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Information about the “Unspeakable” Dissociative and DID disorders.
A wonderful webinar was offered to the community – both for survivors, those who care for them and professionals who want to better know who to work with this population. So, I’m going to post some links.
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Anxiety, BIPOC, Birth, Coping Skills, Depression, Miscarriage, Postnatal, Pregnancy, Stillbirth, Trauma
Supportive FREE Webinar
Return to Zero: HOPE is sponsoring a free webinar this Saturday, February 27th, 10am PST – – Optimizing Resilience: Mental Health in Black and African American Communities led by Dorienna M. Alfred, PhD. This webinar is intended for both bereaved parents and providers. We hope you’ll join us at 10am PST on Saturday for this important topic. Register here: https://rtzhope.org/webinar
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Great TED talk on the brain, mind, regulation and relationship
I really enjoy learning more about how the brain works, why grounding and mindfulness and relationships repair and heal our brains especially from childhood trauma. I find the science to be so hopeful and optimistic that instead of learning to cope with trauma, we can heal, truly heal. So I am sharing this video of Dr. Dan Siegel talking about the brain, explaining how it functions and is related to the mind and relationships.
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Another important video that guided me into this work
Dr Gabor Mate on the misunderstanding of trauma by society and the medical industry presents this video on the misunderstandings of the ACE study, trauma, addiction, attachment, and authenticity.
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This is why I believe in the ACE study and work as a therapist in the area of recovering from trauma
Here is a video that changed me… taught me that traumatic events, especially in childhood are at the roots of physical, emotional and socio-economic issues. This TED talk by Dr. Nadine Burke Phillip – “How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime” “Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart…
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How is COVID affecting your mental health?
At this point, I do not believe that anyone can deny that COVID has dramatically affected their lives. I hear of stories of adult children who are unable to visit their elderly parents in nursing homes. I know of another family whose mother was hospitalized, and they were unable to visit her during the hospitalization. Visits via online options like FaceTime were attempted, but often the visits did not happen. Nurses were busy and unable to assist elderly clients with the technology needed to facilitate the visits. So loved ones were separated not just by distance but even technology was unable to assist in keeping them connected. The statistics for…
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CliftonStrengths
CliftonStrengths was previously called StrengthFinder. This is an extensive assessment to determine a person’s five top strengths out of 34. Well, you can purchase the entire report for a little more money. Strengths include terms like Achiever, Strategic Thinking, Restorative, Harmony, Adaptability and many more. A person cannot have a poor set of top five strengths! All of them are valuable. The assessment is used frequently in business environments although I have found it useful for individuals who are looking for a new career, want to improve their relationships, want to work better with their children or figure out how to homeschool more effectively. Basically it finds five strengths that…
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What does it mean to be values driven?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy – ACT has six main components. I find that I begin using ACT with clients on the hub of “values.” Why do I find this a good place to start? Well, for me, beginning with “values” leads quite easily then to setting goals, referred to in ACT as “committed action” and then examining the limiting thoughts “fusion” that stop us from reaching our goals. Additionally we then explore “acceptance” as a way to counter “experiential avoidance”. We learn to be present in the moment, and to see life from an observer point of view, “self as context.” I’ll write another post about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy…
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More about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT involves six processes: Values Committed Action Cognitive Defusion Being Present Self as Context Acceptance For the official description of these processes, Contextual Science is the place to go. ACT uses a number of metaphors to explain and describe and work through these six processes. So, I’m going to give you some examples to illustrate what this all means. I’ve described “Values” in another post, but will briefly discuss it hear again. More to come…
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Grounding Box
Physical Grounding Box I’m going to give you two suggestions, a physical grounding box and a virtual grounding box. With a physical grounding box, find a box to contain items like this: small smooth rocks textured fabrics small sculptures fidget toys like fidget spinners, blocks, magnetic sculptures therapuetic putty or play dough or silly putty squishy ball squishy string essential oils like peppermint or lemon Include pictures – pets, safe places, friends Feel free to bring the box with you to in person sessions; and even more importantly, have the box with you for virtual sessions. Virtual Grounding Box music calming photos of the beach or nature photos of you…