It’s such a colorful time of year in Philadelphia when the weather begins to warm. More people frolicking out and about on the historic, cobblestone streets. But you wonder why you aren’t experiencing the same sense of excitement and joy as it seems your fellow Philadelphians. All you can find yourself thinking about as you travel the Center City streets is how uncomfortable you feel in your body. You find yourself worried that others are judging the way your body looks in your newly purchased spring attire. You want so badly to feel happy in the changing of the seasons, but you can’t. You dread the warmer weather and the body shame it brings.  

It never feels good enough when it comes to food decisions and our minds are always racing. We want to feel like we are making the right decision but we always end up back in the same cycle of punishing our bodies, feeling shameful and moody, and ultimately are left feeling negative about ourselves. It doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to live in society's food ‘rules, ’ feel guilty, shameful, or confused about food any longer. There is another way! 

It’s hard to love your body when you have so much dislike, even hatred for it. Our thoughts, feelings, and emotions about our body image heavily influences our personal experiences and plays such a big role in how we experience life. Oftentimes, (from my own personal experience too), our negative body image holds us back from truly experiencing present moments because we are too preoccupied with our appearance. 

Despite what society, the world, your family, or even you, yourself, has been told about eating disorders there are unfortunately so many misconceptions. You can be intensely restricting and obsessively over exercising and still think you are too big to have an eating disorder. You could also be restricting or binging and still show up in a body that is considered ‘normal’ or ‘overweight.’ You can be purging daily and your labs could still come up normal. 

Diet culture has implanted nutrition “education” into our minds that leads us to confusion. But it’s not really nutrition, it’s dieting.  It’s meant to make us confused and overwhelmed, so we’ll sign up for the next ‘best’ approach.  Enter Whole 30, Keto, Intermittent fasting, WW, Noom.  It makes sense that we’re drawn to these programs and approaches they appear to simplify the jungle. But really, they just add to it.  It’s time for a change.  Food doesn’t have to be this confusing. You don’t have to have these reels in your head about what you should or shouldn’t be eating.  

NEDAW begins on Monday, February 27th and ends on Sunday, March 5th and is focusing on two key components–the lived experiences of individuals with eating disorders and providing education to others about eating disorders. Both of these components align with the theme of this year's NEDAW, which is It’s Time for Change.

While DBT has been proven to be highly effective in treating a range of mental health conditions, you don’t have to have a mental illness to benefit from these skills. In fact, learning these skills and incorporating them into your life can help all of us! Here are 3 DBT skills to help you get started. 

Trauma impacts each of us differently, but, on the whole, we often all experience a shift afterwards. We feel helpless, fearful, sad, and maybe even numb. These post-trauma responses make us feel isolated and withdrawn from the world around us and we often feel so disconnected from our old self. We feel like we have lost integral parts of ourselves forever. But, you don’t have to lose yourself or experience the ripple effects of trauma forever. There are ways to empower yourself after trauma!

Now you may have engaged in talk therapy before (or maybe not!) and while it may have been helpful, it never felt like you got to the root of your trauma or problem. It felt like you just talked and talked and (surprise!) talked about your trauma narrative. And while it felt somewhat helpful in the moment, you never felt free from the traumatic memories or sensations because challenging the thoughts or beliefs you had about the trauma just wasn’t enough. Sounding familiar at all? This is where EMDR is different.

You’re in the midst of a transformation–whether you are grieving a dream you had that is no more or you have moved into a new phase of your life, all you know is that you just want to be happy.  You have everything or most of what you want and all of what you need, but you’re just STRUGGLING!  

Are you thinking about starting therapy but feel hesitant in moving forward? Maybe you are worried about the timing or aren’t sure how to find a therapist. Maybe you’re worried about what other people would think or say. Perhaps you just aren’t sure if therapy is right for you or if therapy will be beneficial. All you know is that you are tired of convincing yourself that you ‘don’t really need’ therapy or that you don’t ‘have it bad enough’.  You feel that you have finally reached a space of curiosity with therapy and what the therapeutic experience has to offer.

We all have inner voices—one that judges  and belittles and one that is nurturing and up-lifting. However, for many the second inner voice often sounds like a fantasy. In fact, it feels impossible to even comprehend talking to yourself in a kind way because for most of us…the critic often always wins. Our inner voice can be a destructive force that can impact our overall mental wellbeing. This damaging voice magnifies negativity and often isn't satisfied until we are left feeling defeated and sometimes even paralyzed. So, how can we regain balance within our own system? How can we reset the inner critic and strengthen our inner coach?

