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Therapy 101: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

If you’ve ever looked into getting therapy, then it’s likely that you’ve heard a lot of different terms thrown around to describe it. There are many different therapy techniques and modalities out there. This blog post is part of a series that is meant to explain some of the more common forms of therapy you’re likely to encounter as you look into potential therapists. 

What Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?

Acceptance and commitment therapy, better known as ACT, is a 3rd wave behavior therapy that has been gaining momentum. In recent years there have been studies looking into the effectiveness of ACT for a variety of uses.

Whereas CBT focuses on changing thoughts ACT focuses more on accepting thoughts and distressing feelings as part of life. Acceptance and commitment therapy is about learning skills on coping with distress, like DBT.

How does ACT Work?

ACT has 6 primary processes that it works on. The concept is that ACT is about increasing psychological flexibility, which is meant to help with coping with negative experiences. Naturally, one of these processes is acceptance. 

Acceptance is exactly what it sounds like, it means coming to accept the negative things that happen and the negative feelings, emotions, or thoughts we may be having. ACT does not encourage avoidance of these things or trying to change negative feelings into neutral or positive ones. 

Cognitive defusion is another component of psychological flexibility. When we talk about defusion in this sense, what we mean is altering how we think about negative things. Instead of trying to avoid them or change them, the focus is on changing the negative impact they have on us. 

Being present, something that is rooted in mindfulness, is also an aspect of ACT. It encourages individuals to be present in their feelings and the current moment, even when it’s unpleasant. It encourages non-judgemental evaluations of the world around them and the world inside of them. 

Mindfulness is also part of self as concept. This is something that in ACT is used to foster a sense of self that recognizes that events occur but they do not have to define the self. This is part of acceptance and tolerance of distressing things we may be experiencing. 

Values are one of the cornerstone components of ACT in that clients are encouraged to find meaning in their lives through values that they identify. These values are used to explore clients’ behaviors. This lets them see if these behaviors line up with the values they wish to live. 

Finally, committed action is a pattern of thinking that links all of the previous concepts together. It’s using the skills learned through therapy to formulate long-term goals for living in a way that will help them live up to their values. 

What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Used For?

ACT can be used in a variety of mental health contexts. It is often used for individuals with specific phobias, mood disorders, anxiety, and substance use disorder. ACT is also used for individuals who are experiencing high levels of stress, such as work stress, and life transitions. These transitions can include grief and loss, moving, marriage (though happy, this can still cause a lot of stress!), etc. There is also some research that has been exploring the use of ACT for individuals with chronic illness and pain. 

How do I Find an ACT Therapist?

Many therapists incorporate some form of ACT into their work. Here at Compassionate Counseling Company, we have a few! Emily, Niah, and Theresa all incorporate ACT into their work with clients. Also keep in mind that many therapists use core principles of ACT without listing themselves as using ACT. At the end of the day, it’s about your connection with a therapist and making sure your goals are aligned. 

Another way to find a therapist is to use your insurance’s provider list. You can look up the therapists in that database online to see what modalities they use with their clients!

Resources:

https://contextualscience.org/the_six_core_processes_of_act

https://positivepsychology.com/act-acceptance-and-commitment-therapy/#hero-single

https://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/090208p36.shtml

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Therapy 101: Dialectical Behavior Therapy

If you’ve ever looked into getting therapy, then it’s likely that you’ve heard a lot of different terms thrown around to describe it. There are many different therapy techniques and modalities out there. This blog post is part of a series that is meant to explain some of the more common forms of therapy you’re likely to encounter as you look into potential therapists. 

What is DBT?

DBT stands for dialectical behavioral therapy. It’s quickly becoming a very common form of therapy used by many clinicians and has many clinical studies to back up its effectiveness. Dialectical refers to the idea of reconciling two opposing thoughts, such as knowing someone has harmed you while also acknowledging they are not a bad person. 

This form of therapy was originally designed to help individuals with borderline personality disorder. BPD often comes with intense emotions and risky, usually self-destructive behavior as a result of emotional dysregulation. DBT is meant to help individuals tolerate distress more effectively and thus regulate their emotions more successfully. This in turn helps to reduce harmful behavior, such as self-harm and suicide attempts.

When followed strictly, DBT uses a combination of one-on-one therapy with a client and a trained therapist and group skills sessions. There is also a “light” form of DBT that removes the group skills sessions and involves only the one-on-one therapy.

