How to Practice Mindfulness and How Shame Can Affect Your Eating Habits
Eating is a daily practice that helps nourish our bodies by keeping them strong and healthy. It is the “fuel” that provides energy for the day. Eating habits may become unhealthy patterns ladened with guilt and shame. It is important to become aware of maladaptive core beliefs and the internalized messages that come along with eating habits and feelings about weight, appearance, or overall body image.
Shame is an emotion that can greatly affect eating habits whether it be mindless eating, restricting, binging, purging, struggles with weight and/ or body image. Feelings of shame are often present with behaviors that are done in secret and may be associated with rigidly held beliefs including “food rules” that affects-eating-habits. Mindfulness can help bring awareness to unhelpful thoughts that contribute to feelings of shame. Mindfulness can help us sit with the discomfort these feeling bring, being present in the moment and approaching eating habits with curiosity. In our moments of pain and suffering may we find compassion for ourselves. Oftentimes it is much easier to show compassion for others while the inner critic is unleashed on the self. Offering yourself kindness and compassion during a difficult situation is a great mindfulness practice which can help work with feelings of shame.
Here are some guidelines how to practice mindfulness while eating that incorporates simple-practices-for-daily-life.
1) Notice What You are Eating. Make mindful choices that nourish the body and soul.
2) Savor Your Food. Take time to notice the aroma, taste, and texture. Allow yourself to connect and enjoy these sensations.
3) Create a Pause. Activities to slow down and then enjoy the food such as breathing or a prayer before eating can help with the transition to meal time.
4) Be Mindful of Where You are Eating. Do you eat on the couch in front of your TV, at your desk while working, or in bed? Take the time to prepare a special place for meal time, even if it is a place setting for one.
5) Listen to Your Body Signals. Learn to recognize and appropriately respond to signals of hunger and fullness.
The Center for Mindful Eating provides some great information on mindful eating as well as mindful meditations: https://thecenterformindfuleating.org/FREE-Meditations
If you are struggling with shame around eating habits, please schedule a time to talk to a therapist with specialty working with eating disorders https://care-clinics.com/ or a specialty clinic that provides treatment for eating disorders.
Melrose Center: https://www.healthpartners.com/care/specialty-centers/melrose-center/
The Emily Program: https://www.emilyprogram.com/
Written By: Charlotte Johnson, MA, LPCC
We’re Here to help
Our wellness experts will be happy to take care of you. You can CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment now or call (612)223-8898.
Meet Clinicians
We’re united by our commitment to providing effective, relevant, and innovative mental health support at all stages of your journey. Click Here to find out more about who we are, where we come from, and how we live out CARE’s mission every day.
The professionals at CARE are actively collecting and creating resources to help with what you need. We’re Here for You.
Supporting Teachers and The Work They are Doing
As a mental health therapist who has worked many years alongside teachers within the school system, I have a deep appreciate for the work that they do. I have seen the effects of teacher stress and burnout firsthand and feel honored to work with teachers who are coping with the additional stressors associated with educating students at this time. Teachers-are-anxious-and-overwhelmed. It is important to support teachers and the work they are doing.
In a survey conducted at the end of March 2020 by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and Collaborative for Social Emotional and Academic Learning 5,000 teachers were asked to describe in their own words, the most frequent emotions they felt each day.
The top five emotions reported were anxious, fearful, worries, overwhelmed, and sad with over 95% of the feelings reported being rooted in anxiety. In fact, anxiety was the most frequently reported emotion.
Common causes of teacher stress and burnout include the following:
• Lack of strong leadership and/ or lack of support from leadership
• Negative work climate
• Increased job demands
• Addressing challenging student behaviors
• Lack of autonomy and decision-making power
• Limited or lack of social and emotional training
Now add in the new stressors of becoming proficient in distance learning and responding to the needs of students and families during these challenging times!
The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence advocates that emotions matter for attention, memory, and learning, decision making, relationships, health and well-being, and for performance. Social and emotional training is an important component that was identified how to support teachers right now. Educators’ emotions matter.