We go into the New Year with the best of intentions, to make these goals actually happen. We feel excited, hopefully and even enthusiastic about the idea of working toward something new. But, for many of us, we often give up on our New Year’s resolutions or simply forget about them all together by the end of the month and revert back to our old habits. This can often make us feel shameful and guilty for not reaching the expectation that we had set out of ourselves.  So, this New Year, instead of putting pressure on ourselves to make an excessive list of all of the New Year’s resolutions you feel that you have to complete, what if you threw that all out the window? What if you didn’t set resolutions?

Getting back into the swing of things can come as a relief for many after the holidays. Jumping back into their comfortable routine and leaving the holiday stress behind is what actually brings much cheer to many. For others, the financially, emotionally and mentally stressful come down from the most wonderful time of the year can bring on post-holiday blues. 

You get caught up in the idea that you need to create the perfect holiday experience for yourself and for those around you. Each holiday season you set extremely high hopes that this year will *finally* be different. Yet, you often fall short of these expectations that you put on yourself. You often become overly stressed and anxious because of the added pressures of the December month. And while you had good intentions at the start of the month, you have set the stage for your inner critic to take the spotlight because you feel that you have fallen short. 

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the holiday season, especially when you are in recovery and trying to remain sober. However, there are many things that you can do to mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for the challenge of staying sober! Just remember to give yourself grace, use your sober safety tools, have a sober safety plan in place and remember to have fun.

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.

Finding an effective path for you requires one to take space to understand the options that are available to you. Learning about the different types of addiction treatment is the first step in understanding what is going to work best for you!

Oftentimes, challenging or traumatic moments that we have gone through will overwhelm our system which inhibits our brain’s ability to properly process that memory. Ultimately, there is a disconnect between what we actually experienced in that moment and what our brain stored which causes a ‘trauma’ wound. The brain becomes wounded and that wound, has not had the space it needs to heal.

By the end of Thanksgiving Day, you don’t feel like the confident adult you know you are, feel anxious, overwhelmed, annoyed and drained. You feel your old wounds reopened and you want to retreat inside of yourself because the comments you feel like you already dealt with, still hurt you. You are still bothered by the family drama that you find yourself dragged into, even though you thought you set that boundary. You're angry and even upset because you thought that this year would finally be different.

Every culture has their own food likes and dislikes that have been heavily influenced by their ancestry. However, when we begin to restrict ourselves from our cultural foods because of diet culture and society's expectations, it can make us feel separated from a core piece of ourselves. And again, we often easily convince ourselves that we should restrict ourselves from that food because it is a smart nutritional decision.

Multicultural counseling is a term used to describe a type of counseling practice that acknowledges how a client’s cultural identity may have played a role in their mental health. When a therapist works from a multicultural approach, it means that a therapist will not only work to understand the difficulties you are experiencing from your perspective but work to acknowledge how various parts of your cultural identity have also played a role in your mental health.

Wouldn’t it be nice if nutrition was presented to you in a truly neutral way? Without dieting, weight loss, or some new fad? Instead you had someone walk you through your own personal lifestyle and help you construct your own nutritional roadmap. You can! That’s what a nutritionist would do with you.

Stress follows you everywhere! And as much as you want to avoid it, you cannot. Which is why it is important to take space to understand your own stress. Even though at times, it can feel extremely overwhelming, taking space to be curious about your own stress will not only help you but improve your everyday life.

While we may be more equipped to manage our mental health at different times in our life, mental health problems can become overwhelming and all-encompassing. Individuals who struggle with mental health often feel alone or like a burden to individuals in their life. Which is why many will keep their mental health in the shadows. However, mental health is something that is becoming more normalized to discuss. Which is a big part in how and why we have and should celebrate World Mental Health Day!

Are you experiencing borderline personality disorder (BPD), depression, anxiety, impulsive behaviors, mood disorders and/or PTSD symptoms? Are you struggling to regulate your emotions or communicate effectively? Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) can help for any one of these conditions or symptoms, as this therapeutic approach offers techniques that enable effective living for almost anyone.

The month of May is Mental Health Awareness month. This month not only allows us to educate and raise awareness surrounding mental health and treatment options, but it focuses on reducing the stigma associated with mental illness. There are so many misconceptions and stigmas surrounding mental health issues and that is a major reason why many who suffer from mental health issues suffer in silence.

Body image is defined as one’s thoughts, perceptions, and attitudes about their physical appearance. The way that we perceive our bodies can fluctuate day to day and can be triggered by stress and other external pressures. If you find yourself struggling, here are a few tips to improve body image:

Is your child experiencing symptoms of anxiety, depression or PTSD? Are you noticing challenging behaviors in your child and you are not sure what to do? Does your child shut down when you ask them what’s wrong? Child therapy can be a helpful space for kids to explore their feelings safely and process their needs, learning how to better communicate with you and how you can foster a secure parent-child attachment. Here is more of what to expect when you bring your child in for therapy.