Grief Counselling Airdrie & The Grief Recovery Method
In this blog we wanted to take some time to explore a specific grief therapy method that can support people navigating grief, loss, and transition.
Using Compassion to Provide the Best Psychological Services Calgary
Every May since 1951 (that’s over 70 years!), Canadians in communities, schools, workplaces, and the House of Commons have rallied around the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Mental Health Week. This year, between May 6-12, 2024, the theme is around the power of compassion and how that can be used to improve mental health outcomes for all. In this article, we explore how compassion can be used in mental health counselling Airdrie and beyond to offer people the best psychological services and outcomes.
Calgary Addiction Counselling: Treating Addiction Beyond Substances
In this article we will explore Paige Abbott, Registered Psychologist’s, experience of providing Calgary Addiction Counselling to those struggling with food, sex, love/relationship, spending, work, gambling, and media concerns and what she has observed helps those in their recovery journey. As you will see, Addiction can certainly involve substances but does not end there. This is an area Paige has been exploring for years. We invite you to visit a past blog on ‘The Top 5 Areas Addiction Impacts After Drugs & Alcohol’ to learn more.
The Facts About OCD: Symptoms, Diagnosis and OCD Counselling Calgary
Despite being a psychologist since 2009, I have to admit that my knowledge about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is relatively small. As with any area, there is so much to know in the field of psychology that people develop specialties. Thankfully, I was able to discuss what OCD is, how it gets identified, and what OCD Counselling can look like with Megan Hanrahan, a Registered Psychologist who specializes in anxiety counselling and OCD counselling Calgary. Let’s learn together from Megan’s expertise.
10 Signs You Would Benefit from Anxiety Counselling Calgary
It is natural to experience fear and worry about the future. This is ‘little a’ anxiety, which we use to describe a feeling. It is not a natural feeling to have to: Engage in compulsive behaviours to try and feel safe; or to have physical symptoms like heart palpitations, sweating, or dizziness; or to have a consistent sense of impending danger or doom. These experiences are more emblematic of ‘big A’ Anxiety. Anxiety is a mental health disorder with defined symptoms and types (as not all anxiety is created equal).
Codependency Counselling Calgary: 7 Strategies for a Healthy Life
Codependency, while not an official mental health diagnosis, is a term used to explain imbalanced relationships where one person inadvertently enables and participates in another person’s unhealthy behaviours, which are often connected with addiction, mental health, or poor physical health. Those seeking out Codependency Counselling Calgary and beyond can learn more about what codependency is, what codependency counselling and codependency therapy looks like, and 7 core areas to explore for recovery.
How to Find the Best Psychological Services in Calgary and Beyond
A question that is always in people’s minds when engaging with a product or service is, “Am I receiving the best?” This is, in part, due to our natural human instinct for comparison, problem-solving, and forward movement to keep questing and pursuing more and better. It is also, in part, to our consumer culture which keeps us doubting and questioning what is bad, good, and best. Of course this question comes up in the therapy arena as well, though the answer definitely looks different than if you are using the best phone or eating the best donair.
What to Look for in an Eating Disorder Therapist in Calgary and Beyond
Eating Disorder rates are on the rise since the COVID pandemic. It is estimated that at least 600,000-900,000 people are struggling with an Eating Disorder in Canada at any given time and this number is likely higher than we know due to the ongoing shame, secrecy, and stigma that still exists with this health condition. Women are 10x more likely to struggle (or at least be open about their struggle) than men and youth are the highest risk age group. Eating Disorders must be taken seriously as they can be fatal if left untreated, with mortality rates for those with anorexia being as high as 10-15% (stats from Eat Well Health Centre blog).
EMDR, ART, and More: A Guide to Trauma Counselling Airdrie
Trauma healing is possible. Even if you have been dealing with the symptoms of trauma for decades, there is always hope and possibility for change. Struggling with the impact of trauma and deciding to seek out counselling support is a huge step in and of itself. Once you begin looking, many people are overwhelmed by the plethora of providers and types of therapies available. In this blog post, we are happy to provide an overview of some of the most common treatments out there right now to help you make a decision about the next steps.