Here are Four Strategies to Support Teachers:
- Create a school culture where staff administration/ leadership have strongly developed their emotional skills.
o Teachers expressed a strong need for honesty, respect, kindness, flexibility, and patience from their school administrators.
o Strongly developed emotional skills can help administrators listen to teachers, respond to their concerns, and be sensitive to their emotional needs. - Support teachers with developing their emotional skills.
o Learn how to recognize emotions, understand their causes and consequences, be able to label, comfortably express, and effectively regulate emotions. Therapy is a great place to do so!
o Prioritize time and resources focused on supporting-teachers-do-their-best-work through opportunities for teachers to share strategies and participate in quality professional development that focuses on teachers’ health and well-being. - Set realistic expectations.
o It takes time to adjust to a “new normal” with on-line learning or return to in-person teaching. This includes setting boundaries around realistic expectations.
o Show compassion and offer support to teachers/ colleagues who are struggling with transitions. - Show support through your actions.
o Offer words of affirmation to express appreciation and support.
o Ask teachers how you can help.
o Donate time and financial resources to help out in areas that are needed.
o Show support through advocating for student and teachers’ needs.
Written By: Charlotte Johnson, MA, LPCC
We’re Here to help
Our wellness experts will be happy to take care of you. You can CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment now or call (612)223-8898.
Meet Clinicians
We’re united by our commitment to providing effective, relevant, and innovative mental health support at all stages of your journey. Click Here to find out more about who we are, where we come from, and how we live out CARE’s mission every day.
The professionals at CARE are actively collecting and creating resources to help with what you need. We’re Here for You.
Practicing Mindful Sex
Feeling alone …
You find yourself scrolling through social media and before you know it, you find yourself “doomsturbating“—doomscrolling while masturbating. This outcome is not too much different than other self-soothing activities we tend to find ourselves doing while stressed, anxious, depressed, lonely, or just plain old bored.
How about watching TV while mindless eating? You may find yourself eating past your comfort level and making choices that contribute to feelings of guilt and shame. By incorporating mindfulness, it helps one to fully enjoy pleasure in the moment in activities whether it be eating chocolate or having sex. Mindfulness is about being fully present.
Mindfulness can offer a wonderful sense of freedom when practicing mindful-sex. Have you ever experienced anxiety before, during, or after sex? What is it like to have sex with a partner(s) when you are pre-occupied and insecure about your body, orgasms, or overall performance? Biological, psychological social/ environmental and cultural factors are all important aspects that affect sexual health.
Sexual relationships struggle when they are impacted by feeling detached, preoccupied, unsatisfied, or even numb to pleasure. What would it be like to feel mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually connected while having sex?
Many individuals that seek help for relationship concerns, especially around intimacy and sex often struggle with communication. Sex and sexuality are important aspects of what makes us human. Good communication can lead to sexual satisfaction and improved mental health. Communication and consent are vital to practicing mindful, hot sex.
No matter your “relationship status”, I challenge you to treat yourself to pleasure. It does not need to be sexual, although if you choose to have mindful sex, prepare yourself for something even better than chocolate!
Here are Steps to Get Started:
• Set aside an intentional time to practice mindful sex.
• Enjoy a multi-sensory experience. Indulge the senses with sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.
• Be fully present to experience the moment rather than focus on performance.
• Practicing loving and nurturing yourself. Learn first how to be comfortable with and in your body. Discover new erogenous zones.
• Increase your comfort level to communicate. Talk to your partner(s) about what you want.
Finally, do not be afraid to talk to your therapist about your sexual health concerns. Yes, it is OK to talk about sex in therapy! Not only is it OK, but it is also encouraged.
Written By: Charlotte Johnson, MA, LPCC
We’re Here to help
Our wellness experts will be happy to take care of you. You can CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment now or call (612)223-8898.
Meet Clinicians
We’re united by our commitment to providing effective, relevant, and innovative mental health support at all stages of your journey. Click Here to find out more about who we are, where we come from, and how we live out CARE’s mission every day.
