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Sharing Thoughts

22/12/2017 0 Comments

Christmas - A Time to Mind Ourselves

While Christmas is known as the season of goodwill spreading cheer and happiness, it also can be one of the most stressful periods in the year. It is really important to take time to look after ourselves. Something as simple as going out into the garden, breathing deeply, even taking an extra 5 minutes in the bathroom to gather your thoughts before going back to join the hubbub can help to destress you, here are some more suggestions:
  • Look after yourself first
  • Plan ahead
  • Ask for help - delegate
  • Go with the flow - accept things may go wrong
  • Try and see the funny side of things, remember to laugh
  • Walk - did you know walking has a tranquillising effect on the brain? 
  • So what if dinner is a few minutes late to the table - enjoy the moment
  • If old customs or traditions are making you too sad, maybe it is time to create new traditions
  • Go tech free for a few hours
  • Light a citrus candle - or just inhale the aroma from an orange - did you know research suggests that citrus fragrances boosts feelings of well-being and help alleviate stress? Dab some lemon /  orange juice or oil onto a tissue and carry it in your pocket - emergency rescue!  
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Some additional suggestions can be found in this article on TheJournal.ie 

​If you still feel events, situations are getting too fraught and you need that extra bit of support, here are some emergency numbers: 
If you’re feeling low and need to speak to someone, contact: 
  • Samaritans 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org (At hand 24/7)
  • Aware 1800 80 48 48 (depression, anxiety)
  • Pieta House 1800 247247 or email mary@pieta.ie – (suicide, self-harm)
  • Teen-Line Ireland 1800 833 634 (for ages 13 to 19)
  • Childline 1800 66 66 66 (for under 18s)
Mental Health Ireland ​www.mentalhealthireland.ie have some advice on their website for handling Christmas stresses. 
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9/5/2017 0 Comments

Instagram offers Mental Health Support

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Instagram have just announced a new mental health support structure for those who use their social media platform documenting their daily life.  

​"Every day on Instagram, we see people share their mental health journeys and connect with communities of support. From dedicated accounts around an issue to unique hashtags adopted by groups, these communities are helping to make illnesses that are often invisible to friends and family visible through photos and videos.

If you see a post on Instagram from someone who may be in need of mental health support, you can report it anonymously. The next time that person logs into the app, we will connect them to organizations in their country that offer help. We have teams working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to review these reports. We also display these resources when someone visits a hashtag page for a sensitive topic."

​Read More about it on Instagram's blog on support. This is a step in the right direction and more social media platforms should follow.

​So if you see someones post and feel they need help, or you feel in need of some support yourself, Instagram gives you links to select with options that will put you in touch with someone to support you. 


https://instagram-together.com

If you feel you can help someone or you need support use the hashtag   #hereforyou 














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1/5/2017 0 Comments

What is Bipolar disorder?

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26/4/2017 0 Comments

4 Powers That May Be Hiding Behind Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety has been widely regarded as a very negative condition that tends to ruin people’s everyday simple pleasures and renders them incapable of facing new challenges. In short, anxiety is commonly associated with being a purely negative thing.
But what if this ‘curse’ comes with certain gifts that others don’t possess?

Scientists have been exploring the effects of anxiety for decades and they have found that besides the commonly shunned-upon negative effects, anxiety indeed does come with a set of powers too.
Anxiety comes with, among other things, a sense of heightened perception. It’s indeed this kind of perception that makes anxiety what it is, but in this ability of perceiving things lie 4 powers that other people don’t often possess.

  • Life-saving instinct
Anxiety has been traced back to a much older period of human evolution than you may think. It has its evolutionary roots and it served as a means to protect our ancestors from dangers that would lead to premature death (just like fear).
This survival mechanism used to help people stay alert and be able to detect dangers before they would happen. However, today anxiety has remained and is seen as a response to non-existent dangers. Yet, what if this response is still relevant and useful in certain vital cases?
French scientists have discovered that people with anxiety possess a unique life-saving sixth sense. They have found that some regions in these people’s brains possess the ability to detect threats in just 200 milliseconds! 
This rapid detection ability allows people with anxiety to react appropriately in cases of social threats in the environment and thus possesses the potential to save one’s life!

  • Increased IQ
What if anxiety comes hand to hand with a higher IQ? Well researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Centre in New York confirm that it does. In the study, people with a General Anxiety Disorder were tested for IQ and the researchers found that anxiety correlates positively with intelligence.


It’s no wonder really, knowing that people with anxiety constantly over-analyze their environment. This means that their brains process information constantly, and for such thing one does need a higher IQ.

