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Internation Overdose Awareness Day: Giving Hope For Tomorrow

International Overdose Awareness Day is an event held on August 31st each year. It is focused on raising awareness about prescription opioid overdose risk, providing information on services, and preventing drug-related harm. Drug overdose deaths in the United States rose 29.4% in 2020 to an estimated 93,331 according to the CDC. That’s up a 5% increase in 2019.

Overdose Awareness Day spreads the message that the tragedy of overdose death is preventable and is committed to providing a platform to acknowledge the grief felt by family and friends while remembering those who have died or suffered permanent injury due to drug overdose. Overdose prevention starts with improving prescribing patterns, preventing misuse and abuse of prescription drugs, and providing treatment for people who are struggling with addiction.

  • REACH OUT, if you think you or someone you know has a problem. Talk to family members, friends, or health care professionals.
  • BE SUPPORTIVE (not judgmental) if a loved one has a problem. Recognize substance use disorders are a medical condition, not a moral failing. Show support toward people in recovery. Acknowledge and encourage recovery.

Treatment can help people get their lives back before it is too late. If you and/or your loved ones are interested in therapy to help with your addiction or to help one’s family cope with the addiction of a loved one, we at Lotus Counseling Center are here to help.

Reach out today if you or someone you know is sufferings with Drug Abuse today and get help.

Friendship day: 4 friends and vista

International Friendship Day: Maintaining Healthy Relationships

International Friendship Day:

Maintaining Healthy Friendships

Written By: CRISTINA BEHRENS-SOULAVY, RMHC-I

At Lotus Counseling Center we understand the importance and effects of  maintaining healthy relationships.

When I was asked to write about International Friendship Day, the first thing that crossed my mind was to reach out to my childhood friends and ask them what friendship meant to them. The most common response was that friends are much more than family members. We can’t choose our family, but we can indeed choose our friends. Healthy relationships are sealed with a strong, invisible bond that keeps you close to a person regardless of the physical distance. Good friends give honest advice when needed and rejoice and celebrate our achievements, as they make our emotional burdens more bearable. Being part of a group of friends increases our sense of belonging, providing us emotional support and safety, as we cope with life setbacks and painful experiences. Quality time with friends reduces stress and increases overall happiness, impacting our physical and emotional health in many ways. But as we grow older life can get in our way. Oftentimes adult responsibilities can easily take over our lives, inadvertently neglecting our social circle as a consequence. For example, what happens when we are forced to move to other places and leave old friends behind?

 

Although exciting, I think most of us agree that moving to a new city can be extremely stressful. Picturing oneself at a new empty space, surrounded by boxes, dealing with change of address maybe in a different language, disconnecting and reconnecting services as we comply with family and professional responsibilities can be an overwhelming and emotionally draining process. Even if we patiently assume this challenge as a natural transition, it can still be extremely disruptive, especially if we have to face all this by ourselves. Developing a healthy social network in your new city could smooth down your process, facilitating your adaptation to a new life and help in maintaining healthy friendships.

 

As a start you could reach out to old acquaintances or family members. They could help you connect with people in your new city that would serve as a guide to clarify doubts and give you tips about your area. It is imperative that you face this process with a flexible and open mindset, accepting spontaneous invitations whenever they are extended to you. Cultivate your hobbies by joining the community center, gym or sport league in your area. The responsible use of social media platforms is also a good idea. Just make sure you assist the group events and not just hide yourself behind the screen! Use some time off to walk around your neighborhood and talk to neighbors. Extend invitations to colleagues, coworkers, or potential new friends to grab something to eat, go to the movies, or visit a cultural event. More is not necessarily better in this case… favor quality over quantity! Just a few real good friends can go a long way. Be persistent and do not give up! It is clear that nurturing old friendships as well as making new ones takes a lot of time and effort, nevertheless this will undoubtedly be the best investment you could make for your mental health and overall happiness!

 

If you’re interested in therapy, what constitutes as/and maintaining healthy friendships/relationships, or have issues with building intimacy, relationship issues or require counseling for conflict resolution, we are here to help. Reach out and schedule an assessment or meet our team of clinical psychologists, clinical social workers and therapists. We look forward to hearing from you. Read more on our blog!

schizophrenia and treatment at Lotus Counseling Centers

National Schizophrenia Awareness Day : How much we stigmatize mental health

schizophrenia and treatment at Lotus Counseling Centers

Written by: Sharon Matzon, MFT-I

This year, National Schizophrenia Day falls on July 24 with the goal to shine a light on the millions of people worldwide who live with the diagnosis. Schizophrenia can often be seen as a rare and severe diagnosis, however it is estimated that 1 in 100 people will experience some degree of schizophrenia. Although it is not as common as other diagnosis, it still much more common that society perceives it to be. Even though in our society there has been a shift in how much we stigmatize mental health, schizophrenia continues to be one of the most stigmatized and misunderstood diagnosis.

