Depression or Emotional Slump?

Depression We all have our days. Or weeks. That’s for sure. But clinical depression is usually something characterized more by time and symptoms. Symptoms ranging from sadness, hopelessness, despair, and isolation most of the time for at least 2-3 weeks would be things to consider in terms of leaning toward clinical depression.   Emotional Slump…

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Learning the Skill of Emotional Validation as Parents

  Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash It makes sense that parents want to raise their children to be healthy, happy and successful in life in whatever way is meaningful to that family. However, we all know that the best of intentions do not necessarily translate into meaningful action 100% of the time. Emotional validation…

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Social Comparison, Envy and Anxiety

Photo by Dietmar Becker on Unsplash   Have you ever noticed how simple acts can quickly invoke feelings of envy, failure, anxiety, or insecurity?  Things like going to a particular website, reading a social media post or even noting what clothes or cars people have may be examples.  Social comparison is common and one of…

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New Mom, New Struggle: Part II

Photo by Zach Lucero on Unsplash Good news, you’re not alone. This is the second installment of our “New Mom” series: New Mom, New Struggle.” If you haven’t read the first part of the series, you can access that by clicking here. In the first part of our series, we opened the floodgates on this…

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New Mom, New Struggle: Part I

PHOTO BY JULIE JOHNSON ON UNSPLASH So, you’re a mom now Becoming a new mom is a courageous and vulnerable act. Whether you’re a new mom for the first time, or you’re adding to your family, you have some unique and often unacknowledged challenges and successes ahead of you. If you didn’t grow up with…

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Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO DBT) Why so many acronyms in mental health?  I ask myself this almost daily.  At any rate, RO DBT is a newish type of therapy I think will be life changing for many clients. Never heard of it What do I mean by newish?  It’s been researched for over…

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Dealing with the difficult emotions

Dealing with the difficult emotions can often be the core of some mental health issues.  We’re often taught strategies of avoidance or defensiveness, though with perfectly good intentions. Types of Difficult Emotions Sometimes difficult emotions such as anxiety, sadness or anger are met with assumptions of weakness, moodiness or being “too sensitive.”  In reality, these…

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The Relief of a Diagnosis

Starting the Counseling Process So often people enter counseling with some fear and trepidation around what exactly the clinician might say.  Am I ‘normal’?  Am I the only person experiencing challenges to my way of being in the world?  These are universal questions those of us who struggle with such challenges ask ourselves.  Often the…

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What To Expect In Recovery From An Eating Disorder

My friend, colleague and business partner extraordinaire has this great idea for us to write blogs together.  We are both passionate not only about eating disorder treatment, but also the treatment team collaboration that is so important.  We hope you enjoy various topics from the perspective the dietitian and the therapist!  Here are our thoughts…

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What’s in Your Mindfulness Toolbox

What’s in Your Mindfulness Toolbox?  The Nuts and Bolts of Stress Relieving Activities Mindfulness is one of the new buzzwords in our culture.  Time Magazine recently dedicated an entire issue to educating its readers on what exactly it is.  Jon Kabat Zinn has even developed a program around it called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.  …

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