Uncertainty often breeds doubt and negative thinking. These are certainly uncertain times. Think about how great it would feel if someone pointed out something that you were doing well in facing this uncertainty! Take a moment to compliment yourself on something that you did this week. Then let’s think about how we can do this…
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Harville and Helen are co-creators of the Imago Therapy for relationships. Harville has been featured on Oprah many times since the 1980s. They say that the number one thing that makes relationships difficult is difference and the way we react to and feel threatened by difference. This, of course, isn’t just true for romantic couples,…
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Whether your child was already dealing with the effects of trauma long before the pandemic, your child is experiencing trauma related to sheltering at home, of you’re just concerned about what may come up this school year, it is helpful to understand the key principles of providing a trauma-informed environment: Predictability, Flexibility, Connection, and Empowerment.…
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During a meltdown or tantrum, the rational part of the brain is not in the driver’s seat. So it’s no surprise that the behavior we observe appears to be so irrational. When a child experiences extreme fear or anger, the reptilian/survival part of the brain takes over. Sometimes our instinct is to reason with someone…
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No matter how old you are, we are all doing it. We get on our phones to check Facebook or our news sites and we just keep scrolling though each post, reading each article until we realized a couple of hours has passed. There is a term for this and it’s called “doomscrolling” and our…
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Did you know that in 2017, about 12.5% of Oklahoma high school students used tobacco at least once in the past 30 days? Nationally, the rate was 8.8%. Oklahoma’s rate on youth tobacco use has historically been above the national average. Additionally, around 1,500 Oklahoma kids under the age of 18 will become new daily…
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COVID-19 has and continues to affect us on a daily basis and in various ways, including our mental health. Most of our children may not have experienced the serious physical effects of the disease itself, however, their emotional and behavioral development has been greatly impacted since the beginning of the pandemic. So what are the…
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Motivational interviewing is a patient-centered, communication technique that is commonly used by counselors to help motivate clients change behaviors and to help them explore and resolve conflicts. Motivation interviewing is backed by research, showing its effectiveness to increase motivation in individuals who may have been unwilling to change in the first place. Motivational interviewing is…
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Children will say negative things about themselves and it is our role as caring adults to help direct them away from destructive self-talk. Constructive self-talk is very common and we all do it to ourselves and when we hear our children talk about themselves constructively, it may not raise any concerns. But how would we…
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It’s rarely talked about, but there is a relationship between oral health and mental health. People experiencing mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and even prolonged stress suffer oral health problems at higher rates than the rest of the population. These oral health problems can include erosion, tooth decay, periodontitis, and loss of teeth.…
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