Architects of Healing: Helping Your Child Build a Foundation of Safety After Trauma
By Alexandra Hickey, MHC Trauma is an emotional or psychological response to deeply distressing and/or life-threatening event(s), that overwhelm an individual’s ability to cope. When a child perceives danger, the body activates a stress response, often referred to as âfight, flight, freeze, or fawn.â This response is adaptive, however, when stress is intense, prolonged, or […]
Communicating Your Needs: How DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills Help Set Boundaries & Strengthen Relationships
By Katey Goldman, Clinical Fellow Sometimes the hardest part of relationships isnât caring for others. Itâs caring for yourself within them. Many of us grow up believing that being kind means always saying yes, often abandoning our own needs in the process. We learn to keep the peace, avoid conflict, and focus on being liked […]
Living Fully with Chronic Illness: An ACT-Informed Approach
By Paige Gorodetzky, Supervising Clinician Living with a chronic illness can feel like your life split into âbeforeâ and âafter.â Before the diagnosis. Before the flare-ups. Before, your body felt unpredictable. Itâs not just the physical symptoms that you have to deal with. Itâs the grief, the identity shifts, the anxiety about the future, and […]
Feeling Down When the Sun is Up? Reverse SAD and Summer Pressure
By Janna Sayfie, LMSW What comes to. mind when you hear the word “summer”? Close your eyes and see what is elicited in your senses. Smell of sunscreen, softness of your towel, the excitement of seeing a new place? Maybe. Or, maybe it’s the ache of burnt skin, the discomfort of sticky popsicle fingers and […]
September Scaries: The Season is Changing, Are You?
By Lucia Santilli, BA, Clinical Fellow As the sun begins to set earlier, the changing season often stirs up a mix of emotion about what lies ahead. September, in particular, is a time of transformationâushering in new beginnings, routines, and a motivation to tackle those long-postponed projects. However, this shift can also bring new responsibilities, […]
Bringing You the ABC PLEASE Skill In Honor of World Mental Health Day
By Marcy Siegler, LCSW Do early alarm clocks, rushing into meetings, and last-minute uniform scrambles resonate with anyone else? The new school year is underway, and whether you’re a parent, college grad, or law associate who hasn’t found rhythm in the new routine yet, you’re not alone. As we bid farewell to the luxury of […]
Accumulating Positive Emotions: A Guide to Finding Winter Joy
By Fiona Joffroy, Clinical Fellow Even though February is the shortest month of the year, by now the winter days start to seem a little endless. With fewer hours of daylight, our circadian rhythm (which regulates our sleep, mood, and appetite) is thrown, and colder weather is keeping us indoors, limiting our ability to connect […]
Your Values Compass: A Different Way to Set Intentions This Year
By Mikayla Bogart, Clinical Fellow January is often a month filled with pressure to set resolutions- new habits, big goals, and plans to change, transform, and better ourselves. But resolutions donât tend to stick when they come from outside expectations or what we think we âshouldâ be doing. We focus so much on what we want […]
What If Iâm In the Wrong Relationship?
By Katie Mundt, MHC-LP Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD as it is commonly referred to, is a mental health condition in which a person experiences distressing intrusive thoughts, urges, or images (i.e., obsessions), accompanied by psychological or physical behaviors aimed to neutralize or decrease distress (i.e., compulsions). Recently, Relationship OCD (or ROCD) has emerged as […]
Supporting Sleep during the Busy Season: CBT-I (Insomnia)
By Hana Blair As we step into November, the holiday season and the end of the year begins to draw near. This time of the year can be a joyful one, filled with traditions and celebrations, but it can also bring packed schedules and disrupted routines. Between added to-dos and activities, it is easy to […]