The professionals at CARE are actively collecting and creating resources to help with what you need. We’re Here for You.
How to Maintain Friendships When Feeling Depressed, Anxious, Etc…
Friendship is a beautiful thing—childhood friends, friends from school or college days, friendships formed through work, and other stages of life. Sometimes friends are made in the least expected places, bonding through pain, hardship, and times of suffering. Reaching out for help is not easy, nor is reaching out for social support when struggling with depression or anxiety.
When one is struggling with mental health, it can be difficult to maintain friendships. Yet, this is a time when we need support from friends. If you are feeling anxious or depressed, who are three people that you could call right now? When is the last time that you reached out to someone? Has it been in the last day, last week, last month?
We all have a need for social connection, through the good times and through the bad. It is especially important to maintain friendships while feeling depressed, anxious, etc.
Here are Three Ways to Maintain Friendships:
- Take a Step to be Vulnerable and Reach Out
• Start with small steps. Sending a simple text or making a phone call is a great start.
• A good starting point is to reach out to the top three names that come to your mind.
• Be open about what you are feeling and what would be helpful, perhaps just someone to listen.
• If you are lacking social supports, reach out to community supports or a mental health resource line. https://mn.gov/covid19/for-minnesotans/get-help/mental-health - Take Care of Your Mental Health
• A good friend can offer support but will not be able to “fix” your depression, anxiety, etc.
• Separate yourself from your mental health. For example, I am a person who is feeling depressed vs. I am depressed.
• Practice coping skills that encourage being able to tolerate negative emotions and build on social connection. One of my favorites is listed here: https://www.dbtselfhelp.com/html/accepts.html - Recognize that you are Important to Others
• Sometimes people are reluctant to reach out to friends as to not “burden” or stress out others. Although it may not feel like it during times of struggle, your friendship is a precious gift.
• Friendships give and take. How would you respond to a friend? Showing and receiving kindness, patience, and understanding are qualities of a great friendship.
“You are a piece of the puzzle of someone else’s life. You may never know where you fit, but others will fill the holes in their lives with pieces of you.” -Bonnie Arbor
Written By: Charlotte Johnson, MA, LPCC
We’re Here to help
Our wellness experts will be happy to take care of you. You can CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment now or call (612)223-8898.
Meet Clinicians
We’re united by our commitment to providing effective, relevant, and innovative mental health support at all stages of your journey. Click Here to find out more about who we are, where we come from, and how we live out CARE’s mission every day.
The professionals at CARE are actively collecting and creating resources to help with what you need. We’re Here for You.
Why Every American Should CARE About Black History Month
Featuring Jonathan Palmer with Hallie Q. Brown Community Center
History Matters. Black Lives Matter. Dr. Carter G. Woodson, influential author, editor, publisher, and historian (December 1875 – April 1950), is known as the “Father of Black History”. One the biggest challenges is how to stay engaged beyond the month of February. By only caring about Black history during the month in February, we downplay the contributions of Black Americans in history.
Dr. Woodson strongly believed the importance of recognizing, recording, and reflecting on the significant contributions of Black Americans in US/history. Woodson undertook recording these tasks by establishing the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)), the Journal of Negro History, and Negro History Week which was first celebrated in 1926. Woodson’s message was that “Blacks should be proud of their heritage and that other Americans should also understand it”. Woodson’s goal was to increase the visibility of Black history by proving to a White America the important roles Black Americans had in creating history; therefore, Black Americans also deserving equal treatment as citizens. Dr. Woodson’s excellent historical research not only recognized and recorded the contributions of Black Americans, but forced the recognition of their legitimate place in US History.
This is the fundamental point that needs to be recognized:
Black history is history, period. When Garrett Morgan invented the gas mask and the three position traffic signal, they weren’t only used in Black communities. When Marie Van Brittan Brown invented the first home security system, security systems weren’t put into only Black houses. Black Americans from Crispus Attucks through Barack Obama and beyond have been a part of and contributed significantly to our country and our history, yet because of the prevalence of systemic racism woven into the fabric of our society, they are largely ignored, denied or dusted off and hauled out in February only to be shelved on March 1st and forgotten. We do a disservice to everyone in this country, and in fact the world, by continuing this practice. It is far past time to remove the blinders and barriers and accept Black history as history.
