This post is for the parents reading this who have a child dealing with a mental health issue and don’t know what to do. For parents, as your child grows up, you want your child to be happy and live a carefree, fulfilling life. But what do you do when your child is facing an eating disorder, anxiety, depression, or any other mental health issue? My parents were faced with this … [Read more...]
Self-Care for Parents?
Parents, raising teenager can be stressful. Many parents who are raising a teenager with a mental health issue forget to set aside some time for yourselves. Some parents reading this might be thinking that setting aside time for yourself isn’t really an option or that it’s unnecessary, however taking care of yourselves will allow you to help your teen even better. It is also … [Read more...]
Managing Medications: What’s a Parent To Do?
It’s been a few weeks, or months, or years, since your teenager began treatment with an SSRI, and she can’t--or won’t—describe what difference she senses, if any. She still feels debilitating anxiety at times, or has tough days when obsessive thoughts dog her. Yet you believe she’s better. Isn’t she? How does a parent evaluate from the outside looking in? This post … [Read more...]
Therapy Tips: Advice for Teens and Parents to Make Therapy a Smashing Success
Tips for Teens: You’ve made it this far. Chances are, if you’ve stumbled across this article, you are either considering or already in therapy. I just have to stop here for a second to say what an epic achievement you’ve already made. The fact that you are reading this article alone says great things about how far you have come. Seeking help is something to be proud. Trust … [Read more...]
Top 6 Black Mental Health Podcasts
For Black History Month, we're excited to highlight six kickass, awesome, top six mental health podcasts by women and men of color. Some of these podcasts are hosted by black therapists and completely dedicated to the topic of minority mental health, others are more general in nature with some really good mental health episodes. Read on, listen, explore and … [Read more...]
How to Communicate with Your Teen with Depression and Anxiety
Talking to parents about mental issues is extremely difficult. When you don’t even know what is going on for yourself it creates more discomfort. Once I realized that I was struggling I needed help from my therapist articulating my thoughts and feelings. She helped me put words to the things that were going on in my life. Once I told my parents they didn’t understand right away … [Read more...]
4 Steps Toward Positive Body Image
Body image is something I have struggled with for many years. I have gone through phases of obsessing to letting go and back to being obsessed. During high school it was the worst, the thought of body image never left my mind and that is not an exaggeration. Body image is such a hard thing to deal with because the thoughts are so incredibly powerful. Every time I would eat … [Read more...]
10 Ways I Hope to Change My Life in This New Decade
As 2020 sets in, I'm reflecting back on the last 10 years: graduation, first jobs, first boyfriends, the onset of my anxiety... so many things. Who would have thought someone could pack in so much life in just 10 years? I hope my next 10 will be filled with happiness, joy, health and adventure. Here are just some things I'm looking forward to in the new decade: Career … [Read more...]
Leaning on a Friend: 4 Ways to Make a Difference for a Friend Struggling with a Mental Health Issue
When it comes to mental health conversations with friends, many of us can relate to this Ad Council video. Broaching the topic of mental illness with even close friends can be awkward and uncomfortable. Having a group of supportive friends is great resource to have when battling a mental health disorder. They can take your mind off whatever it is you are going through, yet … [Read more...]
5 Positive Coping Skills to Get You Through a Crisis
When you have a mental illness, positive coping skills can make the difference between thriving and surviving, because let's face it – difficult experiences are a part of life and its how you handle them that make or break you. While there are countless negative coping skills that may appear to help temporarily relieve negative emotions, ranging from alcohol overuse and … [Read more...]
Work Hard, Nap Hard: A Guide to Balancing Work and College Life
College. stress. These words seem to go hand in hand these days. For those of us who have jobs on top of being full time students, handling stress can become something like a third job. We go to class during the day, go to work at night, and when we get home we frantically scramble to finish our homework just to start everything over the next day, five days a week. The new … [Read more...]
My Story: Writing About Mental Illness Heals Me
While there could be a whole tome the size of the DSM to chronicle all the mental illness-tinged happenings in the life of Mary L. Sukala, that, to me, speaks as much to who I am as the fact that I weighed less than three pounds when I was born (another story for another day--I’m a preemie and triplet). It’s my medical history, nothing more. So for this piece, I’m zeroing in on … [Read more...]
Tips for Anxious Flyers
Flying can be a stressful experience. As I embark to study abroad, I thought of a few key tips I use when I fly that can help you reduce your anxiety on your next trip: Have a music playlist at the ready Be prepared to have a playlist that has enough music to last you through most of the flight. Since you will be seated with people for a while, putting your headphones can … [Read more...]
A Closed Letter to My Immigrant Parents
Dear Mom and Papí, No number of “thank you’s” or “I love you’s” could possibly cover it. You dedicated your life to make sure I could build my own. You crossed oceans and continents to get here. You kept your head down and worked hard to put me through school. You slept on floors, went to bed hungry, worked multiple jobs just to make sure we could make it. And we made it. I … [Read more...]
How School ACTUALLY Made Me Sick
My struggle with mental health began long before I even realized what was going on. It started my freshman year of college. I was starting a new school that frankly I didn't even want to attend, and I only knew a handful of people. On top of all that I would be commuting to school, and I realize now that this was definitely one of the main contributors to the stress I dealt … [Read more...]