Tag - mental health

09 Sep

National Suicide Prevention Month

What is it?

September is the month designated to draw awareness and attention to major public health concern of suicide. Suicide is among the leading causes of death in the US. Over the past 20 years, suicide rates have been on the rise in every state in the US but Nevada, according to the CDC. In 2017, the CDC found there were more than twice as many suicides in the US as there were homicides. Millions of others have serious thoughts of suicide, have made plans or have attempted to end their life. The American Association for Suicide estimates, based on information from 2016, there’s a suicide attempt every 28 seconds.

What You Can Do?

Although there’s no single cause of suicide, one of the risk factors is social isolation. Reach out to people, engage them in conversation, help them know they aren’t alone. Steps we can all take to assist those in crisis:

  1. Ask direct questions. Ask directly if they are thinking about suicide
  2. Listen to their answers. People with suicidal thoughts often feel alone, so be sure to let them know you care about what they have to say. Acknowledging and talking about suicide may reduce rather than increase suicidal thoughts.
  3. Do a safety check/keep them safe. Ask the person if they have a plan. Then try removing or disabling things they could harm themselves with such as alcohol, drugs, medications, weapons, sharps and even access to a car.
  4. Don’t keep a secret/help them connect. Let them know you’ll help them come up with a plan that involves telling a professional who can utilize the many services and resources available to help.
  5. Stay connected. Staying in touch after a crisis or after being d/c from care can make a difference. Studies show suicide deaths go down when someone follow up with at risk person.

If you know someone in crisis call lifeline 1 800 273 8255 or text the crisis text line (text HELLO to 741741). Both services are free and available 24-7. The deaf and hard of hearing can call via TTY at 1-800-799-4889. All calls are confidential.

If you find yourself struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts, we are here to help. Please consider reaching out to us. We’re in your corner.

Written by,
Kandee Willis, LCPC

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26 Aug

August Clinicians Connect

As a way to get to know the staff at Riverwalk at little better, we will be featuring a different clinician each month and talking about them. This month’s Clinician Connect is:

Dan Novak, Intensive Outpatient Coordinator

Dan began his internship at Riverwalk Counseling Center in May of 2018 while completing his Master’s of Clinical Psychology degree at Benedictine University. Coming on board as a clinician after completing his internship, he continued to grow his passion for the field of counseling and is very motivated to help his clients by going the extra mile to meet their needs. He is eager to meet every challenge that meets him and takes great pride in his work.

1. What influenced you to become a therapist?

“I became interested in helping others when I was a child. I grew up with an older brother who has special needs, and at a very young age quickly realized how poorly the world sometimes treats those of us who are different. My desire to advocate for, help, and protect him lead me down a path of eventually becoming a therapist.”

2. What did you do prior to your current role?

“I spent almost 19 years in the business world, but always believed there was something else out there for me. When my dad died of cancer in 2013, I decided to leave the business world and go back to college and pursue the career I always wanted as a child. I competed my bachelors is Psychology in 2016, my master’s in clinical psychology in 2019, and began working as a therapist in June of 2019.”

3. In what ways do you engage in self-care, including hobbies and leisure activities?

“Self-care is something everyone should engage in. I love sports, spending time outside, and hanging out with family and friends. One of my favorite hobbies, playing golf, combines these all three of activities and allows me to clear my mind for 4-5 hours. Laughter is another self-care activity I love to engage in. Whether it’s quoting a funny movie, telling a bad joke, or sharing a funny story. I truly believe laughter can often be the best medicine.”

4. What is a fun fact about you?

“I was ranked 19th in the state of Illinois in men’s one-meter springboard diving my senior year of high school.”

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19 Dec

The Stress isn’t Going Anywhere

Where is the stress going to go?

Often times, stress or the weight of our responsibilities is heavy on our shoulders. So heavy that we don’t take time to ourselves till that weight is gone. However, you have to ask yourself, where is the weight gonna go? Whether it is financial, personal, or academic stress; it will be right where you left it. So you can take a minute (or more) to yourself every now and then to cope with that stress

So what should you do?

Take a step back.

Whatever stressful situation you may be in, whether it is dealing with school, family, or finances, it is essential to practice self-care. Self-care can look different for each person depending on how they choose to cope with the situation they are in.

One way to practice self-care is by practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness is when an individual takes their time doing certain activities and becomes more aware of their actions and emotions. For instance, meditation would be a form of mindfulness in which the individual is focusing on their breathing and decreasing their ruminating thoughts.

Another way an individual can practice self care is by asking people for help. Don’t feel ashamed or feel weak asking others for help. Everyone goes through stressful times, but it may become easier if you have someone by your side supporting you and giving you advice along the way.

Stay in the here and now.

