Let’s be real, life isn’t easy. During tough times, it’s extremely difficult to feel in control of your emotions and feelings. What can you do if you’re feeling this way you ask? DBT! Learn more….

Asking traumatized clients to work through memories early on in therapy, is similar to asking the sprinter with the broken leg to run when they cannot even stand. Sharing traumatic experiences can leave individuals vulnerable to becoming dysregulated and at times re-traumatized. Trauma memories should not be addressed before the individual is equipped to manage the distress. Babette Rothschild, author of ‘The Body Remembers’ uses the analogy of teaching a new driver to be really comfortable with the “braking” system in a car before “accelerating.”

The holiday season is here and it’s a stressful time for many in which people find themselves needing to recover afterward.

And while this time of year can bring about lots of fun, laughter, quality time, and of course those classic cheesy Christmas movies, it can also bring up a plethora of emotions from positive to negative, and everything in-between.

During the 20th century, research about stress and its effects on humans grew exponentially, and two approaches were developed: the first one focused on the body’s response to stress, while the second one had a psychosocial take on it.

Having low self-esteem can impact relationships, work or home life, body image, and mental health. Read on to find out what it means and what you can do about it.

Self-criticism most often originates from early experiences with caregivers or peers. For
example, growing up experiencing abuse or in an environment of high criticism can result in
someone being highly self-critical later in life. Self-criticism is a survival strategy that develops
to keep us safe. This self-critical part begins to self-correct, looking for any mistakes and
potential failures to avoid being criticized by others.

The first year is often the hardest experiencing holidays, birthdays, and weddings etc., for the first time, often in years, without their coping mechanism while still trying to learn new ways to cope. Below are a few ways you can support yourself if you are in recovery as well as some ways other people can be supportive of those they know or don’t know who may be in recovery or choosing not to use alcohol or other substances this holiday season.

For the past almost 2 years we have been living in a constantly changing and unknown world. From masks to no masks and back to masks again; From going to the office daily to working from home to splitting our work time from home and the office; Home schooling to online school to classrooms. We have now reached the point where we are back to as close to “normal” as we have been.

In the IFS model, which is supported by modern neuropsychological research, the psyche is considered to be a complex system of interactive parts, where each part has a positive intention and value, and gets activated at different times. The different parts have agendas of their own, and their roles and strategy for helping or coping may not necessarily be the best, as they may distort the present based on experiences in the past.

“Parts Work” is a common phrase in Internal Family Systems therapy which is an evidence-based modality utilizing modern research and neurophysiology to understand our complex personality structures and sense of self.

The hard truth is, many individuals suffer in silence after childbirth, unaware that their childbirth experience can be viewed as traumatic. Birth trauma can come from adverse physical experiences, mental and emotional experiences, and interpersonal experiences. No one can label your experience other than you.

There is so much emphasis on the birth process, or the adoption process, that once babies arrive new parents are scrambling to adapt to their new reality. It is important to think about the time after the baby arrives before the baby arrives. In this article, we plant some seeds for helping your partnership bond become strong through times of stress rather than devolve.

Have you ever told yourself to stop thinking about something or someone? Maybe it’s an ex-partner, the drawer full of candy, the pack of cigarettes in your purse, or the wine in the fridge. Maybe it’s the anxious feeling in the pit of your stomach you fear, or the work day that you’re dreading in the morning.

This Fall has been challenging for many students returning to school – school looks different. Different is hard for anyone, different is unknown. For children, this often can be scarier than for adults; for children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) even more so.

2020 has been quite the year, especially as a parent, who plays multiple roles. Having children at home can be quite the struggle, there was a time when as parents, we would have a routine, and life seemed ok, but now we are adjusting to life at home, school at home, art class at home, and movie nights at home.

If there was ever a time for an existential crisis, this might be it.

COVID-19.

Just the name evokes so much emotion and so many different kinds of reactions that I hardly know where to begin. It has pretty effectively turned our world upside-down. The pandemic is everywhere. Everyone in the world is being impacted, but all in our own unique ways. The first thing I want to do is normalize that there is no normal.

New parenthood is tough enough, and then throw a worldwide pandemic in the mix and it can really take a toll on your mental health. Now, more than ever is a time to pay attention to your mental health and educate yourself about postpartum depression and anxiety so that you can spot the symptoms and seek the help that is required.

Do you feel stuck for ideas on how to make this summer fun now that you’re stuck at home? We’ve got 30 fun suggestions for you.

It is often said that the opposite of addiction is connection and during these uncertain times many of those who are in recovery are struggling with feelings of disconnection. So often being in recovery entails having a strong support network, going to meetings, talking to a counsellor, spending time with sober friends, etc. And yet these opportunities have been limited during COVID-19. So how can you support someone you care about?

Through Covid-19 we have been told to wash our hands, frequently and thoroughly. This has been our first line of defence, and it has worked. We have been taught to be afraid of COVID-19 contamination and we must protect ourselves and others. But for some of us, these fears become all-consuming, taking up the vast majority of our time. Our behaviour becomes ritualized, with incessant worries about contamination and non-stop washing to reduce our anxiety. When this is the case, we may want to look at whether or not this is OCD.