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Community, Pain, and Healing By: Sunda Friedman TeBockhorst, PhD, ABPP The other day, my two young children were playing a t-ball game in a local youth sports league. One of the players on their team had taken a ball to the face, and, while he wasn’t badly hurt, of course it had been a shock of pain, surprise and probably embarrassment for the little guy. He was crying – loudly – as the game went on. This boy – the crying boy – happens also to be a neighbor and one of my son’s best friends. As he cried, it became clear that he didn’t want to leave the game, but was told by Coach that he might have to if he couldn’t pull it together. I prompted my children to approach the child (he was playing center field, my kids in right field) and offer some words of companionship and comfort, whereupon both children looked at me as though I’d grown an extra head and stood as if their feet had grown deep roots. My older child, after a second, and third, prompting, stood very thoughtfully, staring at the boy, and, with a deep breath that very much looked like a screwing-up-of-courage breath, marched herself over to the boy, patted him on the back, said something brief and fled in relief. But also, pride shown on her face; she had done something a little scary, but it had been kind, and she took satisfaction in doing the harder-but-right thing. My younger child followed her example

By Matt Bynum, MA, LPCC These days, it feels like mental health is getting much needed attention in many circles. On both a national and local level, more and more people seem to be working to decrease the stigma of asking for help. This is truly wonderful. But there are still a lot of misconceptions and unknowns about therapy floating around. What is therapy exactly? Why do people go to therapy and what do they get out of it? What happens in the therapy office? What is the therapist’s role? What follows are some answers to these questions. Keep in mind that different therapists will have slightly different answers to these questions. In fact, there are as many “therapies” as there are therapists, because each clinician will bring their own experience, modalities, and approach into the room. Furthermore, if a therapist is good at what they do, they will do their best to adjust the therapy to fit your specific needs. What is therapy? Why go to therapy? Psychotherapy, (or counseling), is the process of regularly meeting with a mental health professional to work through problems and dilemmas in your life and gain some renewed sense of vitality or flexibility. People seek individual therapy for lots of different reasons. Be it addiction, past trauma, a break-up, major life transition, relationship issues, anxiety, depression, or strong desire to look at painful habits. That being said, it is absolutely OK to see a therapist if you are wanting some increased self-knowledge and personal growth. There is a common

Nine Common Symptoms of ADD By Sunda Friedman TeBockhorst, PhD, ABPP If you’ve ever found yourself in the middle of a conversation and realized that you don’t know what the person you’re talking to just said because you forgot to pay attention to him or her, you may relate to this title and wonder: is this Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)?  Or, is ADD affecting someone close to me?  Here are nine signs and symptoms common to those who may be affected by ADD.  People accuse you of not listening – even when you are. Wandering attention is a core symptom of ADD.  This often surfaces for people via interpersonal frustration and relational stress when people don’t realize you aren’t intentionally disregarding them or their concerns. You just lost your phone – again. Keeping track of personal possessions can be particularly tricky for those with ADD, who tend to spend more time than the average bear hunting down wayward possessions. Alternately, some have developed an intense focus on preventing this with certain rituals and routines, which must be adhered to inflexibly – which can be another sign of ADD. Doors have magical brain-erasing properties. Having to walk from one room into another – to tell somebody something, to retrieve an item, to do a task – can be a series of misadventures for the person with ADD, who may have to give this several tries before their short-term memory decides the jig is up and produces the nugget of knowledge about why the journey was started in

Sometimes things happen in life and we don’t know how to deal with them. Or perhaps you’ve struggled with feelings of emptiness for a long time, but you don’t know how to cope. Talking to someone about how you’re feeling can have an incredible impact on your life, but the first step to doing so is removing the stigma surrounding counseling and seeing a therapist. At Metis Center For Psychological Services in Boulder, CO, we offer counseling for anxiety disorders, depression, and other mental health conditions. Whether you’ve just experienced a tragedy or you have a chronic condition, we can help. Learn more about how to remove the stigma surrounding mental health issues, and contact us today to schedule a counseling appointment. Address What’s Causing The Stigma Unfortunately, there are a lot of misconceptions about mental health issues that can lead to stereotyping and even discrimination. Whether you or someone else has stereotyped you, it can be even more detrimental to your overall health. Signs of stigma include a reluctance to seek counseling, a lack of understanding from your loved ones or employer, fewer opportunities at work and in your personal life, and even health insurance that doesn’t properly cover your expenses for mental health. Luckily, there are ways to address these effects. Seek Counseling It can be one of the most difficult steps in your journey to better mental and emotional health, but scheduling a counseling appointment can make the biggest difference. Counseling can help you identify negative thought patterns, help you reduce the symptoms

Trauma-Informed Yoga 4-week series Thursdays in June and August 2018 4:30 – 6:00pm $75 for the series OR $20 drop-in per class Click here and here to learn more about Why Yoga for Trauma? No prior experience necessary. Email Caroline@MetisCenter.net if you are interested! Yoga restores the natural rhythm of our nervous system, which is disrupted by trauma. Yoga teaches us how to self-regulate and stay present with our experience. Yoga has been shown to have greater success in lessening symptoms of trauma than talk therapy in controlled studies. When taught with a sophisticated understanding of the mind-body connection, yoga can help us to discover strength and flexibility, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. Over time, we develop confidence and trust in our ability to deal with whatever comes our way. Trauma lives in the body and 50-60% of adults experience at least one instance of trauma in their lives. When we experience a threatening or distressing event, either acute or developmental, our nervous system does its best to protect us. It tells our body to kick into high gear, producing a tremendous amount of energy with which to run away or fight. Sometimes our brain assesses the situation and concludes that we cannot succeed in either fighting or running away and so we freeze. This is an adaptive, intelligent response at the time. However, it is also when trauma occurs. All that energy gets stuck in the body because it does not have a chance to express itself physically. Our nervous system becomes