Blossom Counseling Blog | Mental Health Tips, Therapy Insights & Wellness Tools

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

Prepping for College: Your Emotional and Mental Health Needs

Preparing for the new chapter of a teenager’s life of entering college is an exciting yet nerve-wracking time! There are so many things to do to prepare- such as shopping, finding a roommate, academic schedules, etc. The one area that many new college students forget to prepare for is addressing emotional and mental health needs

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Anxiety, College/Students, Family

Welcoming Anger

Anger. When we have it, we know what it looks like, feels like, and sounds like. And it certainly has a bad reputation. Anger is a strong emotion that shakes up the nervous system and does a number on the body. Of all the emotions out there, this one may be the most misunderstood. You’ve

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How To, Stress

4 Time Saving Tips that Will Change Your Mornings

Time. What a concept. It flies by when you’re having fun. It drags on when you’re anxiously waiting for something. It keeps us on a schedule and stresses us when we’re running behind schedule. There is never enough of it, it seems. As someone who has never been a morning person, I’ve developed some time

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Anxiety, Children, Couples, Depression, Family, How To, Monday Motivation, Professional/Work, Stress, Teens, Wellness

The Best Yoga Routine for a Great Sleep

Yoga is a very helpful practice to add to your nighttime routine. Some poses help to activate the part of your body (the parasympathetic nervous system) that alerts the brain that it is time for rest. If you are not sure how to start, there are many videos on YouTube to follow along with. If

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Anxiety, Stress, Therapy, Treatments, Wellness

6 Essential Oils that We Love for Anxiety

Do you ever get a whiff of something that instantly brings you back to a memory? For better or worse, scent has a very strong connection to the brain in triggering memories and emotions. Using essential oils is a way to activate this natural response to elicit desired emotions – usually more calm, peaceful, or

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Anxiety, Stress, Wellness

5 Tips from the Pros for Managing ADHD at Work

I often refer to ADHD as a double-edged sword. Parents of children (and the children themselves) haven’t typically been privy to both ends of the sword yet. They are seeking my therapeutic services and my ADHD professional speciality because the behaviors have become unmanageable. The hyperfocus is presenting as a child who shows aggression when

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How To, Professional/Work

The Perfect Game to Teach Feelings

Want a new spin on the classic game of “Candyland?” Especially during these times of staying in due to the pandemic, parents/caregivers need fresh, new ideas to keep children occupied. Playing “Feelings Candyland” can add an extra layer by addressing children’s mental health while having fun! Depending on where children are at developmentally, it is

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Anxiety, Children, Depression, Family, How To, Parenting, Stress, Teens

4 Ways Exercise Regulates Emotions

Do you wonder if we could ever get used to change in a way that causes us to not remember what it was like “before?” I know that just by looking outside in the winter – exercise might not sound as appealing as getting cozy on the couch with your pet or a good docuseries.

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Anxiety, Children, Depression, Treatments, Wellness

4 Signs of Workplace Burnout

Feeling work-related stress is a common feeling throughout all fields and careers, but when that stress becomes too much that it’s pouring out into other areas of your life you may be experiencing workplace burnout. Many individuals gain fulfillment from their careers, as well as spend majority of the hours of their lives at work.

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Anxiety, Depression, Professional/Work, Stress, Wellness