Mental Health Blog: Insights and Support

How to Win with Confidence Affirmations

Self-confidence is something that many people struggle with. It can be very easy to compare yourself to others or doubt yourself and your abilities. Sometimes this lack of confidence may lead you to avoid speaking up for yourself or doing something that you might really want to, due to fear of others’ reactions or fear […]

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Anxiety, Children, College/Students, Depression, How To, OCD, Professional/Work, Stress, Teens

How Growth Mindset Can be Your Secret Weapon Against Stubbornness

We all know that person… the “my way or the highway” person, the stubborn personality. Sometimes, stubbornness pays off – such dedication to a task can be a real strength. Putting 110% into a big project or practicing free-throws for hours can help you achieve your goals. Sometimes though it is more of a hindrance,

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Challenges, Growth Mindset, Tips

Test Anxiety? Here’s How to Fix it

Whether it is the SATs or a test in math class, test anxiety plagues many high schoolers. Students experience a lot of pressure, both external and internal, to do well on exams, but the anxiety often has a counterproductive effect. Of course a little stress can be helpful. If there is no stress at all,

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Anxiety, College/Students, How To, OCD, Stress, Teens

Stay Chill with These 5 Relaxation Tips for Teens

Being a teenager comes with various responsibilities and stressors. And does it ever seem like parents and other adults don’t remember how stressful the teenage years can be? Trying to balance school, sports, jobs, clubs, friendships, relationships, family, and your physical and mental health is NOT easy! And depending on your age, you may also

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Anxiety, College/Students, Depression, How To, Stress, Teens

7 Powerful Emotion-Focused Strategies to Deal with Overload

What do you do when you start to feel overwhelmed by emotion? Turn on Netflix and pretend the thing that is bothering you doesn’t exist? Distractions can be helpful at times, but they don’t get to the root of the problem and often the emotion is still there when the episode is over. Here are

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Anxiety, Children, College/Students, Depression, How To, Stress, Teens

How to Effectively Communicate with Your Teen

Being able to effectively communicate with your teenager is one of the many challenges of being a parent. Many parents wonder why their teen consistently gives one-worded answers to their questions, or why it seems as though their teen has an easy time communicating openly to everyone besides them. Any of this sounding familiar? While

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Family, How To, Parenting, Teens

8 Tips for Managing a Picky Eater

Picky eating can be frustrating for many parents, and can cause tension between the parent and child that ultimately doesn’t help the problem. Rather than everyone being frustrated and dreading meal time, there are things to try to make the experience better overall. If you are concerned that a child doesn’t seem to be growing

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Children, Family, Parenting

10 Books to Support Children with Anxiety

Wilma Jean the Worry Machine by Julia Cook Anxiety continues to be a common ailment in children, especially given the current climate today. In this colorful, fun, book, children can relate to Wilma as she struggles to understand and manage her anxiety. It also provides tips and strategies to help parents and children become more

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Anxiety, Children, Family, OCD, Parenting, Stress, Wellness

11 Unexpected Thinking Patterns that Effect Your Day

Just as people have patterns or habits of doing things throughout their day without really thinking about it – putting your keys on a hook when you come inside, avoiding a pothole for so long that even after it’s been filled you still drive around the spot – we have patterns or habits for the

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Anxiety, Depression, OCD, Stress, Wellness

8 Ways Your Furry Friend Boosts Your Mental Health

The role that our furry friends play in our daily lives is significant. As a mental health clinician, I find myself speaking about my clients pets quite often. When I reflect on the frequency of conversations regarding our pets and the positive effect on one’s mental health in my practice, it makes complete sense to

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Animal-Assisted, Anxiety, Children, College/Students, Depression, Grief, OCD, Stress, Teens, Therapy, Treatments, Wellness

How Gratitude Could Save Your Mental Health

Just because it is not Thanksgiving does not mean we can’t still be grateful! In fact, practicing gratitude has been shown to have many positive effects on overall well-being. Studies have shown that for romantic partners, expressing gratitude to each other leads to higher relationship satisfaction and quality. On an individual level, studies have shown

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Anxiety, Children, Couples, Depression, Journals, Stress, Teens, Wellness

Supporting Each Other When Your Child Has a Mental Illness

Your child has been diagnosed with a serious mental illness. After months and years of trying to understand why traditional parenting methods have not been successful, you are beginning to understand why. Remember, mental illnesses often have a biological component. They are not the result of bad parenting, and they probably couldn’t have been prevented

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Anxiety, Children, Couples, Depression, Family, Grief, How To, OCD, Parenting, Stress, Teens

How to Turn Galaxy Jars into Your Favorite Coping Tool

We hear a lot about mindfulness and meditation as ways to achieve “calm” and lessen anxiety. Mindfulness and meditation are great tools that can be achieved by almost anyone if various options are explored. The Galaxy Jar is a fun DIY idea to children and adults! Creating the jar and watching the swirls flow around,

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Anxiety, Art Therapy, Children, Depression, How To, OCD, Stress, Teens, Therapy, Treatments

Tips on Choosing a College Major

Congratulations! You’ve put in the work to choose a college, apply and now you’ve been accepted! The next step of choosing a major can be hard, but there are ways to help you make a decision. Once you have chosen your college, it is helpful to have a list of all the majors offered. Chances

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Anxiety, College/Students, Family

How ACT Can Inspire You to Find Comfort in Acceptance

Acceptance and commitment therapy is a therapeutic technique that falls under the CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) umbrella. CBT therapy targets a person’s cognitions (or thoughts), behaviors, and feelings. A cognitive behavioral therapist may use a variety of techniques such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to enhance their practice. ACT practitioners use a CBT lens to

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Anxiety, Depression, OCD, Stress, Teens, Therapy, Treatments