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For as long as there have been human beings on this planet, there have been people who took a walk when they were feeling a strong negative emotion. There is just something so beneficial about walking. It seems to calm us down and clear our head so we can think from a calm and logical state instead of an emotional one.  So it makes complete sense that some people would be drawn to walk and talk therapy.

Did you know that chronic stress can have serious consequences on your health? It’s true—stress can make it difficult to sleep, weaken your immune system, and lead to other problems like heart attacks, strokes, anxiety, and depression. Plus, stress can cause irritability, lack of motivation, and difficulty concentrating, thereby negatively impacting your work and personal relationships. If you’re feeling stressed, one of the best things you can do is speak to a therapist who can recommend stress relief techniques that are tailored to your specific circumstances. But in the meantime, we’ve compiled the following five strategies for stress management. 

No matter how independent you may be, it’s still important to build healthy relationships with your immediate and extended family members, friends, and coworkers. Research suggests that when we foster connections with those around us, it can: Improve our self-esteem Make us more cooperative, empathetic, and trusting Strengthen our immune systems Extend our lives Reduce our risk of developing anxiety and depression

If you’ve ever worked in a toxic environment, you know how taxing it can be. Conversely, when colleagues have positive working relationships, it can: Increase productivity and efficiency Allow you to trust one another Make you feel more empowered to suggest ideas Reduce stress levels Make your work experience much more enjoyable Whether you’ve just started at a new job or you’ve been employed for a while but are still finding your footing at the company, here are some steps you can take to build healthy relationships with coworkers: Follow through on your promises. Your coworkers need to feel like they can rely on you to pull your weight of the work, and to ensure that happens, you have to fulfill your commitments. Also be sure to meet deadlines, and if you anticipate not being able to do so, give your colleagues a heads up. Listen to your coworkers. Oftentimes, employees focus only on voicing their own opinions, perhaps in an attempt to prove themselves to their boss. But it’s equally important to actively listen to and acknowledge what your coworkers have to say. Get to know your coworkers on a personal level. You and your colleagues don’t need to be best friends, but it may make it easier for you both to empathize if you know a bit about each other. Ask them how their weekend was and pay attention when they discuss their family and hobbies. Avoid getting involved in office gossip. While you should be friendly with your coworkers, you shouldn’t participate in spreading rumors. Not only can engaging in gossip keep you from getting tasks completed, but it may also cause your coworkers to question whether you talk about them, too. Show appreciation. Acknowledging your coworkers’ efforts can go a long way toward making them feel valued. This doesn’t just apply to work-related efforts, either—if they bring in baked goods or arrange a fun team outing, be sure to tell them how much you enjoyed it.

If you’ve recently lost someone or something, you may be going through the grieving process. Below, we explain what grief is and how long the grieving process can be expected to take. We also offer some tips on how to cope with loss. 

Do you have trouble balancing work and your personal life? If so, you’re not alone. According to Mental Health America (MHA) , almost 40% of U.S. adults who are employed full time reported working 50+ hours a week, and 18% work 60+ hours. Despite how common it is for people to work long hours, having a healthy work-life balance is critical. Working too many hours—especially if it bleeds into your evenings, weekends, and holidays—can cause you to: Feel stressed and burnt out Strain your relationships with your loved ones Neglect your hobbies and self-care activities All of this, in turn, can negatively impact your physical, mental, emotional, and social health.

At one time or another, all parents feel like their child is acting “out of control.” But eventually this feeling passes as the event passes. But for some parents, an out-of-control child is not a fleeting phenomena but a 24/7 reality. These children constantly push the limits and seem to care very little (if at all) about the consequences. If you are the parent of an out of control child, you must take steps to maintain your authority, not only for your child’s well-being, but for your own mental health. With this in mind, here are some tips for parenting an out of control child:

We all believe we know what narcissism looks like. After all, aren’t a majority of politicians and Hollywood A-listers narcissists, projecting their massive egos onto the world? While that may be true, narcissists come in all shapes and sizes. They walk among us, some of them obvious, and some of them covert. So how can you tell if you’re dealing with an actual narcissist or just someone who is a bit full of themself? Here are a handful of traits the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) lists as characteristics that someone is a narcissist:

There is a very old saying that says, “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.” This is a warning to people to not act out in anger or resentment because you only end up harming yourself. Over time, these feelings of resentment can build until the individual develops feelings of depression or anxiety. While forgiving others who have hurt us isn’t always easy, in the end, it greatly benefits our mental health and overall well-being. To be clear, forgiving others does NOT mean you agree with or condor their poor behavior. And it doesn’t mean you are announcing that your feelings don’t matter. Forgiveness simply means letting go of the negative feelings that are holding you down and causing you prolonged distress. Again, forgiving someone who has hurt you isn’t easy, but it will lead you to a sense of peace and joy. Here are some steps you can take to forgive others:

Therapy is a wonderful way to explore your inner world, process your feelings, and inspire transformation. But what my clients often tell me is that a day or so after our session, they begin to feel a little lost and anxious again. It’s important to support the progress you’ve made with your therapist in between your sessions. Here is what I advise my own clients to do in between our sessions:

Do you ever get up in the morning and wonder if it would be okay for you to take a mental health day? If so, you’re definitely not alone. In fact, research from the American Psychological Association shows that today’s workforce is experiencing job burnout at alarming rates. 

