mental health
The interrelated relationship between one’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors creates a loop. Sometimes the thoughts, feelings, behaviors (TFB) loop can be informative and helpful. For example, the thought: I’m a good person who cares about others invokes the feeling: pride (because I’m a good person for caring about others) which informs an aligning behavior: donate to crisis relief. And the cycle continues. I think I’m a good person, which makes me feel good about myself, so I…
LGBTQ is a commonly used term identifying individuals who are gay, lesbian, transgender, queer, bisexual (and there many other terms out there can be added on). LGBTQ has become more recognizable in our society, and you might also hear the words “queer community” to identify these individuals. In this post, I want to explain to you what each letter means. Lesbian Lesbian is a female identifying homosexual who has an attraction for other female identified in a…
Without sometimes recognizing it, we self-identity ourselves daily. The clothes we choose to wear, the make-up, the glasses, hats, shoes, hairstyle, body piercings, tattoos, etc., are all ways that we choose to self-identify ourselves on the outside for others to see. Internally, we identity our self through our religion, culture, self-esteem, emotions, etc. We have ways to self-identity ourselves in the public self and in the private self. How do we differentiate between both of those? Aspects…
This post will answer some LGBTQIA questions and the concept behind this. This is not a comprehensive list and there are many questions/answers still out there. Everyone also has their own interpretation of certain questions, so please be mindful and not judgmental to others. What does “gay” mean? Gay means loving/having an interest in someone that is the same gender as you. Examples would include a gay man wanting to have a special connection with another man,…
Madissyn Fredericks, Licensed Professional Counselor, Symmetry Counseling Have you ever found yourself saying, “It’s fine” to someone when they did or said something that was not fine to you? In today’s world, the team player gets hired, the nice person gets invited to the party, and the extra work gets put onto the person who doesn’t say “no”. The term agreeable is used to define those who are warm, friendly, and easy going. It may appear that…
From an early age, many of us have experienced the essence of structure and routine through what our caregivers outlined for our day-to-day schedules. This provided us with an understanding of what our essential tasks were, where we had to be and at what time, and it gave us a sense of stability and security — knowing what could be expected for the day. As adults, it is our responsibility to create and maintain our own structure…
At Symmetry Counseling, we are proud of our staff of highly trained and experienced licensed mental health professionals. In the above video, meet Paula Gonzalez, a Licensed Professional Counselor here at Symmetry Counseling. What made you decide to be a therapist? I knew I wanted to become a therapist at a very young age after witnessing a homeless man who appeared to be experiencing some kind of psychosis or schizophrenia. So at that point, I was pretty…
I work with many clients who not only have stressful jobs, stressful personal lives, but that incredibly one stressful coworker. I have several clients who often discuss a stressful coworker or theirs. As their clinical therapist, my job is to help the clients to cope with this particular frustrating coworker. We talk about reasons why the coworker frustrates them, and then what things they can and cannot do to change the environment in regards to this coworker.…
Job satisfaction is often a key piece of feeling satisfied with your life as a whole. Of course, you want to feel good about your career and feel fulfilled when you come home after a long day at work. Unfortunately, that may not always be how you feel at the end of the workday. When we feel unhappy at work, it’s important to explore what might be happening beneath the surface. Like many emotional health concerns, intentional reflection…
Andrew McNaughton, LCSW, CADC When we fall victim to our anxieties, we frequently neglect to identify the source of our fear. This hinders our ability to put any consequences into rational perspective. This is a blog on how to identify the source of our anxieties, and how to manage our thoughts and feelings by using Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT). What is REBT? Here is a quick refresher on REBT (though you can also see my previous…
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