Depression Counselling Calgary: 10 Tips To Beat The January Blues
January Blues. Blue Monday. We have been hearing about how challenging January is and have a number of associations and theories as to why this is a harder month for people’s mental health. Maybe it is because of the darkness. Maybe it is because of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Maybe it is because of the lack of holiday in January and something to look forward to. Maybe it is due to the crash after the holidays. All of these theories seem to have some element of truth to them and may be contributors to a shift towards more depressed mood and poorer mental health. This can result in an increased need for depression counselling. Calgary, my hometown, is a city that experiences a unique weather system called Chinooks which results in warmer temperatures but this does not seem to be preventative enough with mental health.
How Do You Know If You’re a People Pleaser? Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment.
On the surface, people pleasing can look like being kind, helpful, and offering support to other people. You may wonder how this could be unhealthy and unkind to our mental health? In and of themselves, these are great qualities and not where people pleasing can create issues. People pleasing’s harm comes from its intensity, frequency, underlying motivations, and impact.
Navigating Holiday Pressure With Healthy Boundaries: 10 Strategies for prioritizing your mental health this season
Each year I find myself circling back around to writing about mental health over the holidays and how to navigate the season in the healthiest way possible. This is because each year is a cyclical repeat of certain patterns:
Increased pressure (both internal and external)
Increased resentment
Increased stress and overwhelm
Financial demands that can become unmanageable
20 Quick and Easy Relaxation Strategies You Can Do At Home Today
People often have the idea that relaxation is a week-long vacation on a beach, a day at the spa, or having multiple hours to do an enjoyable activity. While these are all certainly examples of relaxing activities, they are also special and not available on a daily or regular basis (unfortunately!). Therefore, relaxation must be viewed in a realistic, not idealistic, way.
Why Is It So Hard to Relax? Tips for Managing Anxiety and Stress
Clients come into our office all the time saying that they feel chronically stressed, overwhelmed and burnt out yet do not know how to relax. This feels foolish to them because, “Who doesn’t know how to relax?” (their words, not ours). In reality, most people do not know how to relax unless they practice it because, believe it or not, relaxation is a skill and not as natural a muscle as we believe. Don’t believe it? Let’s talk some more about our relaxation response system.
Tips for Improving Men’s Mental Health
It is estimated that around 12% of men are accessing mental health support in North America compared to over 21% of women. This is despite men having reportedly higher rates of suicidal ideation, substance use and Addiction issues. What prevents men from accessing mental health care at higher rates? What can we do to change this? These are the issues that we will explore in this blog post about men’s mental health.
Tips for Dealing with Compulsive Spending
Advertisers know how to tempt us with their marketing campaigns and most of us, at one time or another, have found ourselves buying something we did not need, going over our budget on a shopping trip, and feeling regret over a purchase. For most people, this is an occasional occurrence and then goes away completely or for a long time before another mild flare-up happens. Some people are able to learn from these experiences and implement new systems that help them reduce regret, overspending, and thoughtless buying. However, some people become caught in a destructive cycle of spending and buying that they struggle to remove themselves from, despite the increased knowledge, guilt, and tools they may have at their disposal.
What Makes Gambling So Addictive?
Recently there has been a steep rise in the amount of gambling advertisements on all types of media. While many claim not to be “gambling” sites (not exactly sure how they’re able to justify this; even if no actual money is being transmitted the randomness of the games is gambling for our brains) and all of them have a “consume responsibility” disclaimer, nevertheless we are being exposed to this messaging and it has an impact.
Dealing with Grief and Death by Suicide Resources
I wish I could say I had not been touched by grief and loss but, of course, I am a human being and have been. Some of the most poignant losses in my life were those who died by suicide. With someone who dies of natural causes or disease, there can be regret when looking back on memories of the relationship and wishing that something different had been said or done. Sometimes people have been able to reconcile the bigger instances of challenge with that person before they died and can have more peace and acceptance.
Using Bilateral Stimulation to Deal with Big Emotions