Can DBT be Used for Other Purposes?

DBT has been shown to be effective in treating eating disorders (especially binge eating and bulimia), bipolar disorder, PTSD, and schizophrenia. It can also be used with those who have major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and other similar mental illnesses. 

How Does It Work?

Dialectical behavioral therapy approaches clients’ problems with the idea that there is some sort of skills deficit that is making it difficult for clients to cope with their emotions and things that go on. Harmful behaviors stem from high levels of distress as a result of this. Through this idea, DBT focuses on skills building and also on increasing distress tolerance in clients. 

There are four basic skills that therapists work with clients on: mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. 

Therapists will use a variety of activities and help teach clients different ways they can work on these skills outside of the session. 

In more traditional DBT there are four stages that therapy proceeds in. It starts with helping to stabilize the client if they’re in crisis and allowing them to feel safe. The second stage focuses on exploring emotional pain. In the third stage, clients work on setting SMART goals and maintaining healthy behaviors. Finally, in the fourth stage, clients look at the big picture and work towards achieving them. 

How do I Find a Therapist?

There are many ways to find a DBT therapist. Right here at Compassionate Counseling Company we have clinicians who integrate DBT into their sessions (Niah, Kelly, Jessica, and Emily). However, if you’re looking for the more traditional form of DBT, then the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification is the best place to find one. If you plan to use insurance, make sure the provider is covered under your plan! You can use your insurance company’s provider search to check. 

Resources:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22838-dialectical-behavior-therapy-dbt

https://dialecticalbehaviortherapy.com/

https://eddinscounseling.com/dbt-101-dialectical-behavior-therapy

https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/dbt

https://www.verywellmind.com/dialectical-behavior-therapy-1067402

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Therapy 101 : CBT

If you’ve ever looked into getting therapy, then it’s likely that you’ve heard a lot of different terms thrown around to describe it. There are many different therapy techniques and modalities out there. This blog post is part of a series that is meant to explain some of the more common forms of therapy you’re likely to encounter as you look into potential therapists. 

What is CBT?

Cognitive behavioral therapy, better known by the acronym CBT, is the most popular form of therapy used today. The focus of CBT is to address how people react to their thoughts and feelings and how these reactions then cause them to behave. The thoughts are the cognitive part and the behavior reaction is the behavioral part of CBT.

The belief of CBT is that when we have distorted thoughts we can then have maladaptive reactions to them which then make us unhappy. These reactions and behaviors then go on to contribute to worsening mental health symptoms. 

There are also many third-wave therapies based on CBT which we will cover in later posts, like DBT and ACT. 

What is CBT Used For?

CBT is used to treat a large variety of problems. It is often the first line of treatment for depression and anxiety. It has also been successfully used in individuals with bipolar, schizophrenia, eating disorders, OCD, and many more. It’s generally considered a short-form treatment, with many people finishing their sessions within a few months. 

You don’t need to have a mental illness to go to therapy and get CBT, however. It’s also been used for those with self-esteem problems, life transitions, grief and loss, relationship issues, and insomnia. 

How Does CBT Work?

One of the core focuses of cognitive behavioral therapy is distorted thinking or more formally known as cognitive distortions. These can be broken down into 15 main categories. By addressing these different types of distortions, therapists work together with their clients to form healthier thinking habits.

These thoughts can be addressed in a variety of ways. For example, many therapists employ having the clients journal about negative thoughts in order to work on them in therapy and at home. Many therapists also assist clients in setting SMART goals, which is something we discussed in a previous post about New Year’s Resolutions. 

How Can I Get This Therapy?

The majority of therapists today use either CBT or a combination of it and other modalities. Often on their profiles either on their websites or on online databases, they will list which disorders or concerns they specialize in and which modalities they use to do this. 

Finding a therapist who can help you using CBT is easier than you would think! For example, many of the clinicians working here at Compassionate Counseling Company use CBT with their clients. 

Resources:

https://www.healthline.com/health/cognitive-behavioral-therapy#takeaway

https://positivepsychology.com/cbt-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-techniques-worksheets/#hero-single

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-cognitive-behavior-therapy-2795747

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Make 2025 The Year To Focus on Mental Health

Mental health. It’s something we all need to take care of and thankfully something our society is starting to take more seriously. However, it can still be difficult to put a focus on this important aspect of our health. Things get in the way, maybe we’re embarrassed, or maybe we just don’t know where to begin. It can be intimidating to know how to focus on improving or maintaining good mental health. 