  • Increased empathic ability
People with anxiety are constantly obsessed with how other people feel. What if this ‘obsession’ is not so much of an obsession, but rather a heightened empathic ability? 
Psychologists at the Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel say that it’s true.
According to the research, high socially anxious people “exhibited elevated empathy tendencies.” They discovered that these people not only possess an increased sense of empathy, but that that they could tell of people’s emotions with a high level of accuracy.
Perhaps this is why people with social anxiety prefer avoiding other people. Empathy can be a curse as much as it’s a gift if left uncontrolled. 
But whatever the reason for their avoiding people, know that a socially anxious person can read your emotions like no other person.

  • Sensing other people’s energy
While this one has not been scientifically tested or measured like the previous ones, the likeliness of this ability is very high and plausible. People with social anxiety aren’t always affected by it when around people.
In fact, certain people can trigger this anxiety, while others don’t. Thus, it’s highly appropriate to assume that people with social anxiety are able to sense the vibrations from people and feel very uncomfortable by those who emit low-frequency vibes.
So, while there are many things people with anxiety need to cope with, one thing is for certain: 
anxiety comes with a set of gifts that others don’t usually possess. 
Perhaps anxiety is not so much a disorder, but rather a different state of mind that people are not used to?
What are your thoughts on this?
Please Share…

Article from Curious Mind 

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Such an interesting article which opens up some possible positives (?)  What do you think?
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13/3/2017 0 Comments

A Professional Approach to Treating Self Harm

Self Harm Awareness - New Dawn Counselling
"The phrase “self-harming behavior” may call up images of troubled teenagers with cuts on their arms. But self-injury can occur for people of any age, in children, adolescents and adults, whether male or female.  This is not at all a teenage fad!
People who self-harm or cut are people who are in pain.".....

I'm sharing this very insightful article about Self Harm. If you have any questions regarding the issue please do not hesitate to get in contact with me. Katrina....it continues...
​

"As therapists, one of the important things we notice is the emotional pain — not just the outward expression of it. A trauma-informed approach begins by building trust and safety for the person using self-harming behaviors. We do this by offering the understanding and compassion they need to begin facing the trauma within.

What is Self Harming Behaviour?

Cutting is the most often recognized form of self-injury. But self-harm comes in many forms.  It is any self-injurious behavior that is harmful, that is used as a coping skill. Some specific examples include:
  • Cutting
  • Breaking bones intentionally
  • Piercing the skin with pins or other objects
  • Burning or scalding parts of the body
  • Pulling out hair, fingernails or pieces of skin
  • Banging the head, hands, feet, knees or limbs against hard surfaces
  • Slapping or punching oneself
It is natural to feel shock or disbelief when seeing self-injurious behavior.  It seems unbelievable to those unaware of the hidden emotional pain, how cutting into an arm or burning the skin could help anyone cope with overwhelming emotions.
It is important to see self-harm as a kind of meta communication around someone’s emotional pain. The behavior has meaning or value for the person doing it. That meaning or understanding is so important to move toward healing.

Why People Use Self Harming Behaviour

On the surface, self-harming behavior may look like a form of self-punishment.  It may be, but it also serves as a mechanism for emotional self-regulation for those with unresolved trauma. Survivors of trauma may injure the parts of themselves they feel ‘bad’ about. It’s as if those parts can be ‘punished,’ in an effort to cope with complex negative experiences, such as shame, within themselves....Read More

​Tuning Into the Overwhelm Beneath the Behavior

As therapists, we recognize the importance of tuning into the emotional pain of someone who self-harms, rather than the behavior itself.  Parents may recognize the need to look deeper at the underlying turmoil.  Writer James Hunt describes coming to terms with his son Jude’s self-harming behavior after Jude was diagnosed with autism... Read More

​Working With the Person Who Self-Harms and With Their Loved Ones

Treating self-harm means bringing a compassionate, self-caring attitude to the behavior.
The person is using the behavior to cope with anxiety or emotional pain that is outside their window of tolerance of emotions.  Physical pain has become their way to calm emotional pain; either overwhelming hyper-arousal or numbing hypo-arousal, which feels unsafe and unstable...... Read More

​The Importance of Self-Care in Recovery from Self-Harming Behavior

In therapy, I teach both clients and loved ones about taking care of wounds that happen because of self-injuring behavior. We guide children and adolescents to show injuries to a parent or primary caregiver. We help parents or loved ones support their loved one in treating the injury so it heals well, and to evaluate whether any cuts or wounds needs stitches or other medical care.... Read More

