuck on high alert. Body sensations can trigger a fear-exertion feedback loop.…
Cheering on friends a couple of weeks ago, darting all around the city just to catch that .5-second adrenaline rush of seeing a friend during the Chicago Marathon, had me…
Love languages tend to get all the attention. We’re taught to focus on how we give and receive affection, not on how we handle conflict. The pressure to be “cool,”…
A tournament where anything can happen: Cinderella stories are written, buzzer-beaters, upsets, underdogs rise up, multiple overtimes, rivalries…you name it. 68 teams, one team at the very end with the…
Netflix’s new documentary on Avicii, titled Avicii: I’m Tim, provides a poignant and unfiltered look into the life of one of the most influential EDM artists of our time. Tim…
Being a captain is more than just going up for a coin toss—as my late high school coach, Dave Boze, often reminded me. As a freshman in high school, I…
My college roommates and I were obsessed with Sex and the City. For bright-eyed 21-year-olds, it was the perfect blend of procrastination and fantasy—laughing at Carrie’s misadventures while imagining what…
Some twenty-somethings are in school. Many aren’t. Some have college degrees. Many don’t. Some started jobs right out of high school, while others are debating applying for grad school. Some…
Let’s be real—grad school is a whirlwind. Between juggling classes, figuring out my schedule (which was never consistent), and adjusting to life without the structure of being a college athlete,…
There is no perfect time for divorce. It is an incredibly difficult decision, but the process can be made easier with intentional daily mindset rewiring. The divorce process is a…
I once cried in a liquor store in Starkville, Mississippi. I was on the phone with my mom, sobbing relentlessly about how lonely I felt because I was single. When…
One day, you’re driving to the grocery store, thinking I can’t do this anymore. You start slowly perusing the grocery aisles, lost in your thoughts and becoming complacent during the…
MCC Athlete Wellness aims to help athlete’s mental health challenges Sometimes, athletes want to answer the question “How are you doing?” with something beyond their teams’ record on the season.…
It’s not unprofessional to show up authentically in a therapeutic relationship. When I was searching for a place to do my second-year practicum in graduate school, Millennium Counseling Center quickly…
MCC Athlete Wellness supports athletes returning to sport after injury I heard the snap, tasted the salty tears, and wrestled with the reality that I was not going to wear…
Recently one of our very own clinicians, Dr. Reylla Santos PhD, was invited to an interview on The Justice Beat Talk Show to discuss her research: The Treatment Approach to Hope:…
An introductory note from Derek Bylsma: As a therapist at Millennium Counseling Center, I’ve learned the importance of treating patients as individuals and recognizing the power of gratitude in mental…
The Importance of Therapist Relationships and Community Support The rapid growth of technology and social media platforms has made it easier than ever to connect with others. However, it has…
Why do people lie? We’ve all been in a situation where we either know someone is lying or we have a sinking feeling they aren’t being truthful. Recently, someone I know lied…
In this Millennium Hope podcast episode segment, Derek Bylsma takes on the mental health topic surrounding instant access to bad news and what can we do about it for better…
In this Millennium Hope podcast episode segment, Derek Bylsma takes on the mental health topic surrounding the shortage of mental health professionals. — Full Transcript for Shortage of Mental Health…
Money might just seem like an item or record used as payment. Yet, we all know that money is so much more than just currency and how we relate to…
Feeling like something has been left unfinished, unresolved, or worse, left in a way that you never wished or intended, can be painful. Being left to contemplate and make sense…
An entrepreneur and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, became known for his infamous quote: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Rohn believed that…
I saw this sweatshirt on a social media ad, and I HAD to have it. I loved it! Anyone who knows me would probably be surprised that I’m enamored of…
I had the opportunity to be a guest on The Founder’s Therapy Podcast with Matt Wunderli to discuss Therapy in the Windy City. As a former athlete that struggled with my own…
The glossary of sexual and gender identity labels is extensive and ever-increasing. In just the past few years, we have seen our acronyms lengthen from LGBT to LGBTQIA to LGBTGEQIAP+,…
I’m sure you’re thinking What the What? How can there be too much empathy? Isn’t it the compassionate person’s superpower? Well, the answer to this is yes and no. “The…
You are pushed to the utter limits of your emotional and physical tolerance until you can no longer carry the weight. Here, in this small space pushed up against an…
Our imagination is remarkable. We use it to envision new possibilities, create, invent and even help someone survive the unbearable. Imagination and fantasy are often confused and intertwined, but there…
It’s hard to believe we are at the end of summer and yet this pandemic is still dictating our lives. With all the noise about how to process, cope and…
“Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves even when we risk disappointing others.” – Brené Brown Having healthy boundaries AND knowing when and how to exercise them…
During this lockdown, life is moving at a surreal pace with a lost sense of time and space and I have been hyper-focused on the existential meaning of it all.…
COVID-19’s ripple effects shook up a lot and raised several concerns, especially in the counseling space: “How in the world do I do therapy through a computer?” “Can I even…
