Disclaimer: The content provided on this website is provided solely for informational purposes.The information below should not be used as an alternative to obtaining individual professional advice. Always consult registered healthcare providers when beginning any new treatment.
Merry Mindfulness: Navigating the holiday season
‘Tis the season to be jolly, but let's not forget to be mindful too! During the festive frenzy, it's crucial to keep our mental health in check. The holidays can be a mixed bag of joy and stress, so let’s unwrap some mental wellness tips to make sure you sleigh through the season with a smile.
Battling Burnout: Navigating the lines between work and life.
Beyond mere exhaustion, burnout represents a tumultuous maelstrom of emotions and physical fatigue. It stealthily infiltrates one's life like an unwelcome guest, leaving behind a wake of weariness, frustration, and a lingering sense of disillusionment. The unmistakable signs often go unnoticed, dismissed as mere facets of the daily grind. Other times, clients come to see me concerned about symptoms of anxiety or depression when their distress is more likely to be related chronic workplace stress. This article looks at how to identify the signs of burnout.
I’ll tell you all about procrastination tomorrow…
It took me ages to write this article about procrastination. I just kept putting it off. Get it? Boom boom. All jokes aside, procrastination can have a pretty big impact on our mood and mental health. According to Britt Frank, licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and procrastination researcher, procrastination is not a character flaw but a coping mechanism that people use to manage their emotions. I personally would probably go a step further and describe it is a defense mechanism people use to avoid their emotions altogether.
Depression
The evidence is clear: psychotherapy can be a powerful tool in the fight against depression.
Anxiety & Your Body
Understanding our physiological responses to anxiety can help us to recognise signs and symptoms earlier on and take steps to prevent our anxiety escalating to the point where it becomes distressing or impairing. Anxiety is a normal, healthy part of being human. In fact, it is essential. As I explain to clients, our goal is not to eliminate anxiety altogether. When the smoke alarm goes off, I need your system to still be able to kick in so that you can grab the kids and the dog and escape from the flames safely. The problem is when it starts activating in the absence of an immediate threat.
Breathing Techniques
Since breathing is something we can control and regulate, it is a useful tool for achieving a relaxed and clear state of mind. I recommend breathing exercises to help relax and reduce stress: The 4-7- 8 Breathing Exercise (also called the Relaxing Breath), and Breath Counting. Try each and see how they affect your stress and anxiety levels.
Safety First: It’s your (neuro)biological requirement!
Feeling safe is not a luxury—it’s a biological necessity. Long before we developed language, logic, or even conscious thought, our nervous systems evolved to do one very important job: keep us alive. Safety, therefore, is not just a pleasant state of being—it’s the foundational platform that allows everything else in our human experience to unfold. Without it, the parts of our brain responsible for reasoning, empathy, creativity, connection, and growth simply can’t do their jobs.