Curious about Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) and how it might support your mental health journey? Our FAQ dives into the essential details—from what to expect in a session and who may benefit most, to safety considerations and how KAP works alongside traditional therapies. Explore answers to common questions and see if KAP could be the next step in your path to healing.
Struggling with the lasting effects of childhood trauma can feel overwhelming, especially when traditional therapy doesn’t seem to go deep enough. Trauma intensives offer a powerful alternative, providing an immersive healing experience that helps uncover and resolve even the most deeply buried wounds. In this blog, we explore why trauma intensives are ideal for healing childhood trauma and how this focused approach can accelerate your path to recovery.
Ready to learn more about how trauma intensives can help you heal and reclaim your life? Click here to read the full blog!
Healing from trauma is a deeply personal journey, especially for those in the LGBTQ+ community. As a lesbian, you may face unique challenges and experiences that can affect your healing process. In our latest blog, we explore how Trauma Intensive Therapy can create safe, affirming spaces that honor your identity and foster genuine healing.
Discover the importance of finding a therapeutic environment where you can be your authentic self and how specialized approaches can empower your recovery journey. Ready to take the next step? Click here to learn more about creating a safe space for your healing!
Childhood trauma can leave lasting emotional and physical imprints, often stored deep within the body, even when the mind has forgotten the details. In this blog, we explore how somatic therapy helps release trauma held in the body by tuning into physical sensations and using the body’s natural healing abilities. Learn how the connection between mind and body is key to unlocking trauma, fostering healing, and creating lasting change. Click to discover how somatic therapy can help you reconnect and reclaim peace from unresolved childhood wounds.
Are unresolved trauma, anxiety, or relationship challenges holding you back? Virtual EMDR therapy might be the solution you're looking for. In this blog, we explore the key signs that indicate EMDR could enhance your healing journey, offering a convenient and powerful way to process emotional wounds from the comfort of your home. Discover if virtual EMDR is right for you and take the first step toward lasting relief. Click to learn more!
Living in Philadelphia can be vibrant and exciting, but it can also come with its share of stressors that contribute to anxiety. From bustling city life to work pressures and personal challenges, it's essential to have effective coping strategies in place. In this blog post, we'll delve into practical tips and techniques specifically tailored to help individuals in Philadelphia manage their anxiety and improve their mental well-being.
What if ‘the most wonderful time of year’ brings nothing but holiday anxiety? What if you feel overwhelmed and stressed during this season, rather than joyous like society tells us? And what if you don’t feel or want to be that cheerful this year? Well, I am here to tell you that this is completely natural.
Trying to relax a stressed or anxious mind can often feel unattainable! It can feel very challenging to quiet the uncontrollable negative and destructive thoughts that show up. These thoughts can impact your mood as well as your physical health, exacerbating depression, anxiety, eating disorder symptoms and trauma symptoms. Here are 5 Grounding Techniques to help reduce stress and anxiety…
Your breath is both a complicated and conveniently simple process that weaves together the communication between your body and mind. Linked to your nervous system, your breath has the capabilities of keeping you alive, soothing your body and mind and increasing energy. Your breath holds a wealth of resources for you. All you have to do is attend to it. Here’s some ways to access its usefulness.
Before searching for a trauma specialist in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, you may want to consider what, exactly you are looking for. Do you want to learn skills to help you tolerate the trauma memories? Or would you prefer to engage in deeper therapeutic work to get underneath the trauma so that it can heal at the core?
DBT has 4 tenants: distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation and mindfulness. These skills are essential when doing trauma work for PTSD and for many other difficulties such as anxiety, depression, anger management, eating disorders, self-harm and addiction.
These skills are the building blocks that will allow you to be able to function and tolerate uncomfortable memories and emotions as you dive deeper into the healing work.
When looking for a trauma specialist in Bryn Mawr, you’ll also want to take the time to find out the model or theory that the therapist uses to help navigate your therapy. If you’re looking for a safe space to process and talk things out make sure you find a counselor who is great at talk therapy. If you are looking for evidence based interventions to help you DO something with the traumatic material, you may want to investigate something like EMDR. If you want to work more from the body or a creative place, you may want to look for an art therapist, a yoga therapist or an experiential or psycho-dramatic therapist. Ideally, you’ll find a therapist who is able to choose a therapeutic tool from a large tool belt with many choices.
Successful therapy is mostly about your commitment to healing. Your counselor may ask you to consider abstaining from addictive substances, behaviors or eating disordered behaviors, especially while you’re engaged in trauma work. If you’re doing drugs, engaging in self harm or throwing up your food while you’re trying to heal from PTSD, it can side-track the process. Instead of taking the time in between sessions to allow your psyche to continue to process and digest the trauma, engaging in behaviors can numb the emotions and make it less likely that you will process and be ready for your next session. When you commit to your own healing process, it means you are willing to look at all aspects of your life and work towards shifting the things that no longer serve you.