Black History Month does still have a place though. It is a great opportunity to do a deeper dive into topics, to elevate and highlight people, places, events and more so that they can be studied and taught beyond February. Black History Month is a great time to celebrate the contributions as we integrate them more fully into our knowledge and practices. Further, as we seek to balance the scales and right the injustices of Slavery, Jim Crow, Segregation, the unwarranted killing of Black people and so much more, the attention focused on an effort helps to validate and elevate the idea and principle that Black lives do matter and have value, and the impact that makes for young children of color is immeasurable.
There is another very important reason why every American should care about Black History Month that is often overlooked: the impact on White people.
White has been incorrectly considered the default for so long in this country that it is often undistinguished from “American”, we don’t study “White history”, there is no “White Entertainment Television, and outside of the KKK and Proud Boys we don’t refer to organizations as “White”, but we do have Black History Month, Black Entertainment Television and Black organizations, all because they are defined in contrast to White as being the default. This imparts an inherent superiority and segmentation that subconsciously elevates White people while reducing all other ethnic groups. It creates a power imbalance that reinforces systemic racism. And it has become so inured in our culture, that a growing number of White people don’t understand the dynamic and instead decry that it is unfair that we have these efforts and complain that we don’t put the same focus on White people that we do on BIPOC people. They actually complain that there is no “White Entertainment Television”.
This is the impact, the lack of awareness of Black history has. Not merely the resentment and hostility of overt racism, but the subtlety of friendships never gained, significance not understood and people undervalued. We do a disservice to the very nature of our society by omitting a crucial part of OUR history and culture. Black history is an integral part of America and until we fully embrace and understand this, we won’t really be the UNITED States of America.
Black History month has been officially recognized in both the United States and Canada, but beyond that, it has in recent years been celebrated in Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. While the US and Canada observe it in February, the other countries observe it in October. We are at the foundation of this crucial cornerstone of culture and we have the ability to lead the way. Woodson inspired other great researchers and continues to inspire Black Americans and others including educators, scholars, philanthropists, and companies committed towards diversity and inclusion. Every American should care about Black History Month because it began with us and can continue to be our gift to the world.
Our challenge: to CARE More. To remember, preserve and honor Black history. To work together in strengthening Black families and communities. To inspire through cultivating leadership and advancing social justice.
Black history is history and EVERYONE should care about it.
Written by:
Jonathan Palmer, Executive Director
Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, Inc.
Charlotte Johnson, Supervisor and Mental Health Professional
We’re Here to help
Our wellness experts will be happy to take care of you. You can CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment now or call (612)223-8898.
Meet Clinicians
We’re united by our commitment to providing effective, relevant, and innovative mental health support at all stages of your journey. Click Here to find out more about who we are, where we come from, and how we live out CARE’s mission every day.
The professionals at CARE are actively collecting and creating resources to help with what you need. We’re Here for You.
No Name Calling Week
No Name Calling Week (January 18th- 22nd, 2021) falls during the same week of the presidential inauguration and is just weeks before Twin Cities educators are preparing for the transition to classroom learning for K-5th grade students.
No Name Calling week focuses on creating inclusion and awareness for LGBTQ students within K-12th grade schools to ensure a safe learning environment free from name-calling and bullying due to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Events and resources seek to promote a learning environment free from harassment and discrimination by sharing tools and resources.
No Name Calling week was inspired by the book “The Misfits” written by James Howe, created by GLSEN https://www.glsen.org/ and Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing http://www.simonandschusterpublishing.com/no-name-calling/, with over 40 national partnerships.
In the midst of trauma impacting our community and nation, students of color and LGBTQ youth commonly experience societal stigmas, bullying, harassment, and violence at higher rates than their straight youth.
