April is here, and that means Spring has arrived! I hope this message finds you and your family happy and well. Every April, we come together to recognize Child Abuse Awareness Month. Put your pinwheels out and wear your blue! Child Abuse is not an easy topic to think about or discuss, but it is a vital conversation to have in the community as it is such a prevalent issue.
As a provisional registered art therapist, I receive a lot of questions from clients, parents of clients, friends, family, coworkers, and others about art therapy. Questions such as…"What is art therapy?" "What is an art therapist?" "Who can participate in art therapy?" "But I am not an 'artist.' Can I participate in art therapy?"
Sleep day is on March 15th and serves as a reminder that sleep is an important part of health and overall well-being. We do a lot of promoting mental health but often overlook the importance of basic health habits and how they can impact our moods or functioning. I would guess that many of you reading this have struggled with falling asleep, staying asleep, or just not feeling rested. Sleep is a basic need, much like eating, drinking, and breathing. However, 1 in 3 adults report not getting adequate rest or sleep. When this occurs, we start to see a decline in productivity and an increase in health-related issues and illness.
Personal boundaries separate you from others and define your space to be yourself. They are crucial to maintaining your mental and emotional health and well-being. A lack of personal boundaries typically influences a person's ability to be vulnerable, as there is a fear of sharing their emotions with others. Instead, there is a focus on making others happy or comfortable.
Some people may be wondering when the right time is to seek counseling. Ben Franklin, in 1763, famously advised fire-threaten Philadelphians that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Naturally, preventing fires is preferred to fighting them when it comes to the structural integrity of a building. Tenants, for all intense purposes, would desire to have the engineers address the crack in the building, sooner rather than later. The same is true with counseling, prevention is preferred over recovery.
Valentine’s Day is one day a year with a universal expectation within relationships to prioritize date night, express appreciation, give gifts, and go out of their way to complete an act of service for their partner. All to create a romantic atmosphere to show your partner how much you value them. If you read my last blog, Rituals of Connection This Holiday Season, I talked about rituals of connection–doing lots of little things consistently for your partner to create closeness and connection.
Happy International Play Therapy Week from Embark Counseling Services! This year, the Association for Play Therapy’s (APT) International Play Therapy Week is from February 4 to 10, 2024. I am super excited to see how play therapists from around the country and even the world celebrate the therapeutic powers of play.
“How does that make you feel?” Those words encompass a stereotypical and humorous picture of how many people imagine therapy to be. While it’s true that therapy provides a safe environment for exploring emotions, therapists are also equipped to assist clients with processing their feelings about their feelings.
The adolescent years are full of confusion in terms of finding who you are. Adolescents not only face internal challenges of assessing their own values and interests but also have the pressure of fitting in with their peers and feeling accepted. One area that an increasing number of adolescents are exploring today is their sexual and gender identity. As a parent, this can stir up an array of different emotions, and you may not know how best to help your child through this time in their life.
The holiday season can be a time filled with joy, kinship, fellowship, and tradition. It can also be a time accompanied by stress, grief, conflict, and financial insecurity. How do we manage the latter so we can be more present with each other and truly enjoy this holiday season? As a couple, feeling like a team and creating a sense of “we-ness” during this time is valuable in managing those harder feelings that may accompany the holiday season.