Friday Focus 🔎 words | movement | peace

Welcome to Friday Focus!

Welcome to Friday Focus, my weekly letter from PAX Renewal Center. Whether you’ve been reading for years or just found your way here, I’m glad you’re in this space. My aim, as always, is to offer you something worth carrying into the weekend: a thought, a passage, a moment of quiet in a noisy week.

Candace Hanson contributed to this week’s newsletter

An Idea for Family and Friends

Have you ever thought about gifting someone words? This is a fun idea to do with friends or family on a special occasion or before a big event: Give the gift of words.

Circle around the one you are celebrating or write a letter sharing the gifts that person brings to your life, what makes you smile when you think of them, what strengths you see, how they have inspired you, or even just how much they mean to you. Get creative and put your own spin on it, but just know that the gift of words is free and may impact someone far more than anything you buy in a store.

What I’m Listening To

NEEDTOBREATHE – Testify

I know this is not a new song, but I heard it again recently, and it just landed in my heart. Truthfully, I enjoy all music from NEEDTOBREATHE, but this song offered me a lightness and a reminder to let go.

My Movement of Choice

Lately, I have started working on more calisthenics-type workouts. These have been great workouts that require no fuss with equipment, just your mind and body, and for me, a little music to keep my motivation going.

A Service I Offer

I am one of multiple clinicians in our practice who offer EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapy. The reason you may hear us continue to discuss EMDR is that it is research-based and highly effective in reducing distressing symptoms related to most challenges clients come into our offices with, i.e., trauma, self-esteem, anxiety, depression, sleep, relationship challenges, loss of identity, grief, eating disorders, PTSD, and many more.

Something I Want to Bring Awareness To

ADHD vs Sleep Disorders – One of the first things I inquire about with parents when they come into my office with curiosity about their child experiencing symptoms of ADHD is how their child is sleeping every night. The challenge is that people who experience ADHD do tend to struggle with sleep, too. Interestingly, there are sleep disorders that can mimic symptoms of ADHD throughout your day.

Check out this article that explains more: https://childmind.org/article/adhd-sleep-disorders-misdiagnosed/

A Quote I’m Pondering

“The past affects the present without even

being aware of it.”

~ Francine Shapiro

A Passage From Sacred Scripture

May the Lord give might to his people;

may the Lord bless his people with peace!

~ Psalm 29:11

An Invitation For Couples

A 2-Day Marriage Intensive with Dan 

The Covenant Repair Intensive™

September has a way of resetting things. The backpacks are packed, the schedules are back on the fridge, and for the first time since May, the house gets quiet again for a few hours.

Parents everywhere feel it: a small exhale.

I’ve noticed something over the years. That quiet often surfaces what’s really going on in a marriage, not just what got covered up by summer’s noise. The unfinished conversation. The hurt that got tucked away for later. The distance that crept in while everyone was busy raising kids and keeping schedules.

Fall is a good time to notice that, and an even better time to do something about it.

The Covenant Repair Intensive™ at PAX Renewal Center gives you and your spouse two uninterrupted days, while the kids are at school and life has a little more room in it, to do the work that love actually requires. Not to relitigate the past, but to understand it. Not to decide who was right, but to find your way back to each other. Couples leave with language they didn’t have before, tools they can actually use, and something many of them haven’t felt in a long time: hope that there’s a path forward, and that they

can walk it together.

If you’re wondering whether this is the right season for your marriage, let’s talk. I offer a free 20-minute consultation, just the two of us, no pressure, so you can ask your questions and see if this is a good fit.

Schedule your free 20-minute consultation

Clinician Spotlight

Candace Hanson

Specialties: EMDR • Trauma Therapy • Women’s Issues • Anxiety • Depression • Life Transitions

Candace Hanson is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 10 years of experience providing counseling services to individuals navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, and life transitions. She specializes in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and trauma therapy, helping clients process past experiences and achieve meaningful, lasting healing.

She works with a wide range of concerns, including relationship issues, grief and loss, parenting challenges, perinatal counseling, trauma across the lifespan, self-esteem, and life transitions, and has a particular passion for counseling women. Candace is known for creating a warm, supportive, and nonjudgmental environment where clients feel empowered to grow and thrive.

Candace earned her Master of Science in Counseling from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She is married and a mother of two, bringing a relatable and grounded perspective to her work with clients.

Whether you’re navigating anxiety, trauma, life transitions, or relationship challenges, you don’t have to do it alone.

Contact us today to make an appointment with Candace! 

Blessings,

Dan and the Clinical Team at PAX Renewal Center