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019 , 1 in every 5 students report being bullied.
70.1% of LGBTQ students were verbally bullied (e.g., called names, threatened) because of their sexual orientation, 59.1% because of their gender expression, and 53.2% based on gender (Kosciw, Greytak, Zongrone, Clark, & Truong, 2018).
Now more than ever, it is important to unite by facilitating ongoing dialogue focused on eliminating bullying and working towards creating a safe learning environment. Parents, educators, and mental health/ health care providers can work together to support children and youth who are struggling.
There are significant emotional and health physical impacts, especially considering the negative impacts of name-calling on one’s sense of self, especially when name-calling directly targets one’s identity. The effects of name-calling can impact one’s self-esteem and limit one’s own beliefs about their self. Mental health support is helpful to target internalized messages such as self-hate, self-doubt, insecurities, and depressive thinking, resulting from negative self-talk. The CARE team includes specialists who work with LGBTQ youth, those struggling with negative self-talk, as well as the parents and educators who are supporting our youth.
Check out these mental health, educational, and bullying prevention resources, focused on creating inclusion and awareness for LGBTQ youth.
https://www.glsen.org/no-name-calling-week
• Ideas how to participate in No-Name Calling Week
http://www.simonandschusterpublishing.com/no-name-calling/
• List of bullying prevention books for kids, teens, and adults
• Bullying Prevention downloadable book discussion guides
• Downloadable elementary, middle school, and high school lesson plan
https://www.pacer.org/bullying/
• Information and resources for parents, students, and educators, includes a variety of great downloadable tools and statistics.
https://www.pacerkidsagainstbullying.org/
PACER’s Kids Against Bullying Website
https://www.pacerteensagainstbullying.org/
PACER’s Teens Against Bullying Website
https://www.mnteenmentalhealth.org/lgbtq-resources
Minnesota Teen Mental Health Directory for LGBTQ+ youth resources
Written by: Charlotte Johnson MA, LPCC
We’re Here to help
Our wellness experts will be happy to take care of you. You can CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment now or call (612)223-8898.
Meet Clinicians
We’re united by our commitment to providing effective, relevant, and innovative mental health support at all stages of your journey. Click Here to find out more about who we are, where we come from, and how we live out CARE’s mission every day.
The professionals at CARE are actively collecting and creating resources to help with what you need. We’re Here for You.
Why is Therapy Valuable?
Imagine success…becoming the best version of yourself. That is one of the many amazing benefits of therapy. Since mental illness alters a person’s thoughts, feelings, and/ or behaviors in distinct ways, therapy helps one gain better control of these areas.
I like to reframe the benefits of therapy for anyone who is struggling with understanding, expressing, or coping with their thoughts, feelings, or behavior.
Therapy provides a safe space to talk, an outlet to express, and a nonjudgmental ear to listen.
Clients come to therapy for many different reasons. Some people feel alone, misunderstood, isolated. Others feel overwhelmed and anxious. Life is stressful and you do not need to go through it alone. Therapy helps normalize these experiences and provide a “roadmap” how to navigate through them.
Therapy is a place where you can be vulnerable, to feel seen and heard. To work through stressors or trauma and process uncomfortable emotions such as shame.
The benefits of therapy can directly impact one’s view of self and others. It can lead to increasing understanding through gaining insight. The therapist can assist with questions to ponder, and techniques that may offer a fresh perspective.
Skills and strategies learned in therapy offer long-term benefits not only for one’s emotional health but also physical health. It leads to improved feelings of self-worth and confidence. Therapy can improve relationships and boundary setting. It teaches and builds healthy coping skills. Your therapist can help you develop daily habits that set you up for success.
Whether you have been thinking about seeing a therapist for many years or have recently thought about therapy and would like to take a proactive approach, here is what wellness looks like:
• Expressing thoughts & feelings
• Coping with stress & setbacks
• Having a sense of purpose & meaning
• Using your knowledge & skills
• Maintaining physical health (diet, nutrition, sleep, exercise)
• Creating a pleasant & safe environment
• Finding satisfaction with financial & work situation
• Developing healthy relationships & supports
Written by: Charlotte Johnson MA, LPCC
We’re Here to help
Our wellness experts will be happy to take care of you. You can CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment now or call (612)223-8898.