Just as taking a step back can help with stressful situations, so too can learning to stay in the here and now. This technique involves keeping your thoughts focused on what is happening at a particular moment in time in order to keep you from stressing about what the future might bring. What might happen in a week or a month from now is out of your control, but what is happening right now is in your control. It therefore makes sense to focus on the here and now, as opposed to worrying about what might happen in the future. By doing so, you can take time to truly enjoy what you are doing in that moment without letting the future get in the way of that.

 

Written by:

Daniella Raimondi, Clinical Intern

Dan Novak, Clinical Intern

 

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26 Mar

The Positive Light

Looking at the positive,

Along with staying active in one’s own recovery, there is one important behavior that should be taken into consideration, looking at the positives. While looking at the positives will help keep you in a mindset that supports your recovery, it has another purpose, helping in relapse prevention. Through observations, while relapses happen in a short span of time (minutes, hours), they are actually happening over days, weeks, or months before the physical relapse. A number of variables come into play when you look into it, but one is just simply not being active in your recovery. That might look like not going to meetings, not taking care of yourself, going into isolation, not dealing with your emotions appropriately, or not asking for help.

The day after,

The common feelings and thoughts experienced after a relapse all point to the negative experience serving as a reminder to not making the same mistakes again. The feelings at that moment are so strong, that it’s hard to understand why the relapse happened in the first place, especially if you have experienced the same ones before. The fact is, these negative emotions and thoughts lose their significance and momentum over time. The more time gets between you and the relapse, the less significant it may feel. So how do you remind yourself of the reasons to not to relapse and stay in recovery? Pictures, a letters to yourself, or recording yourself? While those things serve as a zip-locked reminder of those negative feelings and thoughts from that moment, they are a negative reminder. They could potentially bring about feelings of shame and guilt, or over time lose their significance.

Look at the positives,

Looking at the positives of being in recovery. What you have gained and the progress you have made during your recovery. This doesn’t bring about feelings of shame and guilt, in fact the opposite. Your progress in recovery is constantly growing with time, every minute; as opposed to looking back at the negative feelings of a relapse, which decreases with time. It is easy to get caught up in the negative emotions that we experience every now and then. They tend to stick out more than and even cover up the positives around us at times. These negative emotions can have an impact on our mood and, over time, can accumulate into depression. However, focusing on the positives around us and the positives that we are often unaware of is key in fighting the negative feelings we experience, both in that moment and in the long run.

Get in the habit of acknowledging the things you are grateful for can alleviate stress and low mood. It is not uncommon to overlook aspects of our life that we often take for granted, yet without them our lives can be much more difficult. Thinking of the things in your life that you are grateful for can be an important tool to use every day in lifting your mood and keep you in a positive mindset.

 

Ali Elrehaimy, MS,  LPC
IOP Coordinator/Compliance Officer

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14 May

Mental Health Stigma

Awareness of mental health issues has come a long way in the last several years, but it can still go further. While the stigma has been decreasing with time, individuals who are struggling with their mental health have become more open about seeking the appropriate help. This is an indicator of steps being taken in the right direction, both by the individual and by society. Just as we go to medical professionals to maintain our physical health, it should be just as normal to go to a therapist to maintain our mental health. Imagine if there had been a stigma about going to the physician for our physical health, a dentist for our dental health, or an optometrist for our vision health; our health would quickly deteriorate rather than seeking the necessary help. So why is it that when it comes to mental health, there is this great reluctance to get the help that is needed?

Our mental health is often neglected because it is not seen as a priority or something that could have a serious impact on other aspects of our life. However, it does. In fact, the mind’s health can affect the remainder of the body in countless ways from how we feel to what we do, you know, chemical releases in the brain and stuff. Have you ever noticed how when you are feeling upset you feel a lack of energy, you can’t focus on, you don’t feel like eating, or your sleep is affected? Or when you feel anxious, you begin feeling your heart race, your thoughts race, or you can’t think? I guess the point is that our mental health is very important because it can affect us in many ways and potentially negatively affecting those around us too; kind of like the flu and nobody likes that.

I was recently talking with a friend about mental health awareness and we compared a specific mental illness, such as depression, to a physical illness, such as an ulcer. If an individual feels a pain in their abdomen or side that’s consistently getting worse, they are not going to ignore it. They will most likely get it checked out or look up their symptoms on google first, but regardless of their first step they acknowledged that there is an issue and considered a solution. Now say the same individual is instead feeling irritated, can’t sleep, finds himself over eating, constantly preoccupied, and has just lost interest in everything; being unaware of mental health might allow this person to just ignore these issues and try to muddle through day after day, possibly getting worse. The key here, in this over-worded comparison, is knowledge. Through raising awareness and education, people can become more knowledgeable about mental health, their mental health. They can learn to detect problems related to their mental health just like they detect issues with their physical health.

Recognizing that you need to seek mental health services should not be any more embarrassing than getting your teeth cleaned at the dentist, unless he asks you about your flossing habits. It is not an admission of weakness, nor is it an admission of insanity; it is simply an admission that there is a better solution for a problem than ignoring it.

Ali Elrehaimy

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