Lately, the masses, including many teens, seem to be tuning into a trending Netflix show called “13 Reasons Why.” For those of you who aren’t yet familiar, it is a show focused on a high school girl named Hannah who committed suicide. The storyline dramatizes bullying, sexual assault, rape, drunk driving, slut shaming and suicide. If you’re a parent,
Mindful parenting is not about adding something to your routine but rather about consciously choosing what you pay attention to and what you don’t. Mindful parenting will help you connect with your children and partner because they will feel a greater connection to you. Best of all, it can help reduce your stress too. In today’s
In my role as a clinical psychologist I get to witness many parenting successes as well as mistakes. I try to remind the parents who I work with that parenting is challenging and that each child is unique, requiring their own customized approach. In other words, what may work for one may not work for another.
What is self care and why is it important? The way I often find myself explaining this idea to youth and their parents is that self care is about actively doing something to maintain enough energy to not only get through the day, week, month, or year, but, more importantly in my opinion, to enjoy life.
Hello, We have exciting news about a new Taekwondo Wellness therapy group for kids ages 7 and up that will be starting on May 24, 2016 at Intuition Wellness Center. We are currently accepting referrals for kids, teens, and adults who may benefit from an alternative approach to overcoming emotional, behavioral, and social challenges. The
In my last blog post, Parenting Tip: Love, I mentioned how important it is to a child’s sense of worthiness for parents to consistently follow through on what they say they are going to do. I want to expand on that idea to include parents following through on rewards and consequences. Let me explain. Parents often motivate their kids to
Love is an utterly important emotion for the development of children, catalyzing them to create strong healthy attachments to their parents, to others, and improving life satisfaction. That is because humans are social beings that thrive on being and feeling connected to others and there is not doubt that our psychosocial environments impact not only our brain development but
It may come as no surprise, but kids can thrive with a bit of structure that gives them a sense of routine and with rules that inform them of how they are expected to behave. Structure is an overarching concept that includes a consistent routine and well defined, individualized rules. Routines help children know what to expect and
With the holidays right around the corner, I wanted to bring up the importance of having predicable family traditions. If you’re like most parents, you are busy working, keeping up your home, and chauffeuring your kids to and from school and extracurricular activities. It’s no wonder that busy schedules often leave parents with little to no time
It can be a challenging balancing act to figure out and maintain our work and personal life balance. This is especially difficult when we are connected to our work 24/7 via email, social media, or other technologies, work overtime, complete projects at home, and race around town driving our kids to one activity to the next. Another way I like to think
Youth I work with often share with me that their parents “don’t listen” and/or “don’t understand.” Listening to children is about communicating to them that you truly heard them by validating their feelings and expressing empathy. This type of listening is called active listening and it can help create a stronger bond and trust between
It’s no surprise to most that time spent in nature— unplugged from technology and without everyday burdens— can reduce stress. But I bet you didn’t know these facts… The actual components of soil may increase serotonin and lead to a decrease in depression! (See the Journal of Neuroscience, 2007) Gardening reduces one’s levels
I’ve worked with lots of teachers, school staff, kids and families who have either given up on behavior charts altogether or who seem to be losing their confidence in them. Many of my clients support teams have described a disappointing scenario— “She never really took to it” or “He seems to respond wonderfully at first
“There’s no I in team” is a common sports expression and a value highlighted in many superhero movies. It’s also a great motto for parents. Consistently working together toward family goals with a unified parenting approach reduces the chances of children being confused about what is expected from them. Creating simple and concrete rules and expectations that are clearly and jointly communicated
It’s not at all uncommon for the kiddos that come through my door to struggle with getting a good night’s sleep. This can happen for all sorts of reasons— anxiety, depression, sensory sensitivities, over-stimulation, and just plain old unhelpful sleep habits to name a few. I recently had the great pleasure of collaborating with local
Mahatma Gandhi once said “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” One way that I interpret this inspiring quote is to act the way you want others to act. I work with many families and I believe this mantra often applies when there is conflict between parents and children. Parents usually want their child to stop
My blog-writing inspiration often comes from upcoming events and when I realized that World Breastfeeding Week is approaching (August 1st-7th), I was pretty quick to gently and metaphorically shove my colleagues at Intuition Wellness Center out of the way so that I could get my blog-writing on. It also took me no time to find
Yoga and meditation methods have been applied in the treatment of depression and anxiety by western health care providers since the 1970’s. So what is yoga? How does it help with mental health challenges? And can it also be helpful for children who are experiencing challenges? Before being able to understand how yoga might be
June is a great month for men of all ages to take time to reflect on their health and wellbeing, as it is Men’s Health Month. There are a number of health issues impacting men such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer, but this blog post will focus on mental health issues affecting men, particularly depression
Do you know the old saying, “Good things come to those who wait?” That may be true, but we here at Intuition Wellness Center tend to take a proactive approach and go for what we want. That’s why we were so surprised and beyond delighted when what we wanted came after us! We could not