Meet Clinicians
We’re united by our commitment to providing effective, relevant, and innovative mental health support at all stages of your journey. Click Here to find out more about who we are, where we come from, and how we live out CARE’s mission every day.
The professionals at CARE are actively collecting and creating resources to help with what you need. We’re Here for You.
Why We Need to Practice Self-Compassion and How Therapy Can Help
Our inner voice is powerful. The dialogue that we tell ourselves can affirm, encourage, and boost confidence towards positive outcomes. On the other hand, our inner voice can be our own worst enemy. It can he hyper-critical, setting up unrealistic standards of perfectionism. It can plant seeds of doubt. Fear of failure, anxiety, discouragement, and depression can set in. Our view of self may begin to shift to internalized negative messages such as of “I am a failure”.
Self-Compassion often comes more naturally for others. We can empathize with others’ pain but struggle to offer ourselves compassion during our own suffering. Imagine how you might respond to a friend or family member who was struggling in a similar area as yourself. Suffering is part of the human experience and we do not need to go through it alone.
Why Practice Self-Compassion?
• Practicing self-compassion can help reduce emotional distress.
• It can provide relief from suffering and help heal past wounds.
• Self-Compassion can help soften the inner critic and set realistic expectations.
• Practicing self-compassion can lead to acceptance of our inner experiences including thoughts, feelings, and body sensations without judgment.
How Therapy Can Help
• Seeking therapy can reduce stigma of mental health. It is a powerful step towards healing to acknowledge and name one’s emotional experience with another human.
• Therapy can help relieve suffering. You no longer need to suffer in silence.
• Therapy can help accept our whole self, including “imperfections” while “letting go” of patterns such as perfectionism, negativity, and shame.
• It can help with “permission-granting” that it is OK not to be “perfect”, etc.
• Therapy can help develop an awareness and understanding by noticing what is going on in the body and help teach the practice of mindfulness.
• Therapy can work with your inner dialogue to help counter negative thinking and challenge these patterns while providing support and encouragement.
Interested in learning more?
Click here to make an appointment with a CARE counseling clinician!
Written By: Charlotte Johnson, MA, LPCC
We’re Here to help
Our wellness experts will be happy to take care of you. You can CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment now or call (612)223-8898.
Meet Clinicians
We’re united by our commitment to providing effective, relevant, and innovative mental health support at all stages of your journey. Click Here to find out more about who we are, where we come from, and how we live out CARE’s mission every day.
The professionals at CARE are actively collecting and creating resources to help with what you need. We’re Here for You.
You are Not Alone (Suicide is on the Rise): The Importance of Continuing Your Story
When bad days start to feel like bad weeks, know that you are not alone. In fact, the CDC reports that 3 out of 4 young adults are already struggling with at least one mental health concern. This includes anxiety, depression, trauma, adjustment to stressors, and substance use.
Social isolation combined with the emotional toll of chronic stressors can certainly feel too much. With the pandemic, mental health concerns and suicide is on the rise. When asked about thoughts of harm, 1 in 4 young adults reported that they had thought about killing themselves within the last month.
Suicide is especially increasing for young adults ages 18-24. According to Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, high school seniors and college-aged students are moving between the 5th and 6th stages from identity vs. role confusion (ages 12-18 years) to intimacy-versus-isolation (19-40 years). One unifying factor in these developmental stages is relationship.
In identity vs. confusion one is developing a sense self. While the teenage years can be tough enough, adolescents are integrating their lived experiences and forming an identity. Consider the major events of 2020 and how this impacts beliefs about oneself and the world. A strong sense of identity “Who I AM”, feeling connected to others, and having a sense of community to support development can be incredibly empowering to feeling “true to self”. On the other hand, lack of support and encouragement during this time can lead to role confusion and feelings of insecurity related to identity. Those without outlets can become increasingly isolated and withdrawn from social interaction.
