Our Blog
Read articles about current mental health topics from our team of professionals.
The Connection Between Nature and our Mental Health
We can experience awe while seeing incredible natural scenes and sublime aspects of nature. Research has shown that people react to the wilderness with experiences such as feelings of fear, fragility, and respect.
The Hope of Grief
We have many creative ways of managing and navigating grief, and how we do so is largely dependent on what is culturally acceptable.
Self-Care with our Inner Child
For a long time, I did not want to accept that I could be affected by how I grew up or what experiences I had as a child. I refused to acknowledge that perhaps some of how I engaged myself and the world around me was tied to my past. For me, the past was the past… until I noticed it was showing up in the present. Then I found that I had a choice: I could choose to try to ignore it and stick to the patterns that were no longer serving me well in the present or I could notice, listen, care for myself, and listen some more. I have chosen the latter. Self-care with our inner child can create healing.
Goal Setting and Achieving
creating goals and achieving them doesn’t have to be a stressful or disappointing experience. Achievement can come with imagination, honesty, community, and resilience.
Imposter Syndrome
What is Imposter Syndrome? It is the idea you believe your success is due to luck, not because of your expertise. Typically, people with such a syndrome fear others will eventually find out they have been faking.
Body Connection
he word embodiment grabs attention as of lately. It’s certainly a buzzword but it points to something that every person is connected to: the idea that we all have a body that we live in and experience everything through and with. But how many of us are actually aware and curious enough of this fact to be in relationship with our body? Are we connected to our bodies and listening to them enough to take care of them well?
The Language of Trauma
Trauma may impair our ability to communicate effectively, but these coping mechanisms are their own kind of communication, and speak to a desire to be seen and understood in the darkest places.
Perfectionism
Young people especially, put pressure on themselves to be perfect. This may look like striving to look perfect, to perform perfectly at work or school, or to find a perfect partner and have a perfect relationship. What exactly is perfectionism? Perfectionism can be hard to define because the line between high achievement and perfectionism is blurred
How to Grieve
Grief springs forth from numerous sources. It evokes a range of emotions from debilitating sadness, shock, anger, regret, and guilt, to deep gratitude and even joy and happiness. As we reflect on a year of Covid, it can be overwhelming to contemplate the varied packages in which loss has presented itself. It can be difficult to know how to grieve.
Evolving our self-care
We need to look at evolving our self-care. But what does that mean in practice, when we can no longer do many of the things that used to fill our proverbial buckets in the past? How do we carve time out for self-care when others depend on our attention more than ever? How have our needs for self-care changed now that we live and work in the same spaces?
36 Questions to Fall in Love
How do you fall in love with someone? I always assumed that love is complicated and depending on a lot of different internal and external factors. In a 1997 study, American psychologists Arthur and Elaine Aron came up with a questionnaire of 36 intimate questions that help develop a close bond faster between strangers. These questions can come in handy during a first date or even for couples looking for ways to reconnect. You can use these questions to strengthen your partner’s bond or increase your intimacy with someone else. What would be a better time than to try this on a Valentine’s date?
Different Forms of Therapy
This article will discuss three commonly used types of therapy: EMDR therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy. These forms of therapy can be used to treat depression, anxiety, PTSD, substance abuse, self-harm, suicidality, anger, as well as many other types of mental health issues.
Blessings and Struggles
Everyone faces trials and struggles, some more severe than others. Even currently, we are all living in the midst of a pandemic, and as a result are experiencing various degrees of trauma and loss. I also know that some have found unexpected blessings in such a dark and uncertain time.
Friendships Explained
What is friendship? Why do we connect with someone in a split second, while feeling like we do not want to be close with another person right away? How many friends do we need to be happy? Humans are social beings: we need other humans to feel fulfilled. People who really see, understand, and make us feel like we belong. This is friendship explained.
Terror, nature, and relief
“If I die here, no one will find me, at least for a few days. And my dead body will start rotting before it gets torn apart by some unknown carnivores” 2 hours of hiking into Mt. Laguna, negative thoughts slipped into my head as I slowly moved into the backcountry...
Surviving the Cuffing Season While Single
Surviving cuffing season as a single person can be challenging. Cuffing season is described as the period covering the coldest season of the year starting in October
Stay Sane with Exercising
Exercise can help you handle challenges in life better, which is exactly what we need to stay sane in a world of ambiguity and uncertainties. Besides all the side effects such as growing muscles, burning calories, and strengthening your heart and lungs, exercise helps to get your brain in top condition!
What Covid-19 has taught me about Authenticity
I was talking to a friend recently who shared that Covid had brought enough stillness to her life to allow her to engage in deep introspection. This deep introspection had brought about a new awareness to the way she lived her life and how she showed up in the world....
The Power of Effective Self-Talk
I have a confession. I used to view self-talk as self-deception. When I was a teenager, I learned positive self-talk from a teacher. I resisted it because she taught me to feed myself sugar-coated messages to feel better. I didn’t appreciate the power of...
Childhood Sexual Abuse – A path to healing
‘You can recognize survivors of abuse by their courage. When silence is so very inviting, they step forward and share their truth so others know they aren't alone.’Jeanne McElvaney Effects of Sexual Abuse During Childhood Because childhood sexual abuse takes place at...