​Compassion for Parents and Partners of Those who Self-Harm

Therapy for self-harming behavior means having a lot of compassion for the parents or partners as well.  The parents and loved ones are trying their hardest to help but they don’t always know what to do..... Read More

​Healing Conversations

It’s difficult to be compassionate if you don’t yet understand the person’s struggle to manage their emotions. Yet it is possible — and healing — to circle back to an initial reaction that may have temporarily made things worse (e.g., “Are you crazy? What did you DO?”)...... Read More

Read the Full Article on A Professional Approach to Treating Self-Harming Behavior: Healing with Self-Care and Compassion By Robyn Brickel, MA, LMFT  

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7/3/2017 0 Comments

Support

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Making a change in your life is not always an easy thing to do. It can be little steps, a moment at a time, a day at a time that will get you where you need to be. 
  1. Write down your dream, your end goal - whatever it is. 
  2. Make a plan for what you want your end goal to be. 
  3. That plan starts off with one day at a time, achievable goals. That way, you feel the accomplishment. Try not to set an unrealistic first goal, not reaching that first goal can demoralise you. 
  4. Remember your plan is a guideline, that will help guide you as you make this journey to change things in your life.
  5. If you want to make multiple changes, maybe start with one at a time. 
  6. Tell a friend of your dreams and plans. Make them real.
  7. Ask for support.
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17/1/2017 0 Comments

Grief

 Losing someone is one of the hardest experiences we will ever have to go through. The grief we suffer is different for everyone but for one thing; our grief is a sign that we love. I have been asked many questions about grief; how long does it last? Should I feel like this? Am I going mad? Does it ever end? One person has described his grief and I feel many of you will relate to it. 
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13/1/2017 0 Comments

Anxiety

Sometimes I come across an article that so eloquently describes feelings that I've just got to share them.  Because,  we can't always find those words that can explain how we are feeling. So if you can relate to any of the following, or what is in the article. You are not alone. Anxiety is treatable. You don't have to feel like this for ever. 
  • Anxiety is learning how to function with sleep deprivation because it took you until 2 am to shut your eyes...
  • Anxiety is the time you spend waiting for an answer as a scenario plays out in your mind of what could, or could not happen..
  • Anxiety is self-doubt and a lack of confidence both in you, yourself and those around you...
  • Anxiety is being hyper aware of everyone and everything. So much so, you can tell if there’s a shift in someone merely by their tone or word choice...
  • Anxiety is the fear of failure and striving for perfection. Then beating yourself up when you fall short...
  • Anxiety is the art of deception for people who don’t know you. And for the people who do, it’s a constant stream of phrases like, ‘don’t worry’ or ‘you’re overthinking this’ or ‘relax.’
Anxiety can take a number of forms, here are just  a few: PTSD, Social Phobia, Panic Attacks, OCD, Fear, Over Thinking 
If you want to talk over anything you have read here or feel you might have, don't hesitate to contact someone. Help is only a phone call or message away. 
Article - What Anxiety Actually Is, Because It's More Than 'Just Worrying'
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13/1/2017 0 Comments

Give Stress the Heave Ho

We can do that together. Give me a call, message me or contact me using the form on my website and lets give stress the heave ho in 2017
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19/12/2016 0 Comments

Stress at Christmas

We're all feeling the pressure and stress of some sort coming up to Christmas. Getting the house tidy, shopping, gifts for children and family, cooking, dashing about in traffic and jam packed shops, to name a few of the trials we face at this time of the year. Then, there can be other stresses,  money, jobs, relationships, but whatever type of stress you can be under, the advice given in response to an email to the Irish Times by Dr John Sharry a social worker and psychotherapist and co-developer of the Parents Plus Programmes may help you.

Overcoming stress

The first step in overcoming stress is to acknowledge and accept how you are feeling. Be self-compassionate and cut yourself some slack. Take a step back and to acknowledge all you have been through in the year. Taking time to express how you are feeling to someone can help (it is great that you have reached out and written this email as a start)...........
Make a plan to tackle the stresses
Make a plan by yourself or with your wife to tackle the stresses that you are dealing with.
Focus on the small and important things at Christmas

Let go of some of big expectations this Christmas, and instead focus on some important things that might make it go well for you and the family.

The article can be read at http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/parenting/tis-the-season-to-be-jolly-but-all-i-feel-is-stress-1.2898281
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    My name is Katrina Jones, the person behind New Dawn Counselling Service which is situated in Tullamore, Co Offaly. 
     I am a qualified Counsellor, Psychotherapist, and Hypnotherapist.

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