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Hannah Hopper

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How Do I Help My Child With Autism?

November 7, 2020

Hannah Hopper, LPC, NCC If your child has recently gotten an autism diagnosis, you may be feeling overwhelmed and wondering where to even begin with helping them. An ASD diagnosis can feel frightening, particularly if you’re new to the world of autism and worried about whether you’ll be able to provide the tools your child needs to thrive. While children won’t “grow out of” this diagnosis, there are many treatments and tools to help a child overcome…

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Shifting from Self-Esteem to Self-Compassion

October 21, 2020

Hannah Hopper  Over the past several decades, psychological research has focused on the benefits of having high self-esteem. There are countless books, podcasts, and articles that promise to give tips for increasing your self-esteem, so much so that high self-esteem seems like the most important thing when it comes to good mental health. But psychology professor and researcher Kristen Neff says that boosting your ego won’t necessarily make you feel better in the long run. The problem…

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5 Ways to Help Your Child Cope with Depression

October 18, 2020

By Hannah Hopper The National Alliance on Mental Health highlights that many children struggle with depression in their teenage years, but it’s often undetected by parents. Teenage depression can look different than adults struggling with depression, and this blog gives several ways that you can help your child cope.  1) Pay attention to the warning signs Teens go through a lot of different stages, and this can make it harder to pinpoint if your child is feeling…

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Identifying Your Communication Style

October 7, 2020

Hannah Hopper, LPC   One topic that continues to come up in many of my sessions is communication styles. We are constantly communicating with those around us, and our communication style can either serve as a bridge or be a barrier to creating connections. Going to therapy is an incredibly effective tool for working on communication, and this blog will give a brief introduction on three styles of communication.  Passive Communication Passive communication is characterized by expressing…

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Coping With a World in Crisis

October 2, 2020

Hannah Hopper, LPC Exhausted, frazzled, overwhelmed, and burnt out. If any of these words describe how you’ve been feeling lately, you’re not alone. Many of my clients have used some variation of these words to describe what they’ve been going through over the past several months, and at times it may feel like there is no end in sight. When our world is in a state of crisis, it’s hard to escape feeling overwhelmed. Below are several…

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Calming the Butterflies: How to Help Your Anxious Child

September 13, 2020

Hannah Hopper, LPC Anxiety can feel overwhelming, especially if it’s a child who’s experiencing the anxiety. It can help to learn more about anxiety and how to manage it, but what if it’s your child who’s experiencing the anxiety and lacking the words to tell you what’s going on? When anxiety surges, it can cause a fight-or-flight response that increases our blood pressure, triggers stress hormones in our body, and ramps up our breathing rate to prepare…

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Why We Need to Talk About Shame

July 24, 2020

By Hannah Hopper, LPC Shame is a dirty word. We run from things that cause us shame, and now as I type shame again and again on this page, I question if I should even be writing about this topic. In her book Daring Greatly, Brene Brown (the shame expert of our time) writes, “Shame derives its power from being unspeakable. That’s why it loves perfectionists-it’s so easy to keep us quiet. […] Shame hates having words…

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Understanding Your Attachment Style

July 22, 2020

Hannah Hopper, LPC What is attachment style? It’s the emotional bond you have with others in your life, like family members, friends, or a partner. It also impacts how you behave in close relationships, and depending on your attachment style it can make it more difficult to form healthy, long term relationships. There are four attachment styles, and these styles were first researched by Mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby. Attachment styles can vary depending on your relationship…

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After the Affair: Rebuilding Trust

June 22, 2020

Hannah Hopper, LPC How do you rebuild trust after an affair takes place? Is it even possible? Is it right to stay in a relationship after there’s been an affair? There are so many questions in the wake of unfaithfulness, and not all of the answers will come at once. But one thing is for sure; if both partners decide to stay in the relationship, rebuilding trust and learning to love again is a very slow process.…

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Coping With Coronavirus

April 1, 2020

Hannah Hopper, LPC It’s in the news, it’s on social media, it’s all the people in our lives have been talking about lately – Coronavirus seems to have taken over our world and our mental space too. And with so much news bombarding us on a minute-by-minute basis, it’s easy to neglect our mental health. Anxiety can overwhelm before we even realize we’re starting to feel anxious. 1. Stick to Your Routine In times of stress and…

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