written by Alex Pillion MSW, LSW

Throughout history and across the globe, nature and its offerings have been considered a form of medicine, nourishing our bodies and souls in a symbiotic friendship unlike any other relationship. Nature is, in and of itself therapeutic because of the many mental and physical benefits we receive from engaging with it- we work with plants as forms of medicine like many indigenous cultures have done for millennia, and we spend time in nature to recharge our emotional batteries. Nature is also a free opportunity for developing a mindfulness practice, allowing us the space to notice, observe, and practice non-judgment and feel its loving and relieving effects.

Have you ever noticed that when observing nature, it is less common to place a value-based judgment on what we see around us as often as we place these types of labels on ourselves? For instance, when observing a tree, do we ever judge the tree for how it is rooted to the earth, or if it has curling or straight branches, or if its leaves are lush or scattered on the earth? We may find ourselves labeling the observations we make, sure (“The tree is an oak” or “Those leaves are swaying in the breeze”), but the essence of these observations do not leave us with the heaviness that often comes when we apply certain labels to ourselves. Nature provides us with opportunities to reframe how we engage in the practice of observing, allowing us to learn that coming from a place of curiosity and non-judgment will not drain us of our energy but allow us time to learn and explore.

The next time you find yourself out in nature, consider participating in a mindfulness activity like this:

• Sit quietly in a place you feel safe to close your eyes, and listen for as many bird calls as you can hear singing around you. How many can you hear? Can you recognize any of the calls? Are the songs simple calls, melodic songs, or some combination? Do they ebb and flow? Are the birds calling and responding to one another, or offering solo performances?
• Now consider how you might apply the way you engage with that activity as you sit and observe your own mind and body. How might you apply the curiosity you used to listen to the birds to your own being? How might you reframe the judgments you make about your own body and mind to include love and compassion? What would it feel like to sit quietly with yourself and listen to the call of your own body, non-judgmentally taking in the information and sitting and listening for more to come?

There are infinite lessons nature can teach us about how we process information around us, how we accept what is, and how we listen for the music that is in and outside of us. It also leaves room for us to consider how we treat the natural world around us and how this reflects back to us how we treat ourselves and others. Nature truly is medicine, for all of us.

Interested in learning more about how to incorporate mindfulness into your daily life, connect with someone on our team.
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by Nathalie Edmond, Psy.D.

Think about all the experiences you have had that brings you to this moment in time. Some combination of nature and nurture has shaped you who you are and how you navigate the world.  With each new season in our life comes new challenges and opportunities.  Some seasons are about rest and other seasons are about growth or starting over. Which season are you in?
 
I am encouraging mindfulness of what part of yourself you allow to drive the bus in your daily life.  If you tend to be anxious, how can you use skills to manage your anxiety so it informs your decision making but doesn't drive the bus.  If you tend to be insecure, how can that insecurity be a passenger on the bus but not driving the bus. You can observe the thoughts, feelings, images, action urges and proceed through life mindfully.

I encourage you to balance rest and effort.  Respect your nervous system.  Continue to build resilience and adapt to the unexpected surprises that life brings. Cultivate joy and embrace imperfection.

I find this transition from summer to fall stressful.  Moving from the ease of summer to the intensity of fall and a new academic year is intense for me.  No matter how much I resource and plan there is always a week that is challenging.  I continue to work on riding the wave of this transition.

I invite you to think about how you approach these seasonal changes at work, school, and/or home.  Who is driving the bus? Is that who you want to be driving the bus?  For example, knowing you are stressed and having it be a passenger on the bus to inform your decision making  is incredibly helpful but letting your stress or anxiety drive the bus is probably not that helpful.

What might you need to include in your self care plan?  More sleep, more fun, playtime, dance, creativity, focus, exercise, meditation, yoga, knitting, time with friends, downtime....

What supports do you need to navigate the next couple of months of the election news cycle?

If you need some support navigating this season check out our team at Mindful and Multicultural Counseling.

