Are you already feeling the stress and added pressure of the holiday season? Recent stats share that 8/10 people feel increase in stress over the holidays, and 28% lose sleep around the holidays. With current world events on top of economical issues the stress is feeling heavier on many. With elevated stress it is important to bump up the coping and tools to manage, so you can navigate the ups and downs of the holiday time with more ease.  Here I share five tips to consider.

If you are experiencing burnout, you are not alone! According to this 2023 article, 78% of Canadians feel burnout at some point in their careers and 35% say they are currently burnout. Burnout can leave someone feeling mentally and physically exhausted, short-tempered, depressed, cynical, and overwhelmed. So how does art therapy help? Creative Arts Therapy has been shown to significantly reduce the stress of clients (Martin et al., 2018). It is key to keep stress levels in a manageable range because when stress levels are too high for a period of time it can lead to exhaustion and burnout. There are various ways to keep stress levels low, one of those is mindfulness, research (Luken & Sammons, 2016) has found mindfulness-based strategies to significantly decrease levels of job burnout. Mindfulness is natural component in art therapy as engaging in the art materials encourages being present, engage in our senses, and helps us to feel more grounded. Please find below four ways art therapy helps with burnout prevention and treatment:

This is the fifth in a series of monthly posts about some of my favourite children’s books (here are the links to the first post, second post, third post, fourth post). This post is relevant for helping your child reduce perfectionism in your child through not feeling alone, being okay to make mistakes, and feeling freer without the strict pressures of being “perfect”. Please find below three of my favourites:   

Many parents inquire about finding the balance and happy medium with the influx of candy for Halloween. Every parent has their own zone of comfort with sugar intake. This article is intended to consider some ways to support balance in the consumption of candy. With a focus on nutrition, balance, and wellbeing in our home, I share some ways I have found helpful in my personal life as a parent and in my professional life in supporting parents. 

Feeling burnout can be common at this time of year with less daylight, less energy, more tasks to be done, and a lot that can get condensed in the final three months of the year. Many are left feeling worn down, mentally and physically exhausted, not themselves, more irritable, overwhelmed, and not sleeping well. You are not alone as this time of year is hard for many. Find below 5 tips to cope with burnout.

​​ This is the fourth in a series of monthly posts about some of my favourite children’s books (first post, second post, third post). This post is relevant for supporting grief and loss including understanding grief, not feeling alone, and coping for loss of family and pets. Please find below four of my favourites:  

Art therapy uses art as a means of externalizing emotions and experiences, helping them to be acknowledged, moved through the body and released. For example, if you have experienced trauma, you most likely experienced flashbacks and intrusive memories which are both stored in the visual cortex (visual memory of the brain), both of which can be processed and externalized in a safe way through the art as the art acts as a natural grounding and containment tool, which are both important in trauma processing to ensure the person is not re-triggered. For those who experience anxiety, art therapy can allow connection to emotions in a tolerable way which helps the body to learn overtime that you can experience your emotions. The art also allows a way of deeper understanding of the emotions, meaning talking about them allows a layer of understanding, but finding other ways of making sense of your emotions such as in a visual way allows you to have a greater understanding of your emotions. Find below four key ways that art therapy works:

Mental overload in motherhood is a sign of the times, and is important to tune into when it gets too high because it can lead to overwhelm, mom rage feelings (if you need support with this check out this blog article), and mom burnout. Find below 4 tips to help manage the mental load of motherhood.

​To start let’s look at the foundation that I work from with a client. I see therapy as a collaborative process, and my role as a therapist is to be a guide to walk alongside you in your journey. I see each person as unique in their experiences and what has brought them to this point, thus I tailor and personalize the treatment approach to the needs of the particular client I am working with at the time. After completing the first session with the client we discuss if therapy were successful what would their life feel and look like; from this we begin to formulate goals and possibilities. 

​This is the third in a series of monthly posts about some of my favourite children’s books (first post and second post). With the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation around the corner on September 30, I thought it was meaningful to share four of my favourite books I like to read to my two children to support their understanding of the importance of protecting the environment and being stewards of change, and to remember and recognize the tragic history of residential schools. Please find them below: