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Category: Mental Health

How to Navigate Bullying with Your Children

Kashmir Frank, LMFT September 14, 2022 No Comments

Navigating bullying starts as early as pre-school and early elementary school. Kiddos and teens have to consistently deal with bullying not just in-person but through social media. So how do we parents help our children navigate through this dilemma, especially when bullying starts so young? How do we even know bullying is happening when our children probably don’t understand the concept yet? There are four key things parents can do to prevent and navigate the reality of bullying: Talk to your children Listen for red flags Exemplify self-care Know the lesson you want them to learn Next, we’ll break these

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How To Enforce Boundaries

Dezeree Martinez, LPC September 9, 2022 No Comments

Hi, parents of teenagers! How are you holding up? Seriously… you okay? I know it’s rough. On top of navigating their moodiness, you’re trying to keep them safe and give them more independence. You hope that they’re making good choices. Because you don’t want them to make the same mistakes you did, and you try to be there whenever they need you. You wonder if their friends are good influences. Maybe you wonder if their struggles are normal or if they are evidence that you failed somehow… I might be projecting a bit on that last one.  Thankfully, there is

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A Letter From an Overwhelmed Child

Dr. Crystal Krueger August 4, 2022 No Comments

Dear Parent, I feel overwhelmed. School is going to start soon and I need you to know what is happening inside of me. I am very excited because there is so much about to happen. I get to start over with a new teacher. I’m going to see friends that I have not seen all summer. Everyone will see me again, and I am excited for them to see how much I’ve grown and the image I’m making for myself. I Feel Overwhelmed With Feelings Even though it often feels good, this excitement can feel overwhelming. When these feelings get

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The Loss in Disability

Kaitlin Jeter July 12, 2022 No Comments

Disability is something that most people don’t think will happen in their life.  Still, the disability community is the largest minority in society today with one in four individuals born with or acquiring a disability at some point over their lifetime. With this commonality comes a shared difficult experience of coping with disability, which is often unexpected. There is a unique grief and loss which accompanies disability that is difficult for others outside the experience to understand. This experience is called “ambiguous loss.”  My Story At twenty-three my mind was as far from disability as it could possibly be. I was young, healthy, and enjoying

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Raising Them to Leave Us Fostering Resilience  Pt. 2

Dezeree Martinez, LPC July 5, 2022 No Comments

Fostering resilience in teens can be scary for us as parents as we learned in Part 1 of this blog post. By providing them with the appropriate supports, we are helping them to launch successfully into adulthood. Early development of resilience. The fundamentals of resiliency start in infancy and continue on into early childhood. During this period, little ones are completely reliant on their primary attachment figure, be it a parent or other caregiver, to meet their every need. Through this bond they learn to trust and that they are worthy of having their needs met. Lots of nurturing and lots of

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Parenting Your Teen Through Mental Health Struggles

Christine Montgomery June 22, 2022 No Comments

Raising my four girls has been the hardest, yet most rewarding job. Although I do not view it as a job, but my biggest priority. Somehow (and without a guidebook) parents must take these tiny human beings and mold them into productive members of society. Gulp, that’s a big responsibility to swallow. We also need to monitor their physical and emotional wellness. Then some parents must add in additional factors, like mental health struggles. So, how can we parent our teen through mental health struggles? An Open and Honest Relationship First, having an open and honest relationship with your children

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Social Media

Kaitlin Jeter June 15, 2022 No Comments

Is social media running your life? It’s a fun way to pass the time and can help to keep us connected with our friends and loved ones, but is social media having a greater impact on you than how you spend your free time? Presence in Society Today, our businesses, culture, and relationships are structured around the presence of social media in our society; it’s nearly impossible to escape it! While it can be an incredible tool to help build a business, connect with friends, get support from others, or even gain education on current issues, it can also become

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Understanding Teens: When is it more than normal mood swings

Dr. Crystal Krueger June 9, 2022 No Comments

It’s normal for teens to be moody but when are the mood swings a sign of something more? Understanding teens is not impossible, we promise. Teenage Behaviors In the adolescent and teenage years, it is very common for young people to start pushing for more independence, engaging in more risky behavior, and challenging authority.  Essentially, the teen brain is wired to test limits and distance themselves from parents as they begin to individualize.  And while some do this in a “healthy” way, some teens seem to go to extremes.  Separateness Teenagers become irritable as they begin to develop an identity

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Attachment Trauma

Dr. Crystal Krueger May 17, 2022 No Comments

If you struggle with relationships, you are not alone. There are some dominant cultural narratives that assumes there is something wrong with us, but science and research offers us a more expansive view. Our relationship challenges may be rooted in what is known as “attachment trauma”. Attachment Theory We need to first understand attachment to understand attachment trauma. Attachment theory argues humans are born with a need to form a close emotional bond with a caregiver and that attachment is critical to a young child’s development. Both the presence and quality of attachment matter. If our bonding is strong, we

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Importance of Positive Relationships for Our Mental Health

Kashmir Frank, LMFT May 3, 2022 No Comments

Relationships of all types have a direct effect on our day to day lives and emotions.  I’m sure you’ve experienced having a fight with your kiddo or teen, partner, family member, boss, etc. and it just put you in a bad mood…I know I have!  That’s because interactions and connections affect our mind and our body.  Positive vs Negative Talk I often find myself having a talk with my clients about positive and negative language.  Consider the social experiments schools had their students do a plant.  If not seen it, watch it here.  Definitely worth it!  The school took two

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