Important Mental Health Resources

Important Mental Health Resources
For the next few days (ends MARCH 25) anyone can sign up for some free resources.
 
The Andreas family have been involved for decades in developing and sharing strategies promoting mental health.  When I finally (after years of a friend telling me I needed to) did the PTSD training, it changed the way I work.
 
It is a myth that trauma has to “break”us. It is a myth that you have to relive/talk about traumatic experiences to return to a more peaceful level of functioning.
 
I encourage everyone to sign up for these free courses right now, and then peruse at your leisure.
 
I have no affiliation, and get no commission or other benefit from, this resource.  
 
I labeled my blog “worth repeating” because I realized if I’m saying things over and over at work, a wider audience must need this information. I've shared this with a number of my clients but really it's something we all may benefit from. 

I appreciate the Andreas’ for sharing their valuable work in response to the crisis in Ukraine.



Unplug

Unplug
This is going to be the shortest post ever.

COVID fatigue is REAL.  I'm seeing it and feeling it.  

Summer is my favorite, and I normally get a boost of energy and feel productive, but this year it's been slow in coming. 

This past weekend, I got my first chance in forever to really unplug.  Like couldn't get internet signal if I wanted to - we were a ten minute drive from the closest cell phone range, which was then slow and spotty.

I came back feeling...not new, but mentally cleared out. I can see the same piles of stuff waiting for my attention and not sink into apathy.

I have lots I've wanted to write about here, and the fatigue had been part of what was keeping me from sitting at my keyboard.  I'm a little more hopeful now that I can gather and compose my thoughts.  

In the meantime, I can suggest that if the pandemic fatigue is a weight you are carrying, a serious unplug may be just the thing.



Some Favorite Quotes, and Reflections on Languishing

Some Favorite Quotes, and Reflections on Languishing
Do you collect quotes like I do?
 
I’ve done this for years.  I have notebooks and digital documents full.  
 
And now…they are on my phone.  It’s so easy to grab a photo file from social media! I was actually organizing them the other day and decided to share a few that speak to me right now:
 
You are not a machine. You are more like a garden. You need different things on different days. A little sun today, a little less water tomorrow. You have fallow and fruitful seasons. It is not a design flaw. What does your garden need today? - @joynessthebrave
 
And don’t think the garden loses its ecstasy in the winter. It’s quiet, but the roots are down there riotous. – Rumi
 
Eat like you love yourself. Move like you love yourself. Speak like you love yourself. Act like you love yourself. – Tara Stiles

Sensing the theme?  With all the messages about how to achieve balance and consistency, it's so important to have the reminder that, usually, balance happens over time, and that figuring out today's needs may beat doing the same thing each day.

I'm curious, is anyone else just recently realizing they had a pretty hard winter and spring?  I mean I know the world did, but as someone lucky to be at home and safe over the past year and a half, it was just recently that I realized everything built up and had a bigger impact than I had registered.

A friend shared last month she realized she had felt both "raw and burnt."  That really spoke to me.  

I think what really made me aware was when I didn't get my usual burst of energy that comes with the longer days of spring.  Right into summer, I've had a certain amount of lethargy. Some people identified this as languishing, like in this article.

It's early July and I am finally getting the boost that I'm used to in May.  I'm on vacation which certainly helps, but I was careful this past year to take the same number of vacations even when we couldn't go anywhere.  

The article above talks about "finding your flow" to get out of the languishing whirlpool.  I certainly was not in flow most of the winter.  

Steps I've taken in recent weeks: 

I went to a watercolor painting class with friends, taught by a friend.  (So good to finally be all vaccinated and able to do this!) Painting is very outside my comfort zone and doing something so new jazzed me up. If you are in her New Hampshire neighborhood, consider a workshop with Martina Cyr!

I led an Aroma Freedom class with some Young Living friends, and then last week I finally made quiet time to do a session for myself.  AF combines aromatherapy with neurolinguistic processing (my favorite psychotherapy tool) to shake loose some unhelpful thinking patterns.  

Have you experienced the languishing, and how are you figuring out what the garden you are needs right now?

Part of my flow this season is teaching again.  If you need some help with some limiting thoughts, would you like to do an Aroma Freedom class?  Shoot me a message, we can make it happen.




