While anxiety often shows up as a protective mechanism, it can also have negative consequences on both our mental and physical health. Nevertheless, it is possible to manage anxiety symptoms and heal.
Black, Indigenous, Person of Color (BIPOC) Mental Health Awareness Month
Each person deserves accessible resources to engage in healing, self-care, community care, and proper tools to cope with mental conditions.
Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month
June is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to highlight the unique challenges that men face in seeking mental health support and resources.
Emotional Support Animals, Service Animals & Animal-Assisted Therapy
Did you know that animals can also provide mental health support, whether as emotional support animals, service animals, or even through animal-assisted therapy? Even though each of these roles differs from the other, all offer substantial benefits that can meet a variety of needs.
How to Feel Your Feelings
Do you ever find yourself wanting to numb or avoid unpleasant, challenging emotions? Perhaps you distract yourself with entertainment, engage in maladaptive coping mechanisms like substance use, or repress and deny any feelings that arise if they don’t seem tolerable. Does any of this sound familiar?
Expressive Arts Therapy
Expressive Arts Therapy involves a multi-modal approach consisting of visual art, writing, psychodrama, music, and movement or other somatic approaches
Building Intimacy in Relationships
A multitude of factors can contribute to decreased or diminishing intimacy in a relationship. Past trauma, chronic stress, feeling stuck in a routine, and other unaddressed issues within the relationship itself can prevent the opportunity for cultivating connection and closeness.
Motivation
Motivation is the vital element in setting and obtaining objectives and involves a desire or reason to act in service of the goals we aspire to accomplish. When we lack motivation, it can often lead to depression, isolation, and lacking a sense of purpose or meaning in our life.
Navigating Loneliness During Holiday Season
People have different socialization needs; nevertheless, it is common for people to experience isolation despite the joys often associated with the holiday season.
Shadow Work with the Shadow Self
Shadow work is about making the unconscious conscious in addition to finding ways to re-integrate the parts of ourselves we feel shame around in a way that better serves us in our relationships with others and with ourselves.
Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
It is vital to cultivate open conversations about mental health in order to destigmatize sensitive topics such as self-harm and thoughts of taking one’s own life
Navigating Burnout
Regardless of the type, cause, or symptoms of your burnout, there are ways to not only prevent burnout but also treat it once it has begun.
Healing Trauma
There are three main categories of trauma including acute trauma, chronic trauma, and complex trauma.
Postpartum PTSD
Approximately nine percent of mothers develop postnatal PTSD after a variety of shocking, unexpected, or traumatic experiences during the birthing process.
Love Languages as Self-Care
Did you know that these love languages can not only apply to our relationships with others – but also to the relationships we have with ourselves?
Healthy Habit Building
While we know habits can be incredibly useful, how exactly are they formed? Habits are built through learning and repetition that is sustained through pursuing goals.
Psychology of Attraction and Crushes
Experiencing attraction is a natural part of the human experience and often happens quickly and subconsciously.
Coping with Social Comparison
As we are bombarded with highlight reels of people’s lives during this time, we must be mindful of how we engage with this content, the effects of social comparison, and how our self-esteem may be impacted.
Disordered Eating Behaviors During the Holiday Season
With so many holidays centered around food and sharing meals, these activities can further trigger those who struggle with disordered eating.
Helping Children of Divorce Navigate Changing Family Dynamics
Approximately one in two children will see their parents break up. While divorce is common and can be a path forward for familial healing, dissolution of marriage impacts not only the couple involved but also any children the couple have together.
Self-Care and Community Care
If our primary value at the moment is community or connection, we can prioritize quality time with our support system and loved ones.
Healing Inner Child Wounds
Inner child wounds can present in a multitude of ways, stem from a variety of childhood experiences, and can continue showing up well into adulthood.
Honoring Grief and Loss
Honoring Grief and LossWhile grief and loss is a part of life, there is no right or wrong way to…
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Navigating Social Anxiety Post-Pandemic
Navigating Social Anxiety Post-PandemicOver the past two years, we have collectively moved through various waves of the pandemic consisting of…
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Shame Versus Guilt
If shame is detrimental to our wellbeing and development, what function does it serve? How can we combat it and instead transform our guilt and shame into something more useful?