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Originally posted on VoyageHouston.Com Today we’d like to introduce you to Joslyn Curley. Joslyn, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today? I grew up in North Houston attending Spring ISD schools. Upon graduation with my BBA in Management from the University of Houston, I taught middle school math in various public school districts. During my teaching career, I wanted to become a School Counselor. Having the desire to encourage and motivate adolescent youth and young adults, I studied Counseling at Prairie View A & M University. With that training, I connected the desire to counsel, with my own initial goals of managing my own business, and decided to go into clinical private practice. And with four years as a Licensed Professional Counselor and along with a thriving, successful practice; I am able to pursue this helping profession to assist our next generation. Has it been a smooth road? One of the biggest concerns for myself is lack of comradery in this field. There are several types of social workers in the field (LCSWs, LPCs, LMFTs, etc) wherein we could benefit from shared knowledge. What is disheartening is the overabundance of competition. Despite the competition, I have developed great associations with a few colleagues and we share based on experience. In my opinion, competition is reserved for those who lack knowledge of skills for their profession. If you focus on quality, you place yourself in a sought-after capacity of which there is no competition. It is not about the quantity, but the quality that sets us apart. So, as you know, we’re impressed with Dione Counseling & Associates – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others. My business is a private mental health counseling practice named Dione Counseling & Associates designed for helping you navigate through daily life’s challenges in efforts to believe that Life Gets Better. I am the owner and Psychotherapist for the business. I specializing in assisting adolescent youth and young adults. However, I am open to all ages for any degree of mental health issues. Some mental health problems may require that you are medicine compliant. I ask that during the time of making an appointment, please allow for questions and screening of your individual need to see a therapist. I am proud to be here as a company of choice for therapy! Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least? Houston is the most wonderfully cultured place. I have lived here all my life and would never leave! I love everything about Houston from the people to the endless possibilities of success! Contact Info:Address: 3934 Cypress Creek Parkway Ste. 204 Houston, Tx 77068-3544 Website: dionecounseling.com Phone: 281.785.1118 Email: joslyndcurleylpc@gmail.com Instagram: instagram.com/legendaryjaycee Facebook: facebook.com/dionecounseling Other: JDC Worldwide, LLC

 Life hasn’t been the same for any of us for many months now. As we continue to try and adapt our lives to safely deal with this novel coronavirus, it has taken its toll on many, both financially and emotionally. Kids have been hit particularly hard during this time. At first, many might have thought the idea of no school was “awesome!” But as the weeks rolled on, and they found themselves away from their friends and their routine disrupted, many kids began to feel depressed and anxious about the future. Summer vacation is supposed to be a time of fun and freedom, but with many states still in lock-down mode and masks still being mandated, this summer isn’t filled with the same kind of fun and freedom as usual.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention , men die by suicide more than 3x as often as women. In fact, white males accounted for 69.67% of suicide deaths in 2018. Those are startling statistics. But what’s the reason behind these numbers? Well, according to a recent Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) survey, the number of men who seek treatment for depression is far lower than the number of women who seek out guidance. Some mental health experts believe that certain cultural and social norms, as well as rigid views of masculinity, most likely prevent many men from seeking help. Men also have a much more difficult time trusting, opening up, and communicating their feelings.  Mental health issues also tend to manifest much differently in men than women, resulting in issues going ignored and untreated. Men often either don’t recognize they are in emotional pain or take a “walk it off” attitude toward it. This leads to unprocessed emotions building and building until the man may act out and commit violence against himself or someone else.

Having a baby is one of the most amazing and awesome events in a person’s life. Babies bring joy and laughter into the house. But the reality is, they also bring sleepless nights and inevitable and irreversible change. Having a baby also brings changes to a woman’s body. During pregnancy and right after, a woman will experience shifts in her hormones. This may cause her to feel some depression and anxiety. This is a perfectly natural response to the event and is called having the “baby blues.” But how do you tell if what you are experiencing is the “baby blues” or postpartum depression (PPD)? As I mentioned, the baby blues is a very normal reaction. While the symptoms of anxiety and depression don’t feel good, they are mild and typically only last about two weeks.  Should symptoms worsen or last longer than two weeks, a new mother is considered to have PPD and encouraged to seek care and guidance from a mental health professional.

As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, many therapists have had to quickly pivot and offer their clients online sessions in an effort to help them to continue to make progress while at the same time abide by the social distancing guidelines to flatten the curve. While it seems our country and the rest of the world are slowly opening back up, many of us have learned something very important during this crisis: telehealth offers clients something very valuable, and that is therapy on THEIR terms. It’s really not so surprising that telehealth is currently a $6 billion industry that is expected to reach $20 billion by 2025 .  Here are just some of the benefits of “virtual therapy”:

Not many of us will get through life without feeling some anger now and then. And that’s okay; anger is a normal human emotion that can even be healthy to feel at times. Bottling up our emotions, any of them is not good for our minds, hearts, or bodies, so letting them out is important. Having said this, it’s important to express our anger in a manner that doesn’t bring emotional harm to anyone else. When expressed in a loud manner, anger can seem very scary and hostile to the people around us. At the same time, angry people tend to have trouble hearing others and empathizing with their feelings. 

Just a few short months ago, none of us could have imagined how our lives would change at the onset of the Corona Virus. Now, several months into a global pandemic and resulting global quarantine, the world is slowly starting to open back up. But a lot of people wonder how long it will take before things fully return to normal. And many now wonder if it's safe to go back into therapy? This is an interesting question and dilemma, because now more than ever, people need to be able to get the help they need to cope with the stress and loneliness of quarantine and the economic shutdown. 

How many mornings have you shut off that alarm, wishing you could just work from home in your PJs? Well now many of us are getting our wish thanks to COVID-19. While in theory working from home may seem ideal, the reality for many of us is that it’s, well, kind of a pain. Particularly if you have young children home from school that you now have to teach while still keeping productive at work. The fact is, this sudden and unexpected disruption to our daily lives has many of us feeling stressed! Here are some ways you can cope with working from home for the unforeseeable future.