Wise Mind ACCEPTS is an acronym for different skills we can use during times of distress, anxiety, worry, and/or high emotional temperature. ACCEPTS can help us to temporarily distract ourselves from our stressors so that we can better cope with them from a more regulated space, especially if the situation can’t be made better right away and we don’t have to make things worse. Below are some different ideas for how this Skill can be used With the warmer weather approaching:
Read MoreBalancing extracurricular activities with homework can be challenging for many children, which may increase stress levels and the feeling of being overwhelmed. As parents, we can help support them in many ways to help create a balanced mindset and help them succeed in all aspects of their lives - here are three ways to help jumpstart this process!
Read MoreIn a world with a lot of stress and daily expectations, it’s important to add a self-care routine to your schedule to help you manage your stress. It’s easy to continue to go through day to day life without thinking about yourself or giving time to yourself and your own needs. The idea of self-care looks different for everyone- whether thats just simply spending time alone or getting a massage. Self-care is the idea that you’re taking care of yourself so that you can be the healthiest version of yourself. Self-care is individualized and tailored to what makes YOU happy and brings you the most peace.
Read MoreChange can be both positive and negative depending on the circumstances. Sometimes life unexpectedly changes. Naturally, this can be extremely uncomfortable. Acceptance and adjustment are both challenges that come with change. It is understandable that unexpected and negative life changes are difficult, but it can feel confusing that positive life changes can be equally as difficult to initiate and adjust to.
Read More“Are you listening?” It’s a question we often get asked both as children and adults. How can we show the other person we are talking to that we are engaged in their conversation? Trying to practice the idea of “active listening” may allow the other person to feel heard and thus creates a better conversation and elicits better communication. Here are some tips to help you stay engaged in conversations:
Read MoreOur society has an expectation that individuals prioritize work in ways that may not be healthy for the body or mind. It is important to take a step back and reflect on how work may be impacting stress levels.
Read MoreSelf-care is important for our mind and bodies. It allows us to take a break from the stress of daily life and fully focus on ourselves and what we need to decompress. There are many ways to practice self-care but when you are in a moment of stress or anxiety it can be hard to remember them. Here are some simple trips and tricks to help you find a self care method that works for you!
Read MoreHappy New Year! With the new year brings up everyone’s dreaded question: what is your new year’s resolution? Goal setting, especially for the entire year can be overwhelming. People often don’t know where to begin or how to create attainable and measurable goals. And when you don’t see immediate results, it is easy to get discouraged. However, there are ways we can help set up your goals and help you realize that they can be attainable.
Read MoreAs the winter season starts and daylight lessens, some may feel the effects of the changing seasons. Recognizing the beginning feelings that the gloomy weather may be getting to you, is super important in helping manage it for the rest of the winter. In the winter, it’s normal for people to not get as much sunlight as they do in the spring/summer months. Because of this, it can lead to feelings of sadness, feeling tired, and fatigue.
Read MoreThe holiday season can be a time of joy, connection, and celebration. The season can also present its own unique challenges, like disruptions in routines, reminders of loved ones lost, increased financial stress, and more. A NAMI survey from 2014 found that 64% of people with mental health conditions report that the holidays worsened their symptoms! Below are some ways to preemptively manage some of these stressors that might arise:
Read MoreThe core of self-compassion starts with treating yourself with kindness, care, and empathy. It involves unconditionally accepting yourself in any given situation. Self-compassion includes a tremendous amount of kindness, to yourself. This allows us to have balance in our lives and accept every situation for what it is, while being nice to ourselves.
Read MoreThe colder, darker months of the year have arrived. During these months of the year, you may find yourself staying indoors more often to avoid the cold, having lower motivation to workout, and the warmer sweeter foods may take over the front row of your pantry. However, it's important to remember the positive relationship between exercising and your mental health and well-being.
Read MorePracticing gratitude is proven to be an effective coping skill with positive outcomes for mental health. It is different than simply “looking at the bright side”. Rather than reframing negative thoughts into positive ones, gratitude practice is intentionally noticing the things that you don’t typically pay attention to.
Read MoreIf you’re currently or have in the past experienced a loss of a loved one, you may be familiar with the Grief process. Grief consists of stages that the person experiences and these stages are fluid. The stages of grief are- denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. If you find yourself constantly flowing through each stage, maybe day by day, that’s completely normal. Everyone within a family system experiences the stages of grief and could be at different times. Here are some tips if you’re currently experiencing grief-
Read MoreDr. Daniel Amen came up with the term Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) in the 1990s. These are negative, gloomy, and complaining thoughts that just seem to show. We can all get these at different times. The more they build up, the more distress we experience and have to manage. Below are different types of ANTs and different strategies for beginning to challenge them. ANTs are part of a cycle that interact with our feelings and behaviors; this is a cycle that can be broken!
Read MoreFor you as a parent it may often feel like the hard parenting moments last a lifetime. Sometimes, your child’s 15-minute tantrum over having to clean up their room feels unbearable and incessant. While you know you’re doing the right thing by teaching them responsibility, you start to question your decision and ask yourself “Is this really worth it?” when your head starts to spin hearing your child complain over and over again. Well, this is where using dialectics may come in handy!
Read MoreNow that the summer is over and we’ve had 3 months of socializing and vacations and barbeques, its time to find the energy to go back to school and work. Some people have naturally smaller “social batteries,” which means they need more time to recuperate from the activities from summer. What is a social battery? It is the amount of energy we expend from different social activities. When that battery gets drained, whether or not it takes a long time to do so or not, we need to find ways to “recharge.” Here are some tips to help us recharge.
Read MoreAs a parent, you probably have a routine that you have to stick to in order to complete all of the necessary tasks to meet the needs of yourself and your family each day. Teaching your child to have their own routine can help them learn the responsibility of ensuring their own needs are met. This is a skill that can help them thrive throughout their day to day and as they get older and are expected to have more ownership over their school and personal lives.
Read MorePerfectionism can serve a purpose in each of our lives, though sometimes it causes problems and contributes to stress. It’s an exhausting pursuit that can stifle healthy risk-taking, growth, progress, and discovery.
Read MoreAs the trees start blooming and the weather begins to get warmer the anticipation of the summer season starts to grow. Some families follow a certain activity of traditions that they look forward to all year. Others may find themselves thinking of how to make the best of the summer months with nothing particular planned other than a brief family vacation. No matter what situation you find yourself in, using structure to make the most of the summer months can help you make the most of your time.
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