With so much emphasis on the state of our nation, humanity, and our willingness to “hold on tight,” we’re grappling with various parts of our being, all of which usually…
A question I’ve been hearing professionally as a counselor and personally as a mom, wife, sister and friend is “When will this end so we can get back to normal?”…
“The greatest gift you can give another is your time, your attention, your love, and your concern.” – Joel Osteen According to a survey by health insurance company Cigna, three…
I am not a huge fan of the term “love addiction,” because it implies that it is wrong to love, which is far from true. It’s the same way that…
“Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change.” – Brene Brown Our sexuality is a natural part of our humanity. This is a sex…
Using sex to act out is more prevalent than most people believe. What is sex addiction? Is that really a thing? Yes, it is. However, sexual issues and attachment styles…
I had the opportunity to be a guest on The GameTime Guru Podcast with Shane Larson to discuss the mental aspects of sports. Playing soccer growing up and eventually going on to D1 soccer in college, I learned early on that…
What do I mean by things? Yes, I’m being intentionally vague because holding onto things can be our thoughts, a belief, mantra, patterns and so on. Sometimes we hold on…
I recently attended Madonna’s Madame X show in Chicago. The show was filled with creative expression but only if you were present to notice. Upon entering, we had to silence…
Meet the Millennium team. In this audio style interview, we sit down with Millennium Primary Counselor, Hilary Rosenberg, to discuss how her career got started, her passion for helping…
We talk to ourselves regularly. There is an ongoing narrative voice in the back of our mind, and sometimes we listen to it; other times, we let it go on…
Being completely independent is overrated. As a culture, we’re programmed to instill, praise and value a sense of autonomy and we often fail to promote and foster the importance of…
“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” — Pema Chodron In today’s world, we hear a lot about the benefits of being mindful and present, but…
“Radical acceptance rests on letting go of the illusion of control and a willingness to notice and accept things as they are right now, without judging.” – Marsha Linehan We…
I had the opportunity to be a guest on the SportsEpreneur podcast (listen here). This podcast is produced by the content marketing team of KazSource. The SportsEpreneur platform drives leaders…
I had the opportunity to be a guest on the podcast, Entrepreneur Perspectives (listen here). This podcast is produced by the content marketing team of KazSource. It’s a weekly podcast…
Moving from an insecure to a secure attachment is like removing the leaves off an artichoke; enjoying each piece, until you get to the heart, which is the best part.…
Wisdom has always been considered an admirable attribute of personality but has remained a rather abstract concept due to the complexity of its nature. Life span developmentalists began to study wisdom as…
There’s an old Bonnie Raitt song called, “Something to Talk About” that’s about falling in love and giving folks “something to talk about”! As I thought about that song, I realized that when…
Building client relationships and developing trust is very important in the recovery process. Our counselors believe in the client and connect with each individual upon first contact. On the rare…
When the New Year comes, many of us make resolutions. We might resolve to lose weight, get out of debt, exercise more, or be more diligent in our recovery programs, but usually the focus is on helping ourselves.…
Are you certain that this time will be different only to be disappointed? As soon as you become close to your partner, do they suddenly pull away or disappear? Or do you? Are you settling…
Our Intensive Treatment program, developed by Ann Foster and her team at Millennium, offers extensive support and wrap-around care for individuals during critical transitional times of their recovery including, but…
One of the big questions around the holidays is how to make everyone happy by attending ALL family gatherings. Answer? YOU CAN’T! The phrase in that first sentence that needs…
Before we know it, the holidays will be here. For those of us who struggle with family relationships, the holidays bring up lots of feelings—not all of them happy. So…
“I don’t have enough motivation.” How often do we hear athletes blame lack of motivation for poor performance? But while motivation can indeed be a problem, often the real issue…
Life after a divorce is hard, here are some tips on navigating life and relationships after a divorce. The process of ending a relationship begins long before finding a lawyer,…
The crisp air of fall and the autumnal glare of the sun’s rays brings about a certain hope of celebration and perhaps pumpkin everything as a harbinger to the holidays.…
Learning to pay attention to the moment while also cultivating a nonjudgmental stance towards self sounds pretty ideal to an addict in recovery, right? Individuals experiencing addiction, past or present,…
This is the time of year when some sports are in playoff mode, and others are just beginning their season. With the NFL draft right around the corner, there are…
He’s too hard to buy for! She’s so picky! I don’t know what to get them, they have everything! We all have someone in our lives who is hard to…
One philosophy the Chicago Cubs hold dear is never give up! From their manager Joe Maddon, to almost every player who’s been interviewed, they all say the same thing; we…
There’s this saying being thrown around jokingly by college students that ultimately leaves a lasting, detrimental impact. The saying goes “It’s not alcoholism until you graduate.” This statement perpetuates the…
A “full-court press” in basketball means the entire team surrounds one opposing player when he/she tries to inbound the ball. Instead of spreading out across the court, they all gather…