The Benefits of Summer Structure for Children and Adolescents
For many children and adolescents, the summer months signify a welcome break from school, where they can rest, spend more time with family and friends, and explore various interests. While the summer is a great time to recharge and relax, completely letting go of routines and structure can lead to some challenges, such as increased […]
Simple and Practical Ways to Reject Diet Culture
Body positivity was just gaining speed and then -WHAM- GLP1s hit the market. For some people with certain medical needs, these medications have been life savers. However, they have also drastically changed the diet landscape. For some, these medications seem to be the evidence that smaller bodies are always better bodies. We know for a […]
Overcoming Urges: How to Maintain Behavioral Change with DBT’s Pros and Cons List
Changing unhealthy coping skills is not easy and takes a lot of time and effort; we all can benefit from tried and true methods that have helped others. One such method from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is creating a Pros and Cons List. But this isn’t just any list; rather, it’s a unique tool that […]
How to Get Your Needs Met Using DEAR MAN
We all have needs to be met in this life. However, our needs are not necessarily the priority of others. In fact, there are times when our needs directly conflict with the needs of important people in our lives. Dialectical Behavior Therapy teaches us about a ‘script’ that we can use to increase the effectiveness […]
Using therapy to move past diet culture into healthy, mindful eating
If someone told you about a procedure that would change your life for the better, but would be uncomfortable, costly and have about a 5% effectiveness rate long-term, would you go for it? Given those terms, probably not! However, those terms actually describe what we call ‘dieting’ for weight loss. The dieting industry generates billions […]
Using Therapy to Move Past Diet Culture Into Healthy, Mindful Eating
If someone told you about a procedure that would change your life for the better, but they said it would be uncomfortable, costly, and have only about a 5% effectiveness rate long-term, would you go for it? Given those terms, probably not! However, those terms actually describe what we call ‘dieting’ for weight loss. The […]
The Freeze Response in Trauma Therapy
Trauma is defined as an “emotional response to a terrible event.” However, trauma can present in ways beyond emotions. Those who have experienced traumatic events will likely report some form of a physical, somatic, response as well. This is a survival instinct! It has proven to be extremely helpful for individuals to understand the neuroscience […]
Self-Respect Effectiveness to Detach with Love
DBT Skill of the Month #4 Luckily for some, February is the shortest month of the year, as, unfortunately, Valentine’s Day is sometimes viewed as The-Day-That-Must-Not-Be-Named. Love is wonderful and, in the spirit of being dialectical, love hurts. And this includes all kinds of love-romantic, familial and friendly. Sometimes, when love is especially challenging, we […]
Radical Acceptance
Holiday time often equals stressful times, and that’s when DBT skills come in handy! Radical Acceptance is a Distress Tolerance skill that shows you how to manage situations that are undesirable and completely out of your control. To radically accept means to utterly and completely accept a situation as reality and not try to change […]
Mindfulness
Effectiveness is a Mindfulness skill that shows you how to practice being mindful. Mindfulness is the act of paying attention, on purpose, to the present moment, without judgment. Mindfulness is helpful because it teaches you to control your mind. And that is desirable because often we unwittingly allow our mind to control our actions. Feeling […]