Social Media’s Impact on Mental Health
Seventy-two percent of Americans currently use social media. With such widespread use, it is clear that social media has had and will continue to have immense impact on mental health.
Stillbirth Grief & Loss
Regardless of when, stillbirth and other pregnancy losses are deeply impactful and grieved by many mothers and families.
Self-Care and You
The process of practicing self-care requires that you check in with yourself to identify your feelings and needs.
Distress Tolerance: TIPP Skills
Have you ever been so overwhelmed that you felt like no matter what coping mechanism you tried, nothing was effective?
Sad or SAD? Combating Winter-Onset Seasonal Affective Disorder
As the days grow colder, shorter, and darker in many places, it is common to experience fatigue, sadness, loneliness, and other symptoms that mirror depression. What’s going on?
Cultivating Mindfulness In Everyday Life
Mindfulness is the concept of being present, aware, and fully attentive to the moment at hand. Oftentimes, our mind is elsewhere, and we lose touch with our surroundings, bodies, and selves.
Codependency Misconceptions and How to Heal
Codependency is a pattern of behaviors in which one person frequently sacrifices their own needs in order to meet the needs of others. There are many misconceptions surrounding what codependency is, what causes it, and how to heal.
How to Support Your Child Who Came Out
In order to create a safe space for someone to discuss their identity openly and authentically with them, start with listening without judgment. Let them know you believe them, you love them, and thank them for telling you because it is a courageous thing to do.
First-Time Pregnancy During a Pandemic
This article is based on interviews conducted with first-time moms experiencing pregnancy mid-pandemic and what they want other mothers to know about pregnancy in general as well as during a time of worldwide uncertainty.
Common Misconceptions About Therapy
Many misconceptions exist revolving around what therapy looks like, who attends therapy, and what purpose counseling serves. So what are common misconceptions about therapy, and what is the truth about receiving mental health care?
Infertility
Infertility, the inability to reproduce by natural means, is a problem for at least 8 percent of couples worldwide and affects both women and men. Let’s take a look at infertility.
Misconceptions About Therapy
Many misconceptions exist revolving around what therapy looks like, who attends therapy, and what purpose counseling serves. So what are common misconceptions about therapy, and what is the truth about receiving mental health care?
Relationships and the Five Love Languages
But what is the key to maintaining a healthy, functional relationship? Some people believe communication is key. Others might think loyalty or commitment are the foundation of any strong partnership.
Goal Setting in the New Year
As we reign in the New Year, we are often bombarded with messages about goal setting. However, what makes these New Years’ resolutions last past January?
Modeling Healthy Body Image for Our Children
If we express dissatisfaction with our bodies or are critical of the way we look, it is likely that our children will learn to evaluate themselves through the same critical lens.
Setting Boundaries
Let’s Talk About Boundaries As the leaves begin to change colors and fall from the trees and the air turns…
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Telehealth in Mental Health
As the world around us continues to change, we must adapt and find safer, more efficient ways to receive the care we need. So, what exactly is telehealth?
Trauma Responses
Trauma can include a host of experiences such as living through a natural disaster, experiencing racial trauma, losing a loved one, or surviving abuse.
Seven Ways to Help Yourself Achieve Healing
Seven Ways to Help Yourself Achieve Healing How do you help yourself achieve healing? We have identified seven ways! There…
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Intrusive Thoughts During Postpartum Period
Intrusive thoughts during the postpartum period can be debilitating. So you’re laying in bed, physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted from your day with an infant at home.
Coping Strategies Holiday Stress
Coping Strategies Holiday Stress Coping strategies for holiday stress is a must! Holiday commercials are filled with families and people…
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Mental Health Breast Cancer Battle
Breast cancer survivors are continuously fighting on the battlefield to win the war on their physical, mental and emotional health. Survivors have been through hell and have managed to fight their way back to a healthy life. Thankfully, breast cancer survivors have tripled in the past decade.
I Don’t Want to Go to Therapy: Top 3 Reasons
I had the pleasure of providing treatment to clients who never wanted to go to therapy. Below are a few reasons why maybe one of them is your “why” too.
