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John Duffy, Psy.D.
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Dr. John Duffy, author of "The Available Parent: Radical Optimism for Raising Teens and Tweens," is a clinical psychologist and certified life coach with a thriving private practice in the Chicago area. Dr. Duffy works with both teens and adults and specializes in helping parents maximize satisfaction and minimize conflict in their relationships with their teenagers. In addition to clinical work, Duffy also consults with individuals, groups and corporations in a number of areas, including emotional intelligence, stress management, balancing work and family, conflict resolution, goal-setting and the power of thoughts in bringing about change. Dr. Duffy's highly satisfied clients include Sears, Allstate, General Electric, Household Financial, Exxon Mobil, Accenture, Bank of America and Hewitt Associates. The Duffy family lives in Chicago, Ill.

For more information please visit www.drjohnduffy.com and Amazon, and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.

Blog Entries by John Duffy, Psy.D.

Nurturing Your Inner Adult

4 Comments | Posted November 11, 2011 | 18:13:08 (EST)

I have a brilliant young client who, in a burst of insight, offered the following in a recent session:

"When you spend all of your time nurturing your inner child, you are that child."

Man, he is so right.

In this particular instance, the young man, we'll call him...

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The Bright September Sun: Teenagers Remember 9/11

Posted September 7, 2011 | 19:45:00 (EST)

There is hope.

Those of us who were normal workaday adults on Sept. 10, 2001, making lunches, sitting in traffic, watching the clock, checking inventory, we remember. That was the last ordinary day.

The fear, anxiety and despair that marked the next morning will be forever etched vividly into...

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The Devil You Know: Embracing Your Teen's Screens

Posted August 30, 2011 | 12:04:00 (EST)

A few months ago, the "NBC Nightly News" ran a very informative piece on the effects of electronics on the brain of today's teenager. We all know that teenagers have abundant access to technology that was considered far-off and space-aged just a few short years ago. Further, many...

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The Case for the Family Vacation

Posted August 23, 2011 | 13:14:00 (EST)

I write this from the road, literally. I am in the midst of a good old-fashioned family road trip. Now, the nature of my work dictates that I spend a lot of time thinking about the ways in which families work, those things that create a cohesive unit. And I'm...

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The Evolution of the American Father: Dad Redefined

Posted June 15, 2011 | 20:41:00 (EST)

Thinking back, my father and I exchanged precious few words in a given day. Some days, Walt and I hardly even saw one another. I feared him as a kid. "Wait till your father gets home" worked on me. It took me many years to learn who he really was...

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Bin Laden and the American Teen

Posted May 27, 2011 | 15:58:00 (EST)

To this day, I'm not sure whether it was a good idea to go in to work that day. The second tower had just fallen, and there were rumors that another runaway jet might be headed for the White House. And we weren't sure how many planes were still out...

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The Lowdown on 420: Guiding Your Teen Through the Weeds

Posted May 10, 2011 | 16:34:00 (EST)

A highly astute, very funny client of mine suggested the other day that, if you're the parent of a teenager, and you don't know what "420" is, you must be high.

Some 30 or so years ago, legend has it, a group of Bay Area high schoolers decided they would...

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A Tribute to Bad-Ass Moms

Posted May 8, 2011 | 15:15:00 (EST)

Being a mom is one bad-ass job.

I worked with the mom of two teenagers last night. She came in alone, with nothing in particular on her mind, no pressing issue, no crisis to resolve. She wanted to talk about the way in which she parents her kids, a gut...

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Avoiding the Parent Trap: How to Change Your Thoughts About Parenting Teens

Posted April 19, 2011 | 10:28:00 (EST)

It's hard to say how it started.

I know for a fact that we parent teens today with more fear, ego and judgment than calm, confidence and openness. There are countless theories as to why.

Maybe it's a lack of familiarity with their lightning-paced world of Facebook, texting and YouTube....

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