Schizophrenia is a complicated medical condition that affects the normal function of the brain which effects the way the person thinks, feels and acts. Common symptoms include confused thinking, delusions, hallucinations, low motivation, and changes in language or behavior. However it is important to note that the diagnosis can present itself very different with each individual therefore getting a proper diagnosis is important for treatment.
Proper treatment can greatly improve the condition and reduce and even stop the symptoms all together. The media often portray people with schizophrenia as evil, having multiple personalities, and being tortured souls. However it is these myths that make so many not get diagnosis or early treatment. Research has shown that early detection can strongly impact the chances of recovery. Treatment usually consist of a combination of medication and community and family support. Talk therapy such as CBT can also be useful for those with the diagnosis change the way they think about their illness and how it affects them. It can help them learn to differentiate between what is real and what is not, all while helping them manage everyday life. Therapy can also be for the clients family and support system.
The love and support of family and friends plays an important role in schizophrenia recovery and therapy can help educate and support the family to better the chances of success. If you or a loved one have received a diagnosis of schizophrenia, know that it can be successfully managed with the right supports and the earlier it is detected and treated, the better the chance of recovery.
Meet our therapists and reach out, Schedule an evaluation us with Lotus Counseling Center to begin treatment or provide the help your loved one needs today.
Self-esteem Issues

Fan the Flames of your Self-Esteem!

Written By: Cristina Behrens-Soulavy, RMHC-ISelf-esteem Issues

Self-esteem has seemingly become a household word, far easier perhaps to say than to actually feel. Parents, teachers, and therapists use it almost as a universal explanation for all behaviors and emotions. But what exactly is this ubiquitous yet little understood term, and why is it so important in our day-to-day lives?

Self-Esteem is a psychological term that reflects the value a person places on themselves or on some level of their identity like their intelligence, athleticism, relationship skills or their vocational accomplishments. It is associated with their individual sense of self-worth. It can also be reflected in the person’s ability to think positively about themselves and stay connected to those optimistic beliefs even through challenging situations.

As a therapist, I rely on the use of imagery with my clients during their session. I believe that self-esteem is an ever-present flame from where each of us can draw our individual strength, heat and light. I often ask my clients to picture their self-esteem as an inner flame burning in the center of their body. A flame that allows their inner light to shine brightly. When this flame is high you feel a sense of warmth, a sense of worthiness and you feel empowered. You are confident, your relationships feel rewarding and you also attain a level of satisfaction within your life and your individual accomplishments. On the contrary, when this flame is low, you can easily feel limited, emotionless and powerless and, perhaps, diminished. This can cause a need to reevaluate your life, but it will be from an inner state of negativity. This glumness will bring about pessimistic outlooks and hopelessness. Unfortunately, this can lead to a state of isolation that can open doors to potential, emotional problems. Anxiety, depression, self-harm, substance abuse and eating disorders are just some of the few states of negativity that doors can be opened to.

In therapy we can safely explore your inner flame and stimulate it so that it burns brightly and warmly. We will work together to explore and identify the source(s) that causes your flame to flicker and decrease. We will work on recognizing the occasions that decrease that flame and allow your feelings of negativity to envelop you like a cold winter storm. In session, we will work as a team and come up with strategies and/or coping mechanisms that will help restore your inner flame and fend off the winds of self-doubt.

With time, effort and consistency you will begin to feel better about yourself and you will see an improvement in your social relations. This will, in turn, allow you to experience higher levels of self-esteem and decrease the periods of time where you feel depressed or anxious.
It would be my honor to work with you. Together, we will add fuel to your inner flame and allow it to shine brightly!

Woman curled up, sitting on floor depicting emotional stress.

HOW CAN I HELP MY TEEN MANAGE THEIR STRONG EMOTIONS?

Learning how to help your teen manage their emotions can become challenging for some parents. Dr. Alisa Crossfield, PhD. shares some tools to guide you on how to help your teen manage their emotions.

As children grow into adolescence, they are faced with a continually increasing number of intense emotional experiences. They face their own reactions to stress, fights, break-ups, family conflict, and so much more. As I explained in “How to React to Adolescent Emotions,” one of the most important things we can do for teens is respond to them with validation. Beyond helping to de-escalate the intensity of their emotions, we model validation, so they can learn to self-validate.