Book Review on Doula Revolution: Transforming your Mind, Body and Soul
I’m a 35-year-old mother of three beautiful children. After the birth of my third child, I struggled with postpartum depression, high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia and to make matters worse, my doctor found a lump in my left breast.
Climbing Out of the Darkness of Postpartum Mood Disorders
Climbing Out of the Darkness of Postpartum Mood DisordersBy Mariah Warren, Guest Blogger. Mariah is a mother, warrior mom and…
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I Have Always Known that I Wanted to be a Mother
My vision of what my journey would look like came to a screeching halt when I started facing unforeseen complications in my pregnancy.
Suicide Is The Number One Preventable Death
Unlike deaths resulting from medical illnesses, suicide can be prevented with appropriate mental health support and advocacy.
Christine’s Perinatal Loss
We were so naive about what it would be like to expand our family. We didn’t know any couples who had experienced any difficulties having their children.
What Happens in Therapy?
I employ a client-centered treatment philosophy. There are three fundamental processes that serves as pillars for treatment. The fashion in which the therapeutic process unfolds, greatly depends on the patient’s needs.
Suicide, Is There Another Alternative?
It is rarely discussed and always looming. It comes with a stereotype, a stigma, a “type”. Perhaps threats or past behaviors were overlooked. Perhaps the signs were staring you right in the eye.
Infertility Group Support Open Letter To My Patients
Infertility, a word all of you are very familiar with! To do a free association activity with this word would produce numerous gut-wrenching feelings, adjectives, questions, nouns etc. I can imagine that I would hear the words isolation, loneliness or alienation reverberated across the room by more than one woman.
Grace’s Miscarriage
The memory of losing my baby is STILL so strong. I feel paralyzed. I feel defeated.I have always known that…
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Night Terrors and Children
1. What causes nightmares? What are some common triggers? Overall nightmares are the manifestation of our overwhelmed emotions; in this case, fear, expressed during the REM state. Nightmares often occur during a stressful time in a child’s life.
A Mother’s Transformative Story of Healing
I had an abortion in 1988 when I was 17. I lived in a small town, my parents were well known and they knew everyone.
How Do I Manage My Anxiety?
Anxiety is a mental health disorder that is characterized by feelings of being overwhelmed with worry, fear, uneasiness or panic about the present or the future.
Motherhood and Anxiety
Anxiety-related concerns are one of the most common issues that motivate patients to therapy, and for mothers of newborns, anxiety can be so debilitating.
How Do I Let Go of my Past Trauma?
The American Psychological Association defines trauma as “an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster.”
Are You Having Difficulty Communicating with Your Loved One?
Are You Having Difficulty Communicating with Your Loved One? Take our Quick Survey.
“Nervous Breakdown” Was How Postpartum Depression was Described in the 1930s
Recently, I heard a heart-wrenching story from an 80-year-old grandmother who shared her story about having a “nervous breakdown” when she answered the question, do you have a history of depression?
Why Do I Need Psychotherapy to Treat my Postpartum Depression?
By Meedlen Charles, MD. Dr. Charles is board certified in general Obstetrics and Gynecology with Westchester Medical Practice- New York Presbyterian Medical Group Hudson Valley
Self-Care for Health Care Professionals
A professional’s strong alliance with their clients, repeated exposure to clients’ traumatic birth or traumatic life experiences and a professional’s own personal trauma can create an inducement for an emotional breakdown.
Navigating The Journey of Infertility
I have always known that I wanted to have my own family one day. When we decided to have a family, we were filled with excitement and pure joy and I quickly started to filled the nursery with pictures and even a mural on the wall.
What Happens in Group Therapy?
Although most people have not been exposed to this therapeutic process; it is a very effective form of treatment.
Psychotherapist Versus Life Coach: What’s the Difference?
What is the difference between a life coach and a psychotherapist? I have been asked this question numerous times, so let me take the time to clarify this point.
Embracing YOUR Individual Therapy
Maybe this is your first time thinking about going to therapy or maybe you have tried this before. No matter, it can be a scary venture, but it’s well worth it in the end.