By Ciera Cuevas, MA, LPC

​Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment that was initially designed to help individuals with borderline personality disorder manage intense emotions and improve their relationships. Since then, it has proven effective in addressing a wide range of emotional and behavioral challenges. DBT comprises four core modules: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

​In recent years, expressive art therapy has gained recognition as a powerful tool for promoting emotional growth and self-awareness. Expressive art therapy is based on the belief that artistic expression can foster healing, growth, and connection to self and others. These components complement DBT by providing a non-conventional and engaging approach to skill-building. By integrating various art forms such as painting, drawing, creative writing, music, and movement, expressive art therapy allows participants to explore their feelings, thoughts, and experiences in a safe and non-judgmental space. Its ability to tap into the creative essence of individuals makes it a unique and effective approach to teaching dialectical behavior skills.

​Conducting expressive art therapy within a group setting offers several advantages. Group dynamics encourage peer support, validation, and shared experiences, fostering a sense of belonging and reducing feelings of isolation. It creates an environment where participants can learn from one another, practice empathy, and develop valuable social skills.

​The integration of expressive art therapy with dialectical behavior skills training has proven to be a promising approach for young adults in a group setting. By embracing creativity and self-expression, participants can enhance their emotional well-being, develop essential coping skills, and strengthen interpersonal relationships. The combination of DBT principles and art therapy offers a holistic and transformative experience, empowering young adults to navigate life’s challenges with greater resilience and self-awareness. Through creative expression, you not only gain valuable skills but also embark on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth.

​This fall 2023, Mindful Multicultural Counseling, located in Ewing, NJ, is offering a chance to participate in an introductory group experience. The group will further explore the integration of expressive art therapy as a method for learning and enhancing skills that support emotional regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, mindfulness, and distress tolerance among young adults. 

If you're interested in learning more and/or signing up for this group offering, please fill out the group interest form, linked here.

​There will be a free intro group session on Friday, 9/15 at 7:30pm at our office location, 20 Scotch Rd., Suite E., Ewing, NJ 08628. Questions about the group? Interested in therapy services at MMC? Feel free to reach out to [email protected].

By AnnMarie Gray, MA, LAC

Last week, Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, predicted six more weeks of winter for us. During this time of year, you may have felt the change of season and could be wondering why you feel sad during the winter.  Some may call it SAD or seasonal affective disorder, commonly known as seasonal depression. It's less discussed but SAD can also occur during the warmer months. No matter which time of year you experience symptoms, SAD can alter your mood and day-to-day functioning.​

The winter blues include symptoms such as:  low mood, little to no interest in normal activities, oversleeping, low energy levels, and trouble concentrating, to name a few. If you've noticed these symptoms affecting your mood and activity levels this winter, it would be a good idea to begin tracking these symptoms. If they're negatively impacting your life, you may want to seek a trained professional for help. ​

​A suggestion I give to my clients during these times is to start using a self-care checklist. At the beginning of the pandemic when everyone was locked in their homes and isolated from normal activities, I began to notice that some of us were less aware of what we needed to stay balanced and in-tune with ourselves. With this in mind, I had the idea to create a self-care checklist. This daily list includes basic tasks to feel healthy and incorporates the eight dimensions of wellness:

​Daily self care check list:
​

• Take all daily medication 
• Take all weekly meds 
• Brush teeth 
• Shower 
• Wash hair 
• Drink over 120 oz of water
• Plan meals for the day
• Daily movement 
• Do one journal prompt 
• Meditation for at least 5 minutes
• Check in daily with support systom
• Check calendar for upcoming appointments or events
• Add any upcoming events to your calendar
• Do a daily budget check and sign into online banking 
• Do not use technology one hour before bedtime
• Go to bed by _____

​The goal of the eight dimensions is to find a balance that works for you. They don't all need to be given equal attention, but it helps you recognize what's important to you on your health and wellness journey. The eight dimensions are:  emotional, physical, occupational,  intellectual, financial, social, environmental, and spiritual.  

​Everyones plan is individualized to their needs, and the goal should be to encourage a sense of wholeness for overall well-being. Some of us may need a reminder to eat, shower, or brush our teeth or to take five minutes a day to engage in mindfulness activities. Taking care of these basic needs is important and it might help us recognize where we're lacking. It shouldn’t be a reason to shame yourself—it's an opportunity to use that awareness to help create healthy patterns. 