I Don’t Have a Disorder, Why Should I Care?

You don’t need to have a diagnosable mental health disorder in order to care about this aspect of health. Our physical health and our mental health are very closely linked. Neglecting one can often cause issues in the other. Staying ahead of that by putting a focus on maintaining mental health or improving it can help also maintain physical health. 

Poor mental health can also contribute to developing a diagnosable disorder. You may not have one now, but if your mental health starts to suffer and you don’t have any way of improving it, you could go on to develop depression or anxiety. Prevention in this case would have been the key. 

When our mental health is suffering, we can often let other areas of our lives slide. Relationships with others, sleep, work, these things and more can all be impacted by difficult stretches. 

How Can I Focus on Mental Health?

There are a lot of ways we can work on improving mental health. It’s important to sit down and really think about what areas of life you feel good in currently and which you think you could use more help with. For example, do you find that you have great relationships but you tend to feel overwhelmed or stressed at work? Then focusing on maintaining those relationships and improving your work stress would be a route to go down. Without knowing how you’re really doing it can be difficult to know what needs improvement and what just needs some regular maintenance. 

Some people work well with lists, be that on paper or digitally, and others work better just thinking things through or talking out loud. Whatever method works for you, use it to evaluate your current mental health strengths and weaknesses so you can build a plan going forward.

What Are Things I Can Do?

Maintaining healthy routines like exercising regularly, getting good sleep, and eating balanced meals can be a great start. It can also be good to try and work on things like breathing exercises or other grounding techniques in order to help get you through stressful moments. 

Make sure to keep your relationships strong. Technology can help a lot with this but try not to rely on it entirely. When it comes to improving mental health, face-to-face time can often be more beneficial to talking to someone through text or video call. 

If you have a pet, consider spending more time with them. Pets can help reduce blood pressure and loneliness. If you don’t have one, don’t worry! This is just one method of reducing loneliness. You can volunteer, pick up a new hobby that involves spending time with others, or just focus more on your friends and family. 

Try being more positive. This doesn’t mean to only be positive or to deny negative feelings or experiences. That’s toxic positivity and it’s usually counterintuitive. Instead, try being more positive in the sense of when good things happen, hold onto those happy feelings. Use that to try and combat small annoyances or upsets in your life and soften the blow of negative experiences. 

Practicing gratitude every day can be helpful, too. It doesn’t have to be big things that you’re grateful for. Sometimes just being grateful for your favorite kind of weather can have a positive effect on. It’s about taking the time to notice the small things in life that make it better, easier, or just more pleasant.

What if These Things Don’t Work?

If you’ve tried every improvement trick in the book, then you may need outside help. This can be either seeing a therapist or a psychiatrist for medication. Seeing a therapist can help us with improving mental health by giving up a place to talk about the difficult things with someone who is a neutral party. 

Another option, usually best done in conjunction with therapy, is seeking medication from a trained professional in psychiatric medication management. Some mental health problems need the chemical changes that come with medication in order to best manage them. If working on things on your own and with a therapist haven’t been enough to help manage your symptoms, then medication may be necessary. 

Resources:

https://www.family-institute.org/sharing-our-expertise/50-ways-improve-mental-health

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/caring-for-your-mental-health

https://medlineplus.gov/howtoimprovementalhealth.html

https://www.mhanational.org/31-tips-boost-your-mental-health

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New Year’s Resolutions Part 2: How to set SMART Goals

In our last blog post, we discussed how New Year’s Resolutions can sometimes be harmful to people’s mental health. In this post, we want to highlight how to go about setting healthy resolutions for 2025 that are achievable and are less likely to make you feel down about yourself come the end of the year. 

Set SMART Goals

Instead of setting resolutions, maybe change course and consider setting goals instead. Resolutions are often vague and have no real, measurable definition. Goals, on the other hand, are often measurable and it’s much clearer when you’ve reached a goal or not. SMART goals are especially helpful when approaching this concept. 

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

Specific tackles the vagueness problem with resolutions. Instead of thinking “I want to be healthier”, think about what healthy really means to you. Is it physical health? Mental health? Both? And then what does it mean to have good, or better than your current, physical or mental health. 

