Matt explores why familiar holiday movies feel so comforting during emotionally heavy seasons, highlighting how predictability, shared rituals, and vicarious resilience help regulate stress and foster connection. Drawing on family traditions and therapeutic insight, he shows how comfort films can become intentional tools for reflection, meaning-making, and emotional resilience rather than simple escape.  Read More…

Tags: movies, vicarious resilience, family, traditions, nostalgia, resilience, mental health care

This article explores how one family’s experience after a house fire illustrates post-traumatic growth and the rediscovery of what truly matters. By honoring grief while recognizing resilience, Matt highlights how meaning and connection can endure after loss.  Read More…

Tags: posttraumatic growth, life after loss, Rebuilding, resilience, meaning

This article explores how Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning offers guidance for navigating modern crises. By reframing suffering through purpose, choice, and values, the author highlights how meaning can sustain resilience without denying pain.  Read More…

Tags: viktor frankl, man's search for meaning, existential therapy, purpose, resilience

This article explores why helpers often struggle to ask for support and how counseling can be reframed as a practical tool for sustainability rather than a sign of weakness. By aligning counseling with the values of competence, readiness, and growth, helpers can access support that truly fits their world.  Read More…

Tags: first responder culture, health care workers, mental health care, burnout, counseling, resilience, helpers

In this reflective piece, therapist and former paramedic Matt Short shares the story of a sudden death that transformed his understanding of grief, presence, and human connection. The experience reveals how meaning-making and compassionate support help us navigate the hardest moments of life.  Read More…

Tags: grief, sudden loss, first responder wellness, inspiration, growth mindset, meaning, humanity, resilience

Today's reflection is about Matt's transition from EMS to mental health counseling, showing how both fields can share similar missions of helping people in crisis. He outlines lessons each can borrow from the other and shares his vision of building a bridge between first response and long-term healing.   Read More…

Tags: EMS, counseling, mental health care, resilience, first responder wellness

Today, Matt reflects on recent tragedies, political hate speech, and polarization. Drawing from research, Tactical Counseling calls for compassion, dialogue, and unity.   Read More…

Tags: polarization, unity, resilience

Matt reflects on recent transitions: moving into a new office and beginning a Ph.D. program at Marymount University. He highlights the opportunities growth can bring and encourages readers to see transitions as a chance for resilience and renewal.  Read More…

Tags: transitions, growth mindset, resilience, tactical counseling