Shhhhhh! Ways to Quiet Our Anxiety I recently gave a talk for Mental Health Awareness month and one of the talking points that attracted the most interest was about different kinds of self-talk we can use to calm our worries. Anxiety is an incredibly common emotion, particularly in our world right now. Many of us … Read more
Guidelines for Prevention of Mental Health Difficulties A good first line intervention for maintaining a healthy emotional balance in your life is to consistently engage in behaviors known to promote stability and prevent struggles. The following behavioral interventions are a good place to start addressing mental health from a stance of prevention (and/or maintenance): 1) … Read more
Finding Happiness in Challenging Times What is Happiness? While it may seem the answer is intuitive, there are various definitions for this term and researchers in positive psychology have identified a few central components and themes: Having positive emotions about your past, present, future Having a positive connection to the people in your life and … Read more
Finding Motivation When You’re Depressed One of the most challenging aspects of depression is the profound impact mood has on motivation. Depression often makes tackling even the simplest of tasks seem insurmountable. It can make it tough to go to work or school, keep the house clean, take care of basic hygiene, and even simply … Read more
Reflections at the Start of (Still in Pandemic) Springtime As I write this, the beginning of Spring is evident all around us – the days are longer and brighter, the birds are singing, trees and flowers are blooming, and more and more people are enjoying the outdoors. Cultures around the world are celebrating – Easter, … Read more
What Does it Mean to be Psychologically Flexible in the Face of the Pandemic? Many experts argue that psychological flexibility is the ‘super skill’ of resilience and mental health. Research has found that it is associated with improved quality of life and both mental and physical well-being (Bond et.al, 2013; Gloster, Meyer & Lieb, 2017). … Read more
Making Sense of Grief and Loss Grief. Even just saying the word out loud – there’s a heaviness to it. In these past 12 months, our world has been confronted with grief and loss at a scale never before seen in our lifetimes. It seems that nearly everyone worldwide has been personally affected by COVID-19 … Read more
Parents: Don’t Forget to Praise Your Kids for Their Resiliency Since March of last year, our children have faced unprecedented, unpredictable, difficult and scary times. COVID-19 continues to negatively impact the daily lives of all age groups. When stepping back and reflecting on what our children have endured this past year with lock downs, school … Read more
Now that we have weathered several seasons of life in a pandemic, many of us have settled into the anxiety a bit. By now, most of us have given up countless get-togethers, forgone summer vacations or family reunions, and lost all kinds of previously taken-for-granted aspects of our day-to-day work or school lives. We have … Read more
This school year has begun like no other school year in history: online. The majority of students in Northern Virginia, and the rest of the country, are now a few weeks into distance learning. Students have become more accustomed to learning online at this point in the pandemic than they were in March. Still, distance … Read more