Measurable goes hand-in-hand with specific. If you want to eat healthier, does that mean eating a certain amount of fruits and vegetables per day? Or what about meditating a certain amount of times per week, for mental health benefits? Having a number attached to this goal helps you know if you’ve succeeded in doing it. It’s easy to say “I’m going to meditate more this year”. But how do you really know if you’ve done it more than last year unless you track it and have a number attached to it? 

Achievable means these goals have to be realistic and attainable. The goal needs to be something you, at this present moment, can do. These are not goals that your ideal self would accomplish. They are goals YOU can accomplish. 

Relevant goals are goals that make sense for you and your life. They have clear results and work within your current resources. Again, these are goals that are meant for the present you and not an ideal you.

Time-bound means they have a deadline or are time-sensitive in some way. They can’t just be open-ended because that will take some of the urgency out of your achieving these goals. For most New Year related goals, people will set the deadline at the end of the year. Does this sound too far away? Then set yourself 6 month goals, 2 month goals, 2 week goals. Whatever you feel is a reasonable amount of time that will keep you motivated is the right deadline to set. 

Mental Health Related Goals

Mental health has been a hot topic in recent years, and for good reason. More and more people are realizing the intricate connection between mental health and physical health and how these two come together for someone’s longevity and happiness. Setting goals around bettering or maintaining your mental health can be a great way to approach a new year!

Some mental health related goals you could consider working towards include: starting therapy, starting medication, meditating x-times per week, going for a walk x-times per week, making sure to connect with friends at least once a week, setting 5 minutes aside every day for some quick but effective self-care, not drinking coffee or other caffeinated beverages after 3pm (for better sleep!), journaling every day. 

You don’t have to put all (or any!) of these on your list. But consider implementing some smaller goals (like the self-care one) and working your way up from there if it seems like working on your mental health feels intimidating. 

What if it’s Too Late?

It’s never too late to start! You don’t need to set them on the 31st of December or in the first week of January. If you feel motivated and called to set new goals in June, then that’s the perfect time to start working towards them. As a society, we put a lot of cultural importance on the idea of starting new things on the first of the year or on a Monday. But there’s nothing special about any particular day of the year that will make your goals easier to achieve. The best time to start is when you’re ready to start. 

Resources:

https://centerstone.org/our-resources/health-wellness/how-new-years-resolutions-impact-mental-health/

https://www.choosingtherapy.com/new-years-resolutions

https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/news/are-your-new-years-resolutions-faltering

https://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/why-not-to-make-a-new-years-resolution

https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/2020/01/realistic-new-years-resolutions-for-your-mental-health/

https://www.nami.org/people/mental-health-resolutions-for-the-new-year/

https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/americans-top-5-new-years-resolutions

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The Mental Health Consequences of New Year’s Resolutions

The year 2024 is coming to an end. Through everything, we have made it here! This is the time of year when we start reviewing how the year has gone and we start looking towards the new year. There are things we want to change or things we want to have stay the same. Many of us make resolutions to achieve these things. But are New Year’s Resolutions always the best answer? 

Why We Make Resolutions

Usually, we’re inspired to make these changes in our lives for some reason or another. Maybe we want to get healthier in some way or change habits we feel are holding us back. For some of us, we want to set some kind of goal in a skill we already have. For others, they want to gain a new skill. 

We make resolutions because we want to better ourselves in some way. But we also make them so that we can look back on the year and note if we’ve made positive progress towards something. It’s important to many people to feel as if they’ve done something good for themselves or pushed to become a better version of themselves. 

However, we also put a lot of pressure on ourselves because of the social importance of New Year’s Day. 

Why Many of us Fail 

That pressure we put on ourselves is a big contributing factor! We focus less on why we made the goal or resolution in the first place and more on how we’ll feel at the end of the year if we fail. This just sets us up for failure because we’re being motivated by fear and shame instead of something positive. 

Another reason is that many of us set vague resolutions and not measurable goals. What does “get healthier” really mean? This is so difficult to measure and understand that it can seem as if we’ve made no progress towards this goal, even if we have! It’s important to set specific goals because of this. The seeming lack of progress can be really disheartening for someone who is working hard towards something. 

