When I think of strong communication skills, I think of my experience with dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, which is all about seeing BOTH perspectives in any scenario – definitely something everyone should master.
Read MoreMay is Mental Health Month, with this year’s theme being “Tools 2 Thrive.” Those tools include owning your feelings, finding the positive, eliminating toxic influences, creating healthy routines, supporting others, and connecting with others. We want to focus on “finding the positive” because it fits right in with our topic for this week – positive self-talk.
Read MoreApril’s newsletter is focused on Emotional Self-Care and provides tools for your Courage Toolkit.
Read our April Newsletter here.
Read MoreDo you ever think you’re just going it alone or going through the motions? That’s what can happen if you try to do self-care without first building a foundation of self-compassion, which is our final topic this month.
Read MoreThis week, our topics are fear and courage. It’s been said that having courage doesn’t mean you’re never afraid. It means you don’t let fear stop you. While fear may inhibit action, courage encourages it.
Read MoreContinuing our theme of resilience, this week’s dual topics are guilt and shame, and how to tell the difference between them. Guilt is what we feel if we do something specific that goes against our values. Shame can be the painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by our awareness of doing something wrong.
Read MoreI feel that we all need some “calm” right now. We also could use a little pep talk. Here’s a mantra that does a little of both. I’ve been saying this one all week to myself and to anyone else who will listen: I CAN DO HARD THINGS.
Read More“Self-care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you.” - Katie Reed
Read our March Newsletter here.
Read MoreAs we all know, caring for someone you love who is living with mental illness can be stressful on a GOOD day. These days, there’s even more adding to our stress levels. So this week, we’re sharing some strategies on how to cope.
Read MoreDuring these challenging times, caregivers are feeling more isolated and alone than EVER. We KNOW that we can help each other to get through this TOGETHER. After all, we know and DO HARD things every day.
We know that caregivers have many other responsibilities, too … and even in the best of times, this can cause compassion fatigue, which is this week’s topic. As caregivers, we may find ourselves with heightened anxiety about a number of things, which can lead to compassion fatigue and, potentially, to caregiver burnout.
Read MoreWe’re kicking off a New Year of programming curriculum with a focus on the benefits of self-care and goal-setting. It seems like common sense that, in order to provide care, a caregiver must take care of him/herself first. But the truth is that we often tend to put our own needs last.
Read MoreWe have a LOT to celebrate! 🎉We celebrated at our in-person programming this week with cupcakes 🎂Today we'll celebrate with you by sharing our first program year by the numbers.
Read MoreAs caregivers, our lives are so busy and consumed with meeting the needs of others that we seldom find time to look back and analyze what happened, why it happened, and what other options might have been available. We also tend to sweep aside our emotional reactions to difficult situations.
Read MoreThis week we’re exploring art and all of the benefits it can bring, whether we’re creating art or experiencing it. Feelings can be messy and sometimes irrational.
Read MoreMusic can do many things. It can console your grief or loneliness, bring you peace and calmness, help you express your feelings when words aren’t enough, and encourage you to get your body moving. It also can do wonders for your self-care.
Read MoreCreative expression is the action of translating your feelings and emotions into a medium you can either share with others or keep private, if you wish. Creativity can change our perspective, point us down new paths, influence our problem-solving, and inspire us to take risks.
Read MoreFor many of us forgiveness can be challenging. It can be hard to let go of times when we have been hurt or excluded. Yet, by choosing NOT to forgive, we anchor ourselves in the past. And if we wallow in what’s been done to us in the past, we waste time and emotional energy.
Read MoreOne of life’s eternal questions is “Why am I here?” This week, our Spiritual theme turns to the topic of Finding Your Purpose, and that journey is, indeed, a spiritual one. But it doesn’t have to be hard or deep or complicated. It can be as simple as finding what feeds your soul.
Read MoreCultivating a practice of mindfulness asks us to dig deep within ourselves and, perhaps, reveal ourselves in ways that we may not be ready to do yet.
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