Unfortunately, our reaction to our teen’s emotional displays is only one small fraction of their experience. Given the number of emotionally-laden experiences a teen may have in a day, they need to develop tools to tolerate these emotions.

In my clinical practice, I see many teens who are struggling with two opposing ways of experiencing their own emotions. Some operate at the complete mercy of their emotions. They become so absorbed by their emotions that they are unable to continue with daily tasks such as going to class, completing homework, or participating in extra-curricular activities. While there are absolutely times when we need a mental-health break, stopping our lives cannot be the only way we approach emotional pain.

In contrast to those who stop life for their emotions, some teens try to stop their emotions to continue with life. These are the kids who “stuff their emotions down.” They eventually find that the container for all those emotions is overflowing and the feelings they ignored are coming back with greater intensity. They may develop problematic ways of “numbing” their feelings with substance use, self-injury, and other destructive behaviors.

Between these extreme forms of experiencing emotions lies a middle ground. We need to teach our teens ways to tolerate distress. They need periods of the day where they stop to experience and process emotionally difficult events and they need techniques to distract from their emotions when other activities require their attention. A balance of these approaches allows people to incorporate emotionally charged events into their day without the extremes of ignoring emotions or becoming overwhelmed by them.

There are several steps we can take to accomplish this balance.

1. Identify methods for processing emotions: In order to avoid emotions overwhelming the ability to carry out daily tasks, we need to make sure teens have “down-time” where they can address the events creating distress and the resulting emotions. At these times, emotions can be processed in a variety of ways. Encourage teens to identify adults and friends they believe are available for listening. Ideally, these are people who can listen without judgement and focus on validation (see “How to React to Adolescent Emotions”). While-problem-solving is helpful, the emphasis needs to be on recognizing the understandability of their emotional reactions.

Beyond talking about their experiences, encourage teens to try other forms of expression. Many benefit from journaling about all of their thoughts and feelings after a distressing experience. Many teens also express their thoughts in art projects, music, or dance. The primary goal is to validate themselves through expression. Often, the act of expression can also be a release.

2. Identify self-soothe techniques: When our children were babies, many of us heard about the need for them to learn to self-soothe. This need does not disappear after infancy! Yet, many teens are unaware of what soothes them. Alternatively, they rely too heavily on one technique leading to problems associated with over-use.

In my clinical work, I encourage people to identify ways to soothe all of their five senses (a skill set explained by Dialectical Behavior Therapy). In other words, what are soothing images, smells, tastes, sensations, and sounds. The more of our senses we address, the more able we are to soothe ourselves. These techniques can then be used during both periods when teens are expressing their emotions as well as periods when they need to carry on with their day in the presence of strong emotions. The intention is not to fix the problem. Rather these strategies are intended to allow us to manage intense emotions without doing anything that results in greater difficulties.

I typically encourage teens (and adults) to gather items they use for self-soothe so they are readily available. A teen might carry some of them in their backpack for easy access. Soothing images and sounds can be captured on the phones they hold so dear. I have had many a teen tell me they made it through their day by sucking on tootsie pops or playing with stress balls!

3. Identify methods for regulating physiological responses to distress: Our bodies’ nervous system is comprised of two systems working in opposite directions. The sympathetic nervous system increases arousal by activating our fight-or-flight response. In contrast, our parasympathetic system increases emotion regulation and decreases arousal. This phenomenon is at the root of Dialectical Behavior Therapy TIPP skills, which decrease emotional arousal by increasing activity of the parasympathetic nervous system.

The first strategy is to Tip the temperature of your face with cold water or ice. The extreme version of this skill involves putting your face in a bowl of cold water for 30 to 60 seconds. More moderate approaches involve splashing cold water on your eyes and cheeks or placing a wrapped ice pack over your eyes and cheeks. Teen girls tend to like the last approach to preserve their make-up.

A second strategy is Intense aerobic activity for 20 minutes. This is particularly effective for anger and agitation as well as decreasing bursts of anxiety. It further acts to increase positive affect.

The third strategy is Paced breathing, wherein the goal is to slow down the pace of inhaling and exhaling. Ideally breathing is slowed to roughly five or six breath cycles per minute. In addition, it involves inhaling deeply from the abdomen at a slower rate than exhaling.

Finally, with Paired muscle relaxation, the intention is to pair muscle relaxation with breathing out. The strategy involves tensing muscle groups, noticing the sensation of tension while breathing in. One then releases the tension and notices the sensation of it gradually lessening while breathing out. By increasing awareness of physical tension, we also increase awareness of relaxation and decreased arousal.