Negative Mental Health Consequences of Resolutions

When we “fail” at fulfilling our New Year’s resolutions, it can feel as if we’re just stuck. Some of us can feel as if we’ll never achieve anything, never fix a bad habit, or never realize our dreams. This is incredibly difficult to deal with, especially year after year, and it can lead to anxiety and depression in some people. These negative feelings and thoughts can be really detrimental to many people. 

If we’ve failed at these same resolutions before, the anticipatory failure can also contribute to greater anxiety and depression. It can be something we dread every year and yet we still set the same goals and approach them in the same way. This generally isn’t good for most people’s mental health and it’s why many of us feel so badly by mid-March. 

There’s also an issue with the “new year, new me” approach. This encourages us to make so many changes all at once that it becomes overwhelming. This isn’t a sustainable or long-term way of approaching making positive changes in our lives. Small, incremental changes make for much better and long-lasting effects in our lives. 

Is it Possible to Set and Achieve Resolutions?

Of course! Not only is it possible in general, but it’s also possible to approach them in a healthier way that can contribute to better mental health, not worse. In next week’s blog post, we’ll be discussing how to go about setting New Year’s Goals as opposed to New Year’s Resolutions. Not that you need to set goals around a specific time! 

That’s another important thing to remember. Sometimes the best time to start working towards a new goal is June 27th, May 18th, or even December 3rd. The point is that the best time to start working towards goals is the time that you’re ready to. Trying to push yourself to set and achieve goals based on a certain day of the year is just setting yourself up for trying to achieve something you may not be mentally ready for, which sets you up for failure. 

Resources:

https://centerstone.org/our-resources/health-wellness/how-new-years-resolutions-impact-mental-health/

https://www.choosingtherapy.com/new-years-resolutions

https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/news/are-your-new-years-resolutions-faltering

https://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/why-not-to-make-a-new-years-resolution

https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/2020/01/realistic-new-years-resolutions-for-your-mental-health/

https://www.nami.org/people/mental-health-resolutions-for-the-new-year/

https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/americans-top-5-new-years-resolutions

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Coping with Conflict

Conflict. It isn’t pretty and often can make us uncomfortable. There are a lot of reasons we don’t like conflict and we all deal with it a little bit differently. This time of year especially can bring out more conflict than usual. So before you throw an ornament at your uncle you only see twice a year because of a disagreement, let’s go over some conflict management techniques you can use instead!

Conflict – Why Does It Happen?

Usually, these things happen because of a mismatch somewhere. Either it was a mismatch in communication, values, goals, or just views on a situation. It doesn’t always have to be a bad thing but often the feelings we have that bring us to a conflict are unpleasant ones. Maybe we feel disrespected or we feel like the other person just isn’t listening to us. Sometimes it’s because we feel ignored or because we feel frustrated. When wires get crossed, it can be easy to get annoyed and let tempers flare. 

Conflict is not always negative but it also needs to be handled correctly. In the right amounts, conflict is part of any healthy relationship. We won’t always agree on everything and it’s important to stick up for yourself if you feel disrespected. However, it doesn’t have to be, and shouldn’t be, a screaming fest, either. 

How Can We Handle Things Healthily?

Next week we’ll be discussing more in depth about different conflict management styles. But to give you a head start before Christmas, we can go over some basics this week. 

One important aspect of conflict management is to try and stay as calm and level headed as possible. If you’re really mad and just cannot calm down enough to discuss something without yelling or calling names, it may be best to walk away from the situation until you do calm down. Go for a walk, practice some meditation, or do whatever you usually engage in to handle stress or difficult emotions. There are certain things we can’t take back once we’ve said them and it could be in the best interest of the relationship to delay the conversation until both parties are calm enough to handle the discussion. 

Another important aspect is to understand what really is bothering you about the situation. Is it that you feel disrespected? That you feel something is unfair? That someone has hurt your feelings? Having a good understanding of why you’re upset will help you best be able to communicate that to the other person(s). 

What If That Doesn’t Help?

If you find you’re having a lot of problems with conflict, it may be for the best to reach out to someone to help. A therapist can help with clearing up communication issues you may be having and could help strengthen those skills. Or maybe you need a neutral party to mediate between you and another party. A therapist can help there, too. 

It’s important to understand that while conflict is healthy and normal, it shouldn’t be happening all of the time and it’s not okay for someone to be making you feel badly all the time. You also should not be the only one compromising every time, either. Therapy can help with all of these things!

