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What Type of Yoga Best Supports My Mental Health?

January 11, 2022

By: Ashlee Stumpf, LPC Nearly two years ago, I enrolled in a yoga teaching program for educators and counselors. I wasn’t particularly fit, coordinated, or practiced yoga on a regular basis. I was just a counselor who read enough to know yoga has a high correlation with good mental health, more than most other exercises, and I thought I owed to myself and future clients to find out why. What Type of Yoga Will Best Serve My…

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Can I Become Too Obsessed With Dieting?

January 10, 2022

Jessica Pontis, LCSW Are you the type to find yourself counting calories, being mindful of eating healthy to the point that it causes anxiety?  Does the idea of not “eating clean” cause you to miss out of the joy of sharing meals with others?  If the answer to these questions is yes it may indicate the presence of something known as orthorexia nervosa.  While orthorexia is not recognized as a diagnosable disorder in the DSM-5, it is…

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What Is Narrative Therapy and How Can It Help Me?

January 9, 2022

Jessica Pontis, LCSW What’s your story?  Do you consider the way in which you connect with your history impacts your present?  How many times have you been asked that in your life?  For those seeking to better understand themselves and their values these questions are important to ponder.  There’s a therapeutic approach to help answer these questions, narrative therapy.  Narrative therapy helps us discover opportunities for growth, empowerment, and the discovery of meaning on our past.   While…

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What Are the Stages of Change? Part 1

January 8, 2022

Jessica Pontis, LCSW As a provider one thing that I see that can significantly impact a client’s ability to meet their goals is ambivalence.  It’s not uncommon for someone to question whether or not changing certain behaviors is really necessary to hit certain goals, and this type of thinking can be a normal process during therapy.  After all, humans are typically creatures of habit, and any type of change (even positive change) disrupts our homeostasis and can…

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Trauma: Little t or Big T?

January 7, 2022

By: Bridgette W. Gottwald, LPC, NCC When it comes to psychotherapy, trauma is a popular word. Within treatment, I often refer to trauma and the event experienced as a trauma with a little t or a capital t, depending on the gravity of the event. Little t traumas are highly distressing events that affect the individual on a personal level. Some examples are non-threatening injuries, emotional abuse, the death of a pet, bullying, or harassment. Big T…

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10 Ideas For In-home Winter Date Nights

January 6, 2022

Amanda Ann Gregory, LCPC, EMDR Certified  Date nights are opportunities for partners to affirm, strengthen, and renew their connection to one another. Some partners will schedule date nights weekly or monthly. In the winter, however, date nights can be difficult due to inclement weather. But since date nights are fun and beneficial, it’s a shame to skip them due to the season. When the weather turns harsh, consider these ten creative ideas for date nights indoors.  Too…

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The Power of Group Therapy

January 5, 2022

By: Zana Van Der Smissen Firstly, I have to disclose that I have always been a fan of group therapy. It has always been so interesting to watch people from all kinds of backgrounds come together to share their story in the hopes that others can relate. Group therapy has been an effective tool for many whether that means bringing a sense of community or giving an individual a space to be heard. But how do you…

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10 Tips for Mental Health Spring Cleaning

May 26, 2021

Bridgette W. Gottwald, LPC, NCC Every year, we clean our homes in the spring to prepare and sharpen for the year ahead. Have you ever done the same thing with your mind, which is the body’s most important organ? Decluttering your brain is just as important and this blog will provide you with 10 easy tips for how to do so!  Start Journaling  Most therapists you meet will highly encourage journaling, and we don’t just say this…

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7 Helpful Ways to Ensure Restorative Sleep

May 25, 2021

In the midst of a global pandemic, it is more important than ever to ensure we’re meeting our basic needs as humans. I break up these needs as food, shelter, sleep and movement. We all know sleep is important but it’s frequently something that eludes us, no matter how hard we try to get those 9 hours. With sleep being so difficult to come by prior to coronavirus, it has become even more difficult for many with…

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What Are the ABCs of Emotional and Behavioral Management?

May 24, 2021

By: Bridgette W. Gottwald, LPC, NCC It’s all fun and games until someone finds out the function of your behavior! Have you ever wondered why you do certain things or why you react or behave in specific ways? Perhaps learning about the ABCs of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) will help you break this down.  We create our emotions throughout our interpretations of events that take place in the world. The events themselves do not directly cause…

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