Reflecting on Therapists, Entrepreneurs and Mental Health
An article by Robert Manolson published this week in CERIC’s CareerWise weekly online magazine caught my attention for its discussion of the ways mental health issues (esp. anxiety and depression) specifically impact small business owners. Manolson begins by noting people’s surprise that as an upbeat workshop facilitator, he also experiences anxiety and depression. It reminded me of a client’s surprise once when I stated that counselling & psychotherapy training programs often require applicants to have personal experience of therapy as a client and that most if not all of us have been therapy clients at some point in our lives…
Pets as Therapy
Those of us who have pets and love animals, I suspect innately recognize the blessings they bring to our lives. But as the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi was approaching, it led me to reflect on the specific contributions pets make to our mental health, and the gifts I see them offering in my therapy work and therapy sessions
Photographs and Memory Objects as Aids in Grief & Loss
Photographs and objects of personal importance can play an important role in helping us to process grief and move through bereavement experiences. I often ask clients who have lost a significant person in their lives to bring an image or item they associate with that person to session(s) early in the therapy process to facilitate discussion of their relationship to the deceased person, elicit memories, and to work through the grief they are experiencing.
Personal Boundaries: Challenges and Solutions (Part 2)
In my last post, I defined personal boundaries and explored their importance to our health and well-being, also looking at ways people struggle with developing and maintaining boundaries. In this post, I discuss key factors I feel are most at play when clients find themselves unable to establish and/or maintain boundaries, or struggle with knowing how or when to be flexible with the boundaries they have established. I conclude with a short discussion of the way I work with clients to strengthen ‘boundary skills’.
Personal Boundaries: What are they, why do we need them? (Part 1)
One of the issues I often see in my work as a therapist is difficulties with setting personal boundaries. The problem can be either a failure or inability to set boundaries or maintain our boundaries in a reasonable way once we have set them. Since boundaries are central to our wellbeing and safety (both emotionally and physically), this ability to create and sustain them is important.
Grief and Loss
Loss and grief are experiences that all of us will confront at some point in our lives. Grief experiences can feel like waves of emotion — sadness, fear, despair, yearning, confusion — that may be intense in some moments and less potent at other times, changing and perceived differently over time.
Career & Work in Therapy
Challenges in our careers or daily work experiences can give bring about difficult feelings that can impede our day-to-day functioning. Unexpected or unwanted changes in career directions, difficult workplace relationships, and insufficient work/life balance can cause a range of feelings including stress, anxiety, depression, and a sense of failure or being “stuck” or “lost”.