Come back next week for a more in depth post about different styles of conflict management!

Resources:

https://www.helpguide.org/relationships/communication/conflict-resolution-skills

https://extension.psu.edu/dealing-with-conflict

https://sas.uaa.uw.edu/husky-experience/know-yourself/healthy-ways-to-handle-conflict

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Transition Stress: The Anxiety of Change and How to Cope

As we approach the end of the year, there’s so many things on our minds. Many of us are planning holiday parties or get togethers. Many are wondering what to gift, make, or how they’ll spend their time. And often we think about changes we want to make in our lives. The end of the year really makes us sit and think about things ending, changing, or transitioning. Of course it can make us excited or hopeful but these transitions can also be stressful. 

Why Do Transitions Feel So Stressful?

The short answer is that we don’t really love change, even if change is good for us. It can be difficult to go from thinking about something one way to then thinking about it a new way. It takes time to adjust to that and it can be stressful, depending on what it is. And if the changes we’re implementing come with new routines or schedules, that can make things even more difficult for us. 

We love patterns. It’s how our brains evolved to work and finding patterns in things makes us comfortable. There’s safety in knowing what’s going to happen next. If it’s a transition we weren’t expecting or had no choice over, it can add a feeling of helplessness and loss of control that makes it difficult to cope. This can cause some serious anxiety when thinking about the transition or changes that are coming. 

What Kind of Transitions Can Affect Us?

Technically, anything that brings change to our lives can affect us and stress us out. Moving, changing jobs, having a baby, and getting married tend to be the big ones that people think about. But consider how for children, the end of the year signals the end of a school semester. For some of them, it means potentially not having friends in any of their classes when the new semester starts. Maybe it means a new teacher they’re never met before. Even though these things aren’t necessarily bad, they can absolutely affect someone’s mental health. 

Making changes to our health can also cause stress. Maybe you’re cutting back on caffeine. Some people experience withdrawals from this that can be pretty unpleasant, including headaches. It also means a change in your routine of not going to the coffee shop as often or making something different in the morning to drink at home. These are little things that can add up if you’re already struggling with other things. 

Is There Anything We Can Do?

We can’t avoid change, not forever. Change is good for us in the long run even if it doesn’t feel good at the moment. Some stress management techniques can help in the moment for dealing with these uncomfortable feelings. We’ve explored some of these techniques in a previous post about grounding techniques. These can be used if you feel overwhelmed or very anxious due to these changes. 

Another option is to talk to someone you trust. Leaning on social supports during times of transition can be especially helpful. They often understand the impact these things can have on you and are likely to be able to support you through tough transitions. They can be there to remind you of the reasons this will be good in the end and they can also help you cope. 

However, if talking to a loved one doesn’t help, consider reaching out to a therapist. Many people go to therapy just to help cope with transitions and changes. It can help to get someone neutral to chime in on what’s going on and to help listen to you. 

Change doesn’t have to be difficult to cope with long term and there are options out there for help dealing with them. But do remember that it’s normal to struggle with change and that it’s normal to be anxious during these moments. 

Resources:

https://blog.calm.com/blog/transition-anxiety

https://balancedthoughtstherapy.com/blog/why-are-transitions-so-stressful

https://bettertogethertherapy.co/what-are-the-psychological-effects-of-transition

https://www.crusescotland.org.uk/about-us/news-and-blogs/the-impact-of-transitions-and-how-to-cope-with-them

https://marblewellness.com/post/why-are-life-transitions-so-hard-navigating-change-with-resilience/

https://manhattancbt.com/life-transitions/

https://psychcentral.com/anxiety/how-to-manage-anxiety-during-periods-of-transition#definition

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The Mental Health Benefits of Counseling

Almost every week, we mention how speaking to a therapist or counselor can be of benefit for addressing a variety of needs. However, this is the first time we’ll be addressing the benefits of counseling more closely. Of course it can be used to address specific mental health disorders but it also has more far reaching benefits than just helping people to cope with mental illness.

What is Therapy?

Therapy, or counseling, often refers to talk-therapy or talk-psychotherapy. This is a form of treatment which involves speaking to a trained professional about a problem you’re having. The professional then uses evidence based practices to help you build skills to then address whatever concern brought you to therapy.

