Navigating Stress/Anxiety and COVID-19
Uncertainty can be scary and can often increase symptoms of anxiety and stress. The end of this COVID-19 pandemic is not yet in sight, and I have been hearing from a lot of friends, family, and clients that their levels of stress and anxiety have been significantly higher since Chicago went on lockdown. It appears…
Read MoreWaking Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed
Kyle Lawell, LPC There are days where we wake up and know that something is “not right.” From the moment you woke up, there was something holding you back from being your authentic, happy, and caring self. Maybe you had troubling sleeping, maybe it was the shouting from your kids in the back seat of…
Read MoreGIVE: The Key to Effective Communication in a Relationship
Maintaining effective communication within a relationship can be a challenging task, yet when individuals within a relationship are able to express their needs and wants appropriately, the relationship is much more likely to flourish and prosper. Expressing our desires to our loved-ones, however, can sometimes be difficult due to extraneous factors such as our fear…
Read MoreA Mindful Minute
Oftentimes our lives can feel incredibly overwhelming with everything we have to accomplish throughout the day. From preparing your kids for school in the morning, going to that yoga class you nervously signed up for last minute, getting the groceries to feed your family, and remembering to turn in the report your supervisor asked for…
Read MoreWhat To Do If You Think Your Partner Is Cheating
It is often a terrible gut-wrenching feeling when you start suspecting your significant other might be cheating on you. Maybe there was an unexplained situation that put you on high alert or possibly a comment from him/her/them or a friend that made you start suspecting. Whatever the situation might be, it is often discouraging, saddening,…
Read More7 Simple Coping Mechanisms to Help With That Mid-Afternoon Slump at Work
I work with many clients who describe feeling that midafternoon slump at their job. For those that work the 9-5pm Monday-Friday job, it is very common to feel the midafternoon slump around 2pm due to the simple fact that you likely needed to wake up by 7am at the very latest to get to your…
Read MoreWhy Should I Spend Time Alone? Part Two
If you read my last blog post referencing the article from The New York Times, “Why you should find time to be alone with yourself” by author Micaela Marini Higgs, you may be curious about not only the benefits of spending alone time, but also how to implement alone time in your life. Below answers…
Read MoreCoping With Coronavirus
Hannah Hopper, LPC It’s in the news, it’s on social media, it’s all the people in our lives have been talking about lately – Coronavirus seems to have taken over our world and our mental space too. And with so much news bombarding us on a minute-by-minute basis, it’s easy to neglect our mental health.…
Read MoreIt’s OK to Cry…
It is ok to cry. It is ok to cry. It is ok to cry. (insert tears). Why do we feel like it’s not ok to cry? Why do we feel like crying equals a sign of weakness? Why does crying mean that we are sad? Why do people become awkward when someone is crying?…
Read MoreHow to Stay Positive
During the coronavirus period of our lives, also known as COVID-19, I feel like people around have become very paranoid (which is valid emotions) but we are forgetting how to stay positive in times of panic. Humans sometimes tend to forget that there are positives in our lives and we focus on the negatives. Lets…
Read More