The Balanced Life, Huntsville Alabama

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, an annual observance designed to raise awareness about the importance of mental health and encourage individuals to take action to improve their own mental wellbeing.

Oftentimes clients come into my office with present concerns of depression, anxiety or conflict. Once assessed and a personal history is established, it becomes clear that the problems are not only occurring in the present, but are rooted in experiences and wounds from the past.

“I’m worried about my kid and don’t know how to help them” is a statement I hear often in my office. Concerned parents bring their teens in for counseling because they’ve noticed behavioral changes and know their child is hurting, but often feel lost in how to help them.

Relationships can be warm, fulfilling, loving, and easy but they can also be cold, empty, hurtful and downright challenging and physically and emotionally draining! Thankfully, scientists of all types and backgrounds have been researching why positive relationships are so vital to our lives and how to go about creating and maintaining happy and healthy ones.

I turned 50 last Monday. Even just typing that feels a little surreal.

I often get asked how to help someone through a panic attack.  When put on the spot, my mind used to go blank even though I’ve had lots of training and have learned how to help someone during panicking. 

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home and a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

“I can forgive, but I won’t forget.”  You either have said those words or have heard them at some point.  What exactly does it mean to forgive? 

     In a recent interview, the famous Tom Brady spoke these inspirational words, “As you get older, your life changes quite a bit.  Your life ebbs and flows; through the clouds and through the sun and through the rain and through the beautiful days.  And you appreciate the moments and you find joy in the little things.”

Back to school time is here! Pencils are sharpened, lunches are packed, and we are all struggling to get back into a regular routine. I for one was so excited to see Trapper Keepers were a thing again this year. That brought back some memories of my first one, a hand-me-down from an older brother with a T-Rex on the front. Ahh, childhood.

How many times a day do you find yourself mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and whatever new social media app is on the market? I will be the first to admit that I am guilty of picking up my phone to “check messages” and the next thing I know I am going down some random rabbithole on TikTok for 30 minutes or an hour.

In 2014, June was declared National PTSD Awareness month with the hope that it would help spur on more conversations about what trauma is and how it impacts our mental health, relationships, and lives. More importantly, conversations about how we can have hope in even the darkest times and find a way to bounce back and become even healthier, stronger, and happier than we were before the darkness descended.