One of the main benefits of counseling is that there is no one size fits all approach. There are so many different forms of therapy. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most well-known forms. And many people often think of psychodynamic or psychoanalytic therapy when they first imagine therapy (you know, Freud and a couch). 

However, there is also ACT, DBT, EMDR, ERT, and many, many more. Many of these forms of therapy were developed to target specific mental disorders or problems that people may be having. Motivational Interviewing (MI), for example, was developed for addressing substance use disorder. 

What Does Therapy Help With?

There are many benefits of counseling to consider. Of course, it can help with mental illness, such as depression or anxiety disorders. However, it can also help with things like coping with grief or loss, dealing with stress, handling transitions, and other issues people may be facing. 

Therapy can also help with working on self-esteem, problem solving skills, self-confidence, and coping with rough patches in your life. Most people who go to therapy only do so for a short period of time, usually to help resolve a current issue such as the death of a loved one. 

People also seek out therapy to help with communication skills, relationship problems, and for help addressing conflicts they may be facing in life. 

How Do I Find a Therapist?

Word of mouth is an excellent way of finding a therapist. Ask around and see if you can get recommendations from doctors or people you know who have gone to therapy. Your insurance provider is also a great resource for finding a therapist as that will be the easiest way to insure that the cost of your sessions will be covered. 

We have a large list of clinicians here that are also an option for those looking into the benefits of counseling and considering getting counseling themselves. 

Resources:

https://www.avila.edu/2022/12/13/5-benefits-of-working-with-a-mental-health-counselor/

https://www.coe.edu/student-life/health-wellness/mental-health-counseling/potential-benefits-counseling

https://www.harmonyridgerecovery.com/10-benefits-of-mental-health-counseling

https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-therapy

https://www.mhanational.org/therapy

https://positivepsychology.com/counseling-process

https://online.sbu.edu/news/5-ways-mental-health-counseling-builds-stronger-communities

https://www.verywellhealth.com/benefits-of-therapy-5219732

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Supporting the Mental Health of Children and Teens in Foster Care

According to the Administration for Children and Families, at the end of 2022 there were 368,500 children in foster care. While this is a decrease from previous years, that is still many children and teens who are facing unique struggles. One big concern for this population is the potential impact on their mental health. However, there are things that can be done to help support the mental health of children and teens who are in this population.  

What is Foster Care?

Foster care is a system that many countries utilize to care for children who have been removed from their families of origin. In many cases, children are removed due to what is usually considered a temporary situation. For example, the caregiving parent is in prison or has a substance use disorder. Once the home is deemed safe again for the child(ren), they ideally would be going back to their parents’ care. 

Children are placed with families who are to act as a temporary family for the child. The adult(s) are meant to give as much care and love to these children as they would their own and to help the children retain as much of their normal routines as possible. 

What are the Struggles of Foster Care for Children?

Being removed from their homes can be a very difficult experience for children. There is a level of grief that comes along with this process. This could be compounded if they are separated from their siblings because of foster care placements. While the goal is to attempt to keep them together, this is not always possible and the children need to go to separate homes. Sometimes, only one child will be removed from the home while others stay. 

They may also have been experiencing neglect or abuse in their family of origin. If they witnessed violence at home or witnessed substance abuse, this is another factor that could affect their mental health. Another compounding factor is that sometimes children are moved from foster placement to foster placement. This makes it difficult for them to be able to create meaningful bonds with other people, especially caring adults. 

What Can be Done?

Having mental health care available to this population is incredibly important. Access to therapy or some kind of therapeutic mentorship can help support their mental health as much as possible. It can also help to identify potential mental health disorders before they become more problematic for the child. 

It’s also important to try and make sure that the child has at least one consistent adult in their life. For example, a therapeutic mentor or being able to stay in the same foster home for as long as possible. Having one stable, caring adult can be incredibly important for children, but especially those in foster care. 

Children in foster care can thrive if given the right resources. Keeping in mind the needs of these children and making efforts to support their mental health can make all the difference in their lives.

Resources:

https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/foster-care/mental-and-behavioral-health-needs-of-children-in-foster-care

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/03/hope-for-foster-kids

https://share.upmc.com/2023/12/mental-health-needs-of-children-in-foster-care

https://www.verywellmind.com/the-mental-health-effects-of-living-in-foster-care-5216614

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