5 Ways Having a Cat is Good For Your Mental Health

5 Ways Having a Cat is Good For Your Mental Health For those of you who have followed my blogposts, you will now see me as a traitor.  In the past, I have written a blogpost about how having a dog is good for your mental health.  You would be correct, I am a traitor.  My alliance now is to my two cats who bring me a ton of joy and happiness. In fact, they inspired me to write this blogpost because they have helped to improve my mental health.  I believe that people can be both a dog person… Continue Reading This Article

The Difference Between Normal Sadness and Depression

The Difference Between Normal Sadness and Depression Sadness is a normal feeling.  It is an important feeling.  If you disagree, I suggest you go watch the movie, Inside Out.  It is the perfect explanation on the importance of sadness in our life.  This blogpost will explore normal sadness but with the hopes that the reader will learn when something is “normal, regular” sadness and what is “depression”.   Normal sadness occurs in our lives when something happens, such as loss of a loved one, losing something important to us, not achieving a goal, romantic-type movies and anything else that makes… Continue Reading This Article

What Hurricanes Teach Us About Values

This past week in South Florida, we have been preparing for Hurricane Irma, a Category 4/5 hurricane that has been threatening us all week. Hurricane preparations are stressful and I was busy up until my office closed on Thursday, September 7th.  Many of my clients came in and wanted to process their anxiety about the storm. During my sessions and my own hurricane prep, I started to realize that our values come into action during periods of stress.  This hurricane reminded me what I value the most and how I express them.   You value what you protect I decided… Continue Reading This Article

Why People Misunderstand Anxiety

Did you ever play the game called “telephone” growing up? One kid whispered a secret message into the ear of the kid next to him. That kid then whispered the “same” message into the ear of the kid next to her. On and on each kid would whisper the message around the circle until you came to the last kid, who would then announce the secret message aloud. Often the final message sounded nothing like the original message. That’s because every person has their own way of hearing and sharing information. Sometimes it’s accurate – sometimes it’s not. In this… Continue Reading This Article

Do You Suffer from Anxiety? Yoga Can Help!

Life is full of moments that cause us to feel stressed or nervous. Getting up and speaking in front of a large group of people, starting a new school, and trying to ace that important job interview – all of these scenarios can make us fearful, resulting in sleepless nights and performance jitters. The problem starts when this fear becomes persistent and overwhelming and interferes with everyday life. At this point “normal fear” becomes a full-blown anxiety disorder. While a certified therapist should be consulted to develop a plan for treating your anxiety disorder, yoga is an effective and natural… Continue Reading This Article

Five Things To Do To Get On Insurance Panels

Being in private practice means you get to decide what type of business you want to run.  Many therapists have found it extremely beneficial to accept insurance into their practice.  Accepting insurance usually means you will get busier faster and referrals will continue to flow into your business with little to no marketing.  On the flipside, there are lower reimbursement rates (in some cases compared to cash paying clients), more paperwork and billing that goes along with accepting insurance. Whether you accept insurance or not, it is up to you.  Once you’ve made the decision to accept insurance at your practice,… Continue Reading This Article

Three Reasons Therapists Need a Business Plan

When I went to graduate school, I was very well prepared to become a therapist, in an agency, carrying out someone else’s business plan.  When I worked at an agency, I began to develop business plans but I learned it the way most people learn things at agency, through the fire and flames.  I was handed over a binder with a ton of requirements and I was meant to develop a business plan for my program.  Luckily, I learned how to develop business plans while volunteering for Delta Phi Epsilon sorority.  So, I took the knowledge I learned through my… Continue Reading This Article

Why We Should Invest in Mental Health

There’s a lot going on in the media lately about where funding is going and where funding should be going. In the past, I have not written about my political views on my blogposts or website. As numbers and figures come across my view, I began to think about where we put our money as a country and how it impacts our citizens. I decided to do some research about how many people die each year by suicide.  According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 44,193 Americans die each year by suicide. According to the CDC , it’s the… Continue Reading This Article

Five Ways to Connect With Your Partner

Are you feeling disconnected from your partner? Are you excited about Valentine’s Day and looking for ways to reconnect with your significant other? Feeling connected in a relationship is an important component that you can help to create.  Being connected means you and your partner are taking time for each other on a regular basis to talk, have fun, discuss serious issues, set life goals and generally make sure the two of you are in tune. Does this mean you and your partner need to agree about everything? Absolutely not.  Does it mean you and your partner need to spend… Continue Reading This Article

How to Overcome Irrational Fears

A very common issue that people go to therapy for is having irrational fears.  Many people sit in our offices and admit that there is no good reason to be scared of: bridges, escalators, the number 13, public speaking, insects, failure and flying.  Well, there is probably some biological reason to be scared of spiders but the reality is that many of our irrational fears are in fact irrational.  Even though most people know they are irrational, they have a difficult time reducing their fear. Here are my top strategies to help you overcome irrational fears. If you have a… Continue Reading This Article