If you engage in therapy every week, it creates synergistic momentum as opposed to dropping in only when you’re experiencing anxiety or depressive symptoms. Committing to consistent therapy will help you heal faster and more completely. What is your level of commitment to healing from a traumatic past?
If you’re looking for a trauma specialist near Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and need some helping finding the right person for you, please feel free to give us a call at 484-784-6244 for a free 15 minute initial consultation. We are happy to help you find the right trauma therapist for you.
Your body feels jittery and like you want to crawl out of your skin. Your heart races, your mind goes a million miles a second and you can't sleep. Sometimes, you just wish you could find a little peace - a little reprieve from this constant state of feeling charged up. Anxiety, social anxiety and panic are such difficult things to have to deal with. The good news is that there's hope and some sure fire things you can do to help calm your nervous system.
Getting grounded, as in, feeling your feet on the earth rather than in your head - starts with your intention at the beginning of each day. The things that help people feel grounded can be different for everyone, so you need to find things that work for you. The first place to start is to think about what you can do each morning, upon awakening that will help you get centered and begin your day with a peaceful intent. Some mindfulness meditation could be helpful, reading from a daily book of inspirational readings, praying, doing some deep breathing, singing, chanting, walking or exercising in a mindful way - these are a few ideas you can begin with.
A Deep Breath of Life by Alan Cohen
The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie
Our bodies find comfort in repeating the same actions on a regular basis. You will be teaching your body that every morning, you find peace through grounding and it will set you up to stay grounded and calm through the rest of your day.
wake
go to comfortable spot in home designated to meditation
light a candle or incense
drink warm lemon water
read from daily inspirational book
say a few simple prayers for help with staying calm through the day
set timer for 5 minutes
practice deep belly breathing for 5 minutes while focusing on flame of candle
After breathing, spend 5 minutes making a gratitude list
blow out candle and go for a 15-minute walk
Something as simple as this can really get your day off to a great start.
As you go about your day, when you notice your anxiety rising, come back to the breath you started with at the beginning of your day.
This is a tip I learned a while back that always seems to help. As yourself "where are my feet right now?" and then look down at them and see them there on the earth. Wiggle your toes a bit and feel them moving around in your sock. Acknowledge that right now, in this moment, your feet are right there and they are safe, therefore you are safe. When you start to feel panic and your thoughts race, remember to ask "where are your feet?"
caffeine is addictive and it's very activating. If you are trying to eliminate anxiety, you might want to consider eliminating caffeine. Many people will say that they use caffeine to help them find energy throughout the day and keep them going. Well, it's a catch 22 because when we use caffeine, our bodies use cortisol to help regulate our adrenal glands. When we over tax this part of our systems, it leaves us depleted and more tired than we started. Therefore, if we eliminate caffeine, we may be a tired for a few days while detoxing, but after your body adjusts, you will find that you have more energy and that you sleep better.
A large part of mental health when dealing with anxiety is getting a good amount of sleep. When we sleep, our bodies do a lot of healing. Our organs do their cleansing, our hormones rebalance and we are able to function more effectively during waking time. Also, dreaming is very important for our psyches to process material from our conscious and integrate it with our subconscious.
target bedtime for the same time every night
eliminate all electronics from the bedroom
reserve your bed for sleeping and sexual activity only - don't do work in bed
if you are having trouble falling asleep, get up after 15 minutes and do something non-electronic for 15 minutes, then go back to bed and try to sleep again
create a wind-down routine for the last hour before bed
For more information on sleep hygiene contact me at TiffanySpilove@yahoo.com
Here are some proven techniques to help your body and mind relax:
Tighten every muscle in your body. Start with your head. Tense up your face, your jaw, your eyes, your neck. Tense up your shoulders, your chest muscles, your stomach, your biceps, make fists as tight as you can. Tense up your butt muscles, your thighs, your calves, your ankles, your feet and your toes. Keep all these parts of your body as tense as possible and keep them tensed up for a full 60 seconds. Then release. This tense and release will help your body reduce anxiety symptoms.
Put one hand on your belly and the other on your chest. Take a deep breath in and try to push your belly hand all the way out with the breath into your diaphragm. Inhale slowly to 4 counts, then hold for 4 counts, then release slowly for 4 counts and repeat. When you practice breathing slowly, it will help to slow down your heart rate, thus reduce anxiety.
Any kind of bi-lateral stimulation can help reduce anxiety. Here are some examples: walking, biking, shifting weight back and forth from one foot to the other, tapping your thighs alternately. Some others: drumming, swimming, scanning your eyes from one side of the horizon to the other, back and forth. The butterfly hug is an EMDR technique where you hook your thumbs together so that your hands form a figure that looks like a butterfly. Put your hands on your chest and tap alternatively around your collar bone area. This is a great way to self-soothe or find relaxation in times of stress. Here's a video on how to do a different version of a butterfly hug.