With school closed, students transitioning to on-line learning, and college students moving back home, building community has looked different. Making and maintaining friendships can be very challenging with social distancing. Dating and intimate relationships has been limited or put-on hold for many.
In intimacy vs. Isolation, young adults are seeking connections with others. This includes close, intimate relationships which are impacted by sense of self. Many young adults are turning to drugs or alcohol to combat loneliness. Job loss, unemployment, intimate partner violence combined with underlying mental health concerns can lead to feelings of hopelessness, despair, and even suicide.
What is your story? Who have you shared your story with?
Whose story have you have had the opportunity to bear witness to?
At CARE Counseling, I consider it both an honor and a privilege to a part of one’s story. Stories of hope and despair. Connection and loneliness. Confusion and clarity. Stories of survival and recovery.
Check out these powerful stories of hope.
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/stories/
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/story-categories/suicidal-thoughts/
Your story is not over. The pages are still being written and others wants to be a part of it. If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, are concerned about a friend/ loved one, or are struggling and need to talk to someone, the National Suicide Lifeline: 800-273-8255 is available for 24/7 support.
Written By: Charlotte Johnson, MA, LPCC
We’re Here to help
Our wellness experts will be happy to take care of you. You can CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment now or call (612)223-8898.
Meet Clinicians
We’re united by our commitment to providing effective, relevant, and innovative mental health support at all stages of your journey. Click Here to find out more about who we are, where we come from, and how we live out CARE’s mission every day.
The professionals at CARE are actively collecting and creating resources to help with what you need. We’re Here for You.
Self-CARE Challenge
We are so excited to announce a new January Initiative—30 Days of Self-CARE!
We will be partnering with local businesses and CARE Clinicians to bring you unique and helpful content each day. We hope that this will help you start 2021 in the healthiest way possible and help you to become the best version of yourself.
To join this initiative, check out our social media pages!
One of my favorite ways to become the best version of myself is to take a holistic approach, considering eight dimensions of wellness (emotional, physical, social, intellectual, environmental, spiritual, vocational, financial).
Self-Care tends to focus on the emotional and physical, although does not have to be limited to these areas. Routine care with a doctor for physical health and a therapist for emotional health can help with implementing healthy habits and creating a self-CARE plan. Breaking specific areas into three-month chunks taking intentional steps (each month, week, day) can be a great way to start creating healthy habits that incorporate self-care. At CARE Counseling, we will work with you to create a customized 3-month plan specific to your mental health needs and treatment goals.
For 2021, don’t forget to include the fun, spontaneous things to incorporate through the day when you need a little extra CARE.
After-all, self-care activities are meant to be enjoyable.
What activities do you plan to add to your self-CARE plan this year?
Here are 21 of my Favorite Self-CARE Ideas to Get You Started
1. Start your day off with a favorite, nourishing breakfast
2. Stay hydrated by keeping a water bottle nearby
3. Enjoy a warm, relaxing bath or shower
4. Wear a favorite piece of clothing
5. Spend some time journaling
6. Call a friend
7. Create a visually pleasing environment
8. Take a refreshing walk or run
9. Listen to music and move your body
10. Invest in your professional development
11. Set a limit on social media use
12. Do meditation
13. Declutter your space
14. Share a belly laugh
15. Visit a family/ friend member
16. Be kind to yourself
17. Read a new book
18. Discover a hobby
19. Take deep, cleansing breaths
20. Treat yourself to something special
21. Use your PTO; take a mental health day!
Written By: Charlotte Johnson, MA, LPCC
We’re Here to help
Our wellness experts will be happy to take care of you. You can CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment now or call (612)223-8898.
Meet Clinicians
We’re united by our commitment to providing effective, relevant, and innovative mental health support at all stages of your journey. Click Here to find out more about who we are, where we come from, and how we live out CARE’s mission every day.
The professionals at CARE are actively collecting and creating resources to help with what you need. We’re Here for You.