Counseling - it's not just venting

Counseling - it's not just venting
“I can’t imagine doing your job as a counselor.  How do you listen to people’s problems all day? That must be so stressful!”
 
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that…
 
Well, I DON’T listen to people’s problems all day.  That WOULD be miserable, for them and for me.  
 
In early sessions I tell people it is “my job is to work myself out of a job.”   If therapy is going well, then things get better, and we finish.  If they don’t get better…then we have to rethink the approach and maybe even have them go work with someone else.   
 
As I mentioned recently, tt’s actually a cool time to be in mental health right now.  We have so many tools and strategies to teach people.
 
Functional medicine helps people see how nutrition and deficiencies can cause and heal things like depression and anxiety.  When someone says they can’t really understand why they feel how they do (because in general life is good) I try to get them to have an evaluation by an integrative medicine practitioner.  Because there’s no talk therapy to get their vitamin D or inositol levels up.  And since most serotonin (a big feel good neurotransmitter) is made in the gut, intestinal health has to be looked at for chronic conditions.
 
Polyvagal theory explores how to engage the nervous system in a helpful way.  Yoga, music therapy, simple breath work, can give folks a chance to finally feel good in their bodies.
 
Neurolinguistic programming, which totally changed how I work in my practice, lets me teach clients to “edit” their memories.  We have great success stopping memories from popping in uninvited, getting rid of nightmares, and resolving phobias.
 
There’s even a way to use neurolinguistic programming with aromatherapy, my other love!   Oh, and people don’t even have to tell me about what they are working on if they don’t want to.  
 
Honestly the biggest challenge often is figuring out any reasons someone might subconsciously be cautious of change.  (Which is normal, it just needs to be brought into awareness so we can work with it.)
 
Milton Erickson taught his patients and students, “don’t dam the river, channel the river.”  The river is headed somewhere important, but we can have some say in how it gets there.

If you've had therapy and didn't find it helpful, or have been worried that it would be years of reliving all the yuck in your life, please know that there are really good targeted treatments now.  


Three Supplements My Clients Use

Three Supplements My Clients Use

It’s a great time to be in healthcare.

 

With functional medicine becoming more widespread, people are getting information about how physical health IS mental health.  (Because it turns out, our brains are in our bodies.  Go figure.)

 

When people have symptoms that don’t change with their stress levels, I do my best to get them to have a functional medicine consult.  I can’t cover all the things they learn, but I wanted to share with you the ones I see being prescribed for my clients.  (Remember, I do not have a medical degree and can't advise you, I'm just relating what I've learned from my clients.)

 

MAGNESIUM

It’s the “calm down mineral.”  Seriously. It’s in Epsom salts folks use in a warm bath, and also in milk of magnesia, used for constipation.  There are different opinions if we can absorb enough from applying it to our skin, but lots of folks use a spray.  I’ve taken it orally (Natural Calm or Ionic Fizz) for muscle relaxing when I had chronic neck issues, and it’s a great one for sleep.  I have had more than one client where I noticed a difference in their mood they could not explain. When we dug deeper, they realized the change happened when they started taking magnesium.   We need regular intake, most people don’t get enough, and when we are stressed, our bodies use it even faster.

 

INOSITOL

My first encounter with a client taking inositol was dramatic. I was working with someone with obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and within a week of taking this (combined with L-Theanine) the symptoms were about noticeably reduced!  It’s used for a lot of medical conditions, but my experience is that people who obsess about things find that fades dramatically with supplementation.

 

L-THEANINE

This is a tea extract, but it is hard to drink enough to get the more therapeutic benefits, so it’s widely prescribed in supplement form. Have you seen this popping up in various “health” drinks lately?  It’s best known to help with sleep, focus, and relaxation.  Again, for my clients who struggle with OCD, it can provide noticeable relief.

 

On the homefront, we use Kidscents Unwind to promote calm and get ready for sleep.  It has both magnesium and l-theanine, as well as some essential oils known for being relaxing.  It’s not just for children, I know adults who make it into a tea or just take it straight.

 

Do you use any supplements that have helped your mental health?  I want to know!


 
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