By Bradd Buckingham, Resident in Counseling Since the beginning of COVID-19, I have professionally observed as a counseling intern working in a community mental health clinic, currently as a resident in counseling as well as personally with friends and family, a shift or slide backward in the management of their trauma symptomology and the meaningful [...]
Author: Healthy Minds Therapy
Finding Your Snowflake in this 2020 Blizzard: A Quick Guide to Holiday Grief and Loss
By Diane Bonilla, MA, Licensed Professional Counselor in Northern Virginia The holiday season is upon us and life is marching forward, but for some, your minds and your hearts are standing still, grieving the death of a loved one amidst what feels like an incoming storm. Even if the loss is from the past, holiday time [...]
You’ve Got This! Three Holistic Steps to Managing Anxiety
By Diane Bonilla, MA, Licensed Professional Counselor in Northern Virginia The two most important things to understand about anxiety are that it is universally experienced and that it is holistically managed. You are absolutely not alone in experiencing anxiety, though it can feel that way. Anxiety symptoms can impact our emotional, physical and spiritual health. [...]
How to Support Your Black and Brown Friends During This Time
By Kayla White, M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Resident in Counseling Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few years, you’re likely well aware of the rising tensions concerning the topic of race. It’s in large part due to the hateful and even violent statements/acts we’ve witnessed on the parts of white authoritative [...]
Self-care ideas!
By Kayla White, M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Resident in Counseling If you are anything like me, practicing self-care and self-love can often get placed on the back burner. Also, I am not a proclaimed morning person, so other than those things I NEED to do, I've learned they likely won't get done until I'm [...]
Positive Impacts of Journaling
By Kayla White, M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling in Northern Virginia Journaling allows people to clarify their thoughts and feelings, thereby gaining valuable self-knowledge. It's also a good problem-solving tool; oftentimes, one can hash out a problem and come up with solutions more easily on paper. Here are some of the studied positive impacts of [...]
Three Calming Activities
To help anxious children (and you!) that can be done in the home! By Kayla White, M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash These activities are great for children and adults to help them practice mindfulness, live in the here and now, and learn to reduce symptoms of anxiety. Progressive Muscle Relaxation: What is [...]
Protect Your Mental Health From the Dark Sides of Social Media
By Kayla White, M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling Photo by William Iven on Unsplash It's easier said than done to detox yourself from social media. It is everywhere and, if you are like most, you have the fear of missing out. But social media has many dark sides and it is in the best interest of your own [...]
5 Ways For a Stress-Free Sleep
By Kayla White, M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Resident in Counseling Photo by Matthew T Rader on Unsplash We’ve all been there. You turn to look at the clock and it’s 2:00 am, then 3:00am. You have to get up in a few hours but, you are still wide awake with what feels like a million thoughts running [...]
Do The Next Right Thing
Photo by Dustin Belt on Unsplash By Alison Morogiello, MEd, NCC , Resident in Counseling Upon viewing the new “Frozen II” movie with my two young nieces, there was a mantra throughout the film that allowed the characters to move forward when things felt hopeless. “Do the next right thing”. Sometimes in life, we are faced with overwhelming [...]
Gut Microbes and Mental Health!
By Kayla White, M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Resident in Counseling Photo by Brandless on Unsplash It's no secret that mental health and the gut-brain membrane is a new, flourishing research area! One study found that Coprococcus seems to have a pathway related to dopamine, a key brain signal involved in depression, although they have no evidence how this [...]
If we treat our body well, our mind will be happy too! 💗
Photo by Fezbot2000 on Unsplash By Alison Whitehouse, Resident in Counseling Research continues to support the connection between physical health and mental health. When we are sick with a cold, we often feel depressed or fatigued. When we are stressed or anxious, our body tenses up, or we may have digestive problems. Our mind and body are a [...]
Tips on Self-Care
We wanted to focus this month on Self-care. As the saying goes, "an empty tank will take you exactly nowhere. Take time to refuel." Self-care is not selfish so erase that concept from your mind. If anything, it benefits not only you but those who are around you. You cannot properly care for others without [...]
Seeking Safety
Seeking Safety was designed for people with a history of trauma and/or addiction. Trauma means a distressing event such as a child abuse, major accident, combat, domestic violence, natural disaster, etc. Addiction means destructive use of alcohol, drugs, gambling, food, shopping, etc. It focuses on coping skills to help you become safer in your relationships, [...]
No Show or Show Up?
By: Alycia Burant, MA, LPC, NCC, Founder & Therapist Your First Counseling Session: Trying something new for the first time can cause quite a bit of anxiety. I felt pretty anxious before I went to my first barre class (you know, that trendy exercise fad right now combining Pilates, yoga and ballet?). I imagine this [...]
Choose Your Filter! Explaining CBT to Teens
By Alison Whitehouse, Resident in Counseling We all have what’s called “cognitive distortions” and “negative core beliefs”, that negatively shape how we think, feel, and act. How can we explain this to a teenager? Let’s use the metaphor of Instagram filters. On Instagram, you have a picture to upload and a list of filters in which to [...]
