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Recognizing Your Triggers Part II

September 24, 2020

By Eric Dean JD, MBA, MA, MA, LPC, CADC In the first part of this series, I laid out some common triggers for those in recovery from substance abuse. In this post, I will describe some additional triggers and explain the differences and relationships between internal and external triggers. Another acronym for triggers is BIRD: BIRD stands for: Bored: Feeling bored is common in early recovery. Getting alcohol, using alcohol, and recovering from the effects of alcohol…

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What Is Productivity Guilt?

September 23, 2020

Danielle Bertini, LPC Today’s world: You need to exercise at least five times per week. And not just running, it needs to be heavy weight-lifting or high-intensity interval training. While also doing a keto diet. And drink three gallons of water a day. Oh yeah, don’t forget to meditate too.  Make sure to wake up at 5am, those are the most productive hours of the day. Wow, you just spent your time watching television? You should have…

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Four Tips for Building Your Sense of Self

September 15, 2020

By: Danielle Bertini, LPC Building your sense of self is often a lifelong process of figuring out who you are, what you value, and what is important to you. This is especially hard in our world now where we are constantly sent messages about who we should be and what we should like. It can be difficult to find our own voices among the midst of so many other ideas and opinions. Cohen (2019) offers four tips…

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A Therapist’s Experience with “Doomscrolling”

September 14, 2020

Matthew Cuddeback LCSW Doomscrolling is a term that references how we can scroll through our social media and news outlets rapidly, often absentmindedly, looking for the newest opinions and information about difficult things going on in the world. It is something that can easily become maladaptive and unhealthy if left unchecked and is also difficult to avoid in our current environment. I have experienced the draws and negative effects of this phenomenon myself. Let’s talk about doomscrolling…

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How to Make Working from Home, Work for You

September 6, 2020

While working from home may be the new normal during this time period, many people have been working from home prior to the spread of COVID-19. For anyone making the switch from an office setting, working in the field, or traveling to then working from home, it is likely a huge adjustment regardless of what’s happening in the outside world. It’s important to implement new self-care strategies in order to make working from home a positive and…

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How to Pace Yourself

August 25, 2020

Matthew Cuddeback LCSW There are a few common themes behind most aspects of therapy and mental health. Generally, a few of these themes are intention, attention, space, and pace. The last one, pace, is in some ways the trickiest of these areas to pin down. Below are a few key considerations about what pacing is and how to manage it well. Pace here refers to monitoring the speed at which you are experiencing or navigating a given…

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A Video-Therapist’s Thoughts About Video Therapy

August 1, 2020

Matthew Cuddeback LCSW We are all taking the roller coaster ride of the COVID-19 pandemic together, and as we all know, it can be incredibly uncomfortable and awkward when we are trying to connect with others remotely. Working from home means more of us are connecting to the world online and perhaps this is most obvious in our Zoom meetings. It is important to acknowledge and process the inherent discomfort in our lives, for that reason we…

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