Try these skills yourself in a moment of calm as they will help you parent an emotionally distraught teen. You can then share them with your teen. Encourage practice in a calm state so that skills can be used more easily in a distressed state.

4. Identify distraction strategies: While schedules may not allow for a long period of avoiding responsibilities, we can often use short periods of distraction time to “re-set” our focus from upsetting events. Help your teen identify distractions they can use to shift their focus. Particularly helpful are those that involve focusing thoughts on something else concrete such as writing down lyrics to a favorite song or doing a quick puzzle on an app. People are not able to think about two things simultaneously. Thus, guiding our thoughts to these focused activities will divert them from thinking about emotionally-triggering events.

Unfortunately, there is no magic wand to help our teens weather the emotional storms they encounter. Yet there are approaches that can make those storms more tolerable and decrease the likelihood of emotions rendering teens unable to carry on. Many assume that these are strategies that we naturally develop, but often they need to be taught and practiced like any skill. Yet, unlike some skills they learn, these can benefit teens for a lifetime.

Olga has the tools to teach your teen or child how to identify ways to process their emotions . During this time, many adolescents are struggling with increased anxiety and depression. Reach out to Olga for a free 15 minute consultation.

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October is National Bullying Prevention Month

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, a time to think about how we can work together to combat bullying, harassment and cruelty online and off. If someone you love may be being bullied or be a bully, Lotus Counseling Center can help. Please call us for more information at 305-915-5748.

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This Emotional Life: Developing Emotional Intelligence through Awareness

This Emotional Life: Developing Emotional Intelligence through Awareness

“How does that make you feel?” All cliché’s about mental health aside, asking yourself this question from time to time can yield meaningful insights into your emotional world. These insights allow you to better navigate the varied terrain, the dips and peaks, of your life experiences. Learning how to explore and comprehend the nuances of your rich emotional world can be downright therapeutic.

For example, have you ever felt happy and sad at the same time? Do you know what sets you off, makes you feel angry, and causes you to lash out? Can you tell the difference between feeling insecure, anxious, and excited? Being able to identify, label, and understand what you are feeling, when you feel it, and why helps you to harness your emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence begins with the ability to classify your own emotions and those of others. This process involves tracking your emotions, applying them to tasks and problem solving, as well as managing and regulating them.

Therapy can provide you with the tools to develop and build your emotional intelligence. Working with one of Lotus Counseling Center’s compassionate, competent therapists can encourage you to foster awareness of your emotional processes and, in turn, to sense what emotions drive your thoughts and behaviors. Awareness created in therapy can enable you to:

· Enjoy and make the most out of good times characterized positive emotions

· Cope with difficult circumstances and emotions

· Predict and avoid problematic behavioral reactions

· Empathize with and be sensitive to the emotional needs of others

In addition to cultivating awareness, therapy with Lotus Counseling Center can also aid you in confronting pervasive emotional states such as depressed or manic moods. Make an appointment with one of our therapists today to take on an active role in your emotional life by learning how to exercise your emotional intelligence!

HOW THERAPY CAN MAKE YOUR BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS WORK!

Maintaining respectful, relationships with co-workers is key to business success, but work demands compress stress and strain onto these relationships. Use your business savvy by investing in therapy as a tool to mend your working relationships and to ensure the well being of your business. By enlisting the help of our esteemed, competent therapists at Lotus Counseling Center, you can learn skills through therapy that would benefit your business such as:

  • Clarification of business direction and goals
  • Improved stress-coping strategies
  • Effective interpersonal communication
  • Negotiation of financial responsibilities
  • Increased flexibility

A recent article in The NY Times highlights this trend. Follow this link to learn more about how therapy can benefit your working relationships, and then call Lotus Counseling Center to get started on the gold-paved path towards progress and prosperity!

Internation Overdose Awareness Day: Giving Hope For Tomorrow

International Overdose Awareness Day is an event held on August 31st each year. It is focused on raising awareness about …

Friendship day: 4 friends and vista

International Friendship Day: Maintaining Healthy Relationships

International Friendship Day: Maintaining Healthy Friendships Written By: CRISTINA BEHRENS-SOULAVY, RMHC-I At Lotus Counseling …

schizophrenia and treatment at Lotus Counseling Centers

National Schizophrenia Awareness Day : How much we stigmatize mental health

Written by: Sharon Matzon, MFT-I This year, National Schizophrenia Day falls on July 24 with the goal to shine a light on …