While our window of time for play gets narrower and narrower as we grow into adults, our brains and our souls still very much crave and benefit from play. Many adults cannot remember the last time they felt lost in play.

 Choosing a therapist is a complicated and tricky process. It is a process that no one teaches you or prepares you for. In this blog, I intend to demystify the experience of choosing a therapist and give you, the client, some helpful tips, questions to ask, and things to consider when choosing the right therapist for you. By the end of this article, you’ll be closer to your ideal therapist than ever before! Okay, that’s a big promise, but we will try our best. 

Distress tolerance skills do not solve our problems nor do they prevent them from returning. However, they do arm us with something to do when a big emotion strikes. I see distress tolerance skills as our place to turn when our feelings become overwhelming and we must react to lessen the impact. Distress tolerance skills are often used in the case of panic or unmanaged anger. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy outlines many different distress tolerance skills, they are all useful and impactful. In my practice, I tend to gravitate towards a certain set of skills branded by the acronym, TIPP.

What I found was that Walk and Talk was not a replacement for in office sessions by any means, it was a wonder all its own. The unique medium held untapped and unmatchable potential for transformative work with my clients. Utilizing the power of movement and using nature as a guide for interventions, I found that I had discovered a way to do this work that I had never considered previously.

Making meaning is a process of reflecting on and understanding the use, the lesson, or the benefits reaped from a difficult experience and how that meaning influences who we become moving forward.

We all have personal soft spots that cause unproportionate anxiety responses- meaning the fear is bigger than the realistic/objective danger of the event. In these moments, I try to recognize that I can’t avoid or solve the anxiety, but I can support myself while I cope. I can anticipate the stressful event that I know will be difficult and plan ahead. This is what I like to call a coping ahead plan.

Body image dissatisfaction (BID) is a common, long-standing, and generationally inherited experience that most American women are familiar with in one way or another. To be dissatisfied with one’s body can look many ways. Oftentimes, BID is so common and normalized amongst women we rarely question it or identify it as such. In order to talk about BID, we must address the glaring systemic beliefs that promote and maintain it.