As March comes to an end and spring begins, I have been reflecting on the importance of nature and green spaces for our mental health. The more time we spend in parks and areas of natural beauty, the better our mental health becomes. As the weather begins to warm up once again, now is the perfect time to explore green spaces near you.
Spring is a season that symbolizes renewal and awakening. Many individuals use this time to "spring clean" their homes, which revives them with a fresh new outlook. Although reorganizing closets, cupboards, and drawers can provide a sense of revitalization, it is essential to consider tidying up your mind and brain as well to start the season with a clean slate. Journaling, meditating, and managing your stress are just a few things you can do to refresh your mental space and leap into spring with a positive attitude.
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Join us at our next Therapeutic Transport Training this April in Atlanta, GA. Transporting someone safely to treatment is a complex process, so establishing trust and offering support at such a critical time are vital.
In this comprehensive, 16-hour training, all participants will develop their trauma-informed transportation skills so they can effectively help families and patients take the next step in their healing journeys.
A warm welcome to our newest team member, Lindsey Forschner!
Lindsey is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (KY) with extensive experience working in the mental health field. Over the past 17 years, she honed her experience assessing, counseling, and helping clients as they navigate the complexities of the larger mental health terrain. Lindsey is particularly passionate about helping whole families heal. She understands the importance of teamwork and the necessity to include family members and other support systems in the recovery process.
The following is a round-up of our monthly blogs in case you missed any on our social media pages.
While high-functioning depression is not a medical diagnosis, it accurately captures the state of a growing number of people. It is particularly visible in high-profile celebrities such as Steven tWitch Boss, Lady Gaga, Avicii, and Robin Williams.
The official diagnosis for depression is major depressive disorder, and it affects people in various ways. There is a particular divide between the way it affects men and women, and the extent to which this difference is biological or socially constructed is unknown.
Traumatic experiences can take many forms, and a traumatic experience for one person may not be traumatic for another. Some people or communities face multiple experiences that cause complex trauma. The toll of these experiences, whether individual or large-scale, can reverberate across generations.
This theory or spiritual belief has been posited in the medical community for a long time but was not backed by evidence until recently, when the power of trauma to change DNA has become more widely researched.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published the concerning results of a survey on youth mental health. The results, published this month, show that in 2021, 57% of high school girls reported experiencing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the past year, a rate that is almost twice as high as the 29% of males who reported having those feelings in 2021.
The detailed report highlights the alarming disparity between girls’ and boys’ experiences.
LGBTQ+ is an acronym that encompasses different forms of gender identity and sexual expression, including: lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and more. LGBTQ+ individuals are more than twice as likely as heterosexual people to have a mental health disorder in their lifetime and 2.5 times as likely to access mental health services.
Although being LGBTQ+ is not a mental illness, many LGBTQ+ people experience mental health struggles, often due to shame and discrimination due to their identity.
