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!
We have been taught for so long to place judgments on ourselves, especially when it comes to our bodies. But it doesn’t have to have to be this way. We have the internal wisdom to manage the negative thoughts that we are having about our bodies…we just have to tap into them and be mindful of actually putting them into motion.
When you’re working on your recovery from an eating disorder, the grocery store can send you into a panic. Here are some tips to help you cope with grocery shopping in West Chester, Pa:
Before you even head to the grocery store, get grounded. Get your nervous system regulated and mindfully notice where your emotions are, especially anxiety. Visualize your shopping trip in entirety. Imagine yourself successfully choosing foods that fit right with your recovery and getting through the store successfully without panic. This trains your brian and helps it to practice the event in actuality.
Make a list. Look through your kitchen and see what you have. Notice if you’re out of one of your staples like your favorite cereal. Think about the exchanges in your food plan: protein, starch, fat, fruit, vegetables and dairy. What are you in the mood for this week? Will this be the week to branch out a bit and try that turkey melt you’ve been hankering for since you had it at that diner weeks ago? If so, jot down the ingredients on your list.
Create a list that is full, yet manageable. Make sure you have staples and perhaps a few extra things that you could freeze if you don’t end up eating them. Shoot for at least 3 items from each food group.
Don't go too hungry or too full - it will mess with your ability to make good choices.
When you get to the store, take a deep breath, take a sip of water and give yourself a time frame to shoot for. Grocery shopping shouldn’t take more than an hour and should probably take at least 15 minutes.
Go through the aisles in order from one side of the store to the other – if possible. If you notice yourself getting overwhelmed, get re-centered by taking a few deep breaths. Remember you can leave at any time.
It is easy to get overwhelmed, so when in doubt, stick to your list. Don’t get side-tracked reading labels. If a new brand or food looks interesting to you, just grab it. If you notice yourself fretting about which item to choose, take a deep breath, and grab the one that your inner child wants.
If you’re newer in recovery, limit yourself to 1-2 challenge foods for that trip. You don’t want to get too many and then sabotage later.
This does not need to become an activity that takes up your entire day. If you’re overwhelmed and you don’t get to your entire list, that’s ok. Try to make sure you’ve at least grabbed the basics, then scadaddle. There’s always next time.
When you’re in recovery from an eating disorder, the grocery store is no joke. Give yourself a reward like a hot bath, an hour with your favorite book or a new yummy smelling candle.
In case you’re overwhelmed by the grocery list, here’s simple generic example list that you can print out and circle items on, then fill in some specifics for your preferences:
Dairy:
cereal
Meat:
Fruit: 3 types
Veggies: 3 types
Condiments
Nut butter
Canned food:
Frozen food:
Baked items:
I hope you've found this helpful. If you're still feeling overwhelmed, feel free to give me a call, I'd be happy to help. 610.314.8402. If you have any more tips or comments, please comment below :)
Thanksgiving can be about gratitude and joy for some and for others’, it’s extremely stressful – especially if you’re dealing with or in recovery from an eating disorder. Here are some things you can do:
Remind yourself that this is just one day out of the year and it won’t make or break you. Give yourself permission to eat foods that you like. BREATHE and know that you are doing the best you can.
BEFORE you leave your house. What grounds you? Do something that feels very grounding for you and set an intention to keep checking in with yourself during the day. One of my favorite ways to get grounded is to ask myself “Where are your feet?” – then look down at them; wiggle my toes, feel my feet on the floor or in my shoes. When I do that, I can rest assured that right here, in this moment, I am safe. In this moment, where my feet are, I am okay. Here are some other examples of grounding activities:
Prayer and meditation
Yoga
Coloring mandala’s or other coloring
Going for a walk
Make a list: of anxieties, gratitude’s or plans, etc.
Have a bit of a plan for the day – perhaps write it down in the morning.
Journaling
Do your best to eat meals at the normal times you usually eat them. So instead of skipping breakfast and going to Thanksgiving hungry, eat your normal breakfast. When you get to your event, check in to your hunger cues – on a scale of 0-10, with zero being extremely starving, 5 is having a light sense of satisfaction – being neither hungry nor full and ten being the most stuffed you’ve ever experienced. How hungry are you? Aim for letting yourself empty out to a 2-3 before eating a meal. See if you can stop eating at a 5-7. Once you are hungry, rather than grazing on all the different foods, make a plate. Allow yourself to put at least a little bit of each food you love on the plate or foods you’d like to try. Skip the foods that don’t interest you much. Sit down and really savor the foods you chose. Check in with your hunger and satiety signals a few times while you eat your plate. Once you are satisfied, tell yourself that you can have more when you are hungry again and follow through. Making a practice of using hunger and satiety cues is extremely helpful in finding balance with food.
People tend to project their OWN food and body issues onto others’. So if you notice yourself engaged in a conversation with someone who’s trying to talk you in or out of eating or commenting on your body, take a step back. Check in with yourself and see what YOU NEED, rather than what this person is trying to get you to do. Saying you need to use the bathroom is always an easy out to give yourself some time and space to check back in with yourself and get grounded. Take some deep breaths, splash some water on your face and ask yourself what you need in that moment to take care of yourself before you leave the bathroom. Here are some examples of things you can say to people who are pushing you: “No, thank you”
“I’m okay right now”
“Yes, I’m going to enjoy this food right now”
“I’m not hungry”
“I’ll let you know when I’m ready for ...”
“I’d rather not discuss my body with you”
Practice saying these boundaries out loud BEFORE the holiday, so that when you’re in the moment, they flow easily and effortlessly.
If you notice yourself getting overwhelmed, come prepared with an exit strategy. Here are some examples:
Playing outside with the kids (or adults)
Going into another room for a breather
Taking a walk with a trusted person
Making a phone call to someone from your support group
Taking a time out to journal or color
Going for a drive
Enlist a member of your support group to be ‘Holiday Buddies’ to practice what I call ‘Book Ending’: Have a few agreed upon times you with check-in with one another throughout the day – perhaps before, during and after. You could plan to call or text one another to report how things are going. If you don’t hear from your buddy, shoot them a text to see what’s going on. In this way you have another person who has your best interest in mind to be accountable to. This practice is also helpful in getting your mind off yourself and your own difficulties.
If you’re feeling social anxiety, focus on what you can do to help. Be it washing dishes, entertaining the kids, setting the table, taking out the trash – if you make it your mission to help out as much as possible, you’ll find yourself busy and this can really diffuse social awkwardness and anxiety.
Trust your body to make up for any ‘mistakes’ you may make. One day, one meal, one bite at a time. This day will not make or break you. Try to turn it over and enjoy as much as possible.
