Managing Anxiety

5 Senses Grounding Technique Using Edible Essential Oils

This is a difficult world and problems with anxiety are not uncommon. An incredibly helpful exercise to use with clients when they’re feeling anxious, or when I’ve had a challenging session with someone and need to calm myself down, is called “Grounding.” Although being a therapist can be a joyful experience where one gets to see other people grow and share their successes, it can also be emotionally disturbing. “Grounding” helps to bring us into…

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Expressive Arts

Writing Letters to Heal Pain & Process Complex Feelings

My first talk therapist wasn’t highly skilled. It wasn’t her fault. She was a student intern at the SUNY Geneseo health center. She probably had been trying her best to gain experience in order to become a licensed mental health counselor. It was 2002 and I was entering into my Junior year of college. I had just survived my first psychotic bipolar one episode. Think resources today aren’t very good for people with mental health…

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Healthy Thought Processes

Gratitude: The Mood-Booster, The Anxiety-Buster!

Embracing gratitude and actively practicing it can help you regulate your parasympathetic nervous system. This is the part of the brain that can stop you from going into a panicky fight or flight mode if it senses danger. Sometimes just our thoughts alone about a situation are enough to trigger this system. The way we conceive of our state of affairs can tell our nervous system to go into over-drive. We end up with a…

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