This last week I spent some time volunteering making "Parent Packs" with Carters Foundation.  Parent Packs are toiletry bags filled with creature comforts and overnight essentials to help parents feel comforted when they need to spend the night with their child in the hospital. While working with the other volunteers filling these bags, I had a few thoughts on my mind.  One of the dominant thoughts was how overwhelming it must be to have to be on the go, with no time to decompress.  While we wait for cures and medical progress, I'd like to offer some specific tips for helping parents find comfort in the often uncomfortable and overwhelming process of navigating hospital stays with their child. ​

Here are five quick tips that you or loved ones can do tonight to help you get some rest while you help your child in the hospital:

Sleep disturbances can be a caused by changes, growth spurts, fears, and problems at school. Sleep issues can lead to health concerns, behavioral issues, lower grades, dysregulation, and can create communication challenges. Not to mention the extra stress and frustration for wanting to help a child sleep who, for some reason, may fight their adults through the process. If you’re like many parents out there, you may be experiencing sleep difficulties with your child when it’s close to bedtime. In this post, we will be discussing a few factors of sleep routines and we will provide some tools that can be tailored to your families needs.

Did you know that irritability is often an add-on feeling? We’re likely to feel irritable and overstimulated when factors are out of control and when we don’t feel comfortable in our body. When we don’t feel like our best selves, we’re more likely to have a hard day.
Our overstimulated selves are quicker to respond, are less likely to think of negative consequences, and we’re more likely to respond with bigger feelings. The outcome is more likely to be negative. With higher temperatures, summer schedule changes, and more of a temperamental political climate, overstimulation is higher than average for many. In this article, we’re going to discuss 3 tools that you can use with yourself and your community to relegate yourself.

My clients know that one of the common examples I use in my sessions is how we need to pull weeds out of the garden we tend to.  Looking and growing beautiful flowers is wonderful but having healthy soil is imperative for overall success. The same is true for our mental health and the growth mindset that we can encourage within.

Spring is often associated with renewal, fresh start, and progress. When we can focus our energy and growth toward our minds an bodies we are more likely to feel positive effects with our emotional well-being and growth. With spring starting this week, we will discuss and review a few healthy tips to tend to your own mental health garden. 

About a week after elections have concluded, I’m hearing from many that they are worried. People are sharing concerns for the future and processing the possible outcomes of change. Feelings are high, anxiety may be through the roof, and the stress may be affecting many areas of your life. Let’s explore together 5 tools that may help the change feel a little lighter.

Have you found that you’re experiencing similar weeks and are stressing about the variables? Or perhaps you notice difficulties completing similar tasks. Whether we’re starting change, in the midst of it, or waiting on it, adjustments can have a huge impact on our mood, daily dynamics, and overall mental health. In this post we will discuss the algorithm and explore some tips on helping with a smoother transition.

The postpartum journey is filled with new experiences.  Even with multiples, every newborn experience can be hectic and unique.  From getting to know our body again, healing, and trying to connect with your most precious little baby. Mix all of these changes in with hormones, body pains, and fresh emotions, the feeding experience may be a high form of stress for you. 

​Trying to exclusively breastfeed, there could be high pressure to be constantly needed but touched out and tired. Anxiety, fear, loneliness, and sadness may be especially high if the expectation and reality of feeding your new baby is not what you expected.

Grief is a feeling that many know,  although it's likely we wish we didn't. Bereavement after end stage cancer is so difficult and the loss of a loved one is immeasurable. Together, it may feel that it would be impossible to heal. In this blog, I will explore some strategies to help you, your family, and the cancer community to process and grieve. Know that as you start and continue this journey of healing that there is more than one "right" way to grieve a loss. The overall goal is not to forget but to balance our feelings in remembering the love and the light and not the illness.  To live in the pain without breaks would be unbearable. To try to only ignore and hide would likely lead to unhealthy tendencies. Let's explore finding a balance for you.

With the warming temperatures and school bells on mute, summer is often a major time of change for most. Individuals are likely to experience mental health changes, physical changes, and life changes in the next few months. Sound like you or a loved one? Here’s what we can keep in mind for a smoother transition.