The thing about stress is....it hits at the absolute worst time without any warning. I didn't wake up that morning prepared to untangle a giant mess. One of the biggest barriers to utilizing mindfulness skills is practicing them enough so that we can draw on them quickly without thinking about how, what do I need to remember, what order does it go in, and on and on and on. It's a mindfulness PRACTICE.

Recognizing the signs of secondary trauma are vital towards processing the feelings of being close to or adjacent to a trauma. When we recognize our own signs of secondary trauma, we can make steps to alleviate the grief and emotional payload so that we can in turn, free up useful time and energy towards effective support to those we care about, that were directly impacted.

There won’t be a significant life event that passes without an echo of the loss. Maybe it’s a momentary awareness of a loved one’s absence and maybe it’s a full-blown panic attack accompanied by a grown-up temper tantrum. Sounds awful, doesn’t it?

The American culture (with puritanical roots) tends to create a lot of shame and blame around addiction.

What did I do wrong as a parent or spouse? Am I somehow enabling?

Are there any medications that I can take to stop this?

I’m embarrassed and don’t want anyone to know how bad it is. Are there options for treatment that are discreet?

My loved one has a high-profile job...how will their treatment impact our family life?

OCD is presented in many different ways in pop culture and media portrayals. This 3-part mini series aims to shed light on some of the common beliefs about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and provide a more accurate representation of what the condition looks and feels like.

OCD is presented in many different ways in pop culture and media portrayals. This 3-part mini series aims to shed light on some of the common beliefs about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and provide a more accurate representation of what the condition looks and feels like.

OCD is presented in many different ways in pop culture and media portrayals. This 3-part mini series aims to shed light on some of the common beliefs about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and provide a more accurate representation of what the condition looks and feels like.

I had Covid-19 in December of 2020. My partner came down with symptoms, received positive test results, and my physical symptoms emerged a few days later. Sore throat, fever and chills on the first three days, followed by sneezing and a runny nose, all accompanied by a persistent fatigue that could not be alleviated. By the seventh day of my symptoms, all upper respiratory symptoms had subsided, except that I was left without my senses of taste and smell. Once the novelty wore off, I faced the reality of losing 40% of one’s sensory input.

This was the beginning of a new chapter in my experience with Covid-19.

Whew, what a year it’s been, and continues to be. Maybe you’ve noticed some new behaviors in the stress of the times. Or perhaps some unwanted habits are exacerbated or getting out of control. In times of uncertainty, struggle and fear, the body/mind can get out of balance and look for comfort and relief in any way it can: overeating, drinking, drugs, binge watching tv, running on coffee, or avoiding responsibilities.

If you feel like your thoughts, habits and behaviors are getting out of control, here are five steps you can take today that can bring you back into balance, create calm, increase energy and improve your mood and outlook.

The migration to the online Telehealth platform has made it necessary for practitioners to implement countless policy and procedural changes to the daily functions of operation. From securing HIPAA-compliant document-managing systems and video conferencing, contact-less billing and payment options, to updating WIFI connections and hard-wired Internet, we are seeing the technological capabilities in this field. Online, you don’t have to wear a mask, you don’t have to divulge your body temperature, and we can continue our appointment schedules without limitation.

After exploring the Ignite website, you feel ready to contact us. You might be wondering: What’s going to happen after I call? We understand that making this first contact isn’t always easy, and that’s why we wanted to give you a snapshot of what takes place after you reach out to us.

Can you allow yourself to grieve?

We often don’t realize that what we’re experiencing is grief; the package of thoughts, feelings, and sensations that are the natural response to loss. Our society mistakenly approves of grief only after the death of a loved one, and even then, society tells you to make your grief quiet, short, and tidy; nicely tied up in a bow after your four-day bereavement leave.

Yet, without recognizing and validating the losses other than death and the accompanying grief, we run the risk of languishing in a swamp of unsettling emotions that seem to have no cause or reason. That’s a recipe for deep depression and resignation; the very opposite of a rich, fulfilling, hope-filled life.

That moment with my enormous four-legged friend made me think of what I call “foxhole friends.” They’re the friends who rush to jump into the foxhole with you when the loss bombs are falling and the grief bullets are flying. Maybe you already have one of two of these godsends in your life. Maybe you ARE one of them. They’re the diamonds in the muck of life; the people who hold you up when you’re crying so hard you can’t stand, sustain you when you’re too despondent to take care of yourself.

Something inside me, though, knew that forcing myself to search for beauty again would be a life-sustaining quest, so I bought myself a camera. I figured it would give me a reason to actively look for beauty in the world and, if I could find it, capture that memory.

What I discovered was that the beauty I sought was looking down at me from above. That’s not a spiritual metaphor; I mean it literally.

“When fragments of past trauma play out inside us, these fragments leave behind clues in the form of emotionally charged words and sentences that often lead us back to unresolved traumas” (Wolynn, 2016).  Patterns that, although developmentally adaptive for survival, often create problems in the present. 

For many, the holiday season presents a challenge to be, well, festive and merry.   There is something about the holiday season – less hours of daylight, more time indoors, expectations of being social – that has a way of increasing depression symptoms.

I would like to suggest a gentle, self-compassionate approach.  Here are some ideas to do so:

I think it is safe to say, we all struggle with shame at times and the ‘shadow’ parts of our lives that we may not like to show to others, for fear of judgement and condemnation.   

If we each commit to speaking freely about our concerns, reach out for help, normalize and empathize with others’ experiences -- We can advance.  We can heal.  We can make meaningful impact on the lives of others.  We can change the course of history!  The Shaming Culture does not need to be our legacy.

A traumatic experience can be processed and stored in the brain in different places. If the event is stored in the pre-frontal cortex, the area responsible for rational adult thinking, the experience is unlikely to cause persistent trauma or injury. Problems occur when the traumatic experience is process and stored in the amygdala, the survival part of the brain responsible for fight-flight-freeze responses. When that happens, a seemingly mundane event like a firecracker on the 4th of July can trigger an overreactive response that is rooted in a past traumatic event, such as a landmine detonating. Or, you might experience a significant anxiety response in your body when anticipating a situation at work or argument with someone.

Beyond the therapeutic effect of EMDR, there are many added benefits that result from an overall increase in mindfulness and the mind-body connection. The reason for this is that EMDR treatment works at the level of mind/body connection:  the client thinks of an experience (mind) and integrates a bilateral body movement such as eye movement or tapping (body). This is where the healing begins, at the intersection of mind and body. Repeated exposure to EMDR results in an overall increase in mindfulness and the inner peace that mindfulness brings.