​When considering seasonal affective disorder, you may recognize that you're less motivated to talk to friends and would rather stay home and watch Netflix. You may notice yourself becoming more sedentary and slacking on moving your body.  Your personal daily checklist will help you notice these patterns so you can take the steps you need to get back on track or even just create a plan for yourself. So, what is the next step if you notice you aren’t feeling like yourself?  Therapy may be for you. When working with a therapist, they'll help you create a plan to reconnect to areas in your life that may currently feel blocked or neglected. 

Here at Mindfulness and Multicultural Counseling, we offer individual therapy, couples therapy, and family therapy depending on which therapist you choose to work with. We also provide extra support by offering yoga classes and guided meditations. Here is a link to MMC's Youtube page where you can find yoga class recordings and virtual guided meditations. We're here to support you and meet you at your starting point as you navigate your wellness journey.  

​To learn more about Mindful and Multicultural Counseling (located in Ewing, NJ), please reach out to [email protected] or call our office number (609) 403-6359.

Is a career change right for you? Are you unfulfilled? Uncertain? Afraid? Confused? Wavering? These are all normal feelings or emotions to experience when you are contemplating your next career move. Does the thought of doing something different make you anxious or uncomfortable? Perhaps there are little voices in your head that make you feel guilty for desiring a change. You may even feel embarrassed to admit you are seeking something different in your life. These reactions are typical and can be expected.

If change were easy, everybody would be doing it. Maybe you got a late start in life, whether it be getting your college degree in your 30s or 40s or beyond. Or maybe you started out with a career, then spent years raising children and now that your children are older and perhaps you are an empty nester, you wonder, what is next in my life? Where do I even begin?  Thoughts such as  “but I have worked so hard to get where I am …”, “I have spent so many years at this job, at this company, in this field …”, “I make a pretty good living, so why am I not happy?...”, “If I change careers now, I will be starting all over, and it will take longer to retire…”, “I don’t know if I want to go back to school … ”,  “I don’t know where to start … ”, “What will my friends and/or family think? …", “I am older now, change is hard …”, “Is something wrong with me?…” Sound familiar? I can relate to all these thoughts.

As a mid-lifer, and someone who changed careers in my late 40s, many of these thoughts took up residence in my mind.  The thought of going back to school (again) was scary.  But I knew I was unhappy. I knew my career trajectory at that time was unfulfilling. Everything about my career then felt like a dead end. It did not matter that the job I had, the company I worked at, or the field I was in was lucrative or prestigious. I was miserable. I had even climbed the corporate ladder. Still no satisfaction. I worked hard. Endured many long days and late nights. Worked weekends. Even on vacations. Still no joy.

​Despite the path leading up to that point in my career, I could never quite measure the value I brought. Or better yet, whether I was valued. I wanted something more. I wanted to make a difference. Besides the joy of being a wife, a mother, a sister, or a friend, I wanted to feel a sense of purpose in my life. Deep down I knew my career was not leading me to that sense of fulfillment.

​So, I get it. Changing careers was one of the best decisions I have ever made. No matter the stage of life, I encourage you to be introspective of your feelings and thoughts. Discover what is important to you. Find out what drives you. Ask for help. You are not alone.

By Elisa Wittkop, LAC 

With the beginning of a new school year before us, our clinician Elisa Wittkop, LAC, created a video discussing back to school checklists for children with IEPs and 504 plans. She defines IEPs and 504 plans and outlines the specifics of each term. She also explains a CST (Child Study Team) and contact checklists. Additional resources are provided such as information on how to file an official complaint with Ewing Township schools and educational advocacy support. 

Elisa's video is posted on our MMC YouTube page and has been linked below:

 If you have questions for Elisa, please reach out to [email protected].

​If you're looking to receive additional support from Mindful and Multicultural Counseling (located in Ewing, NJ), please reach out to [email protected] or call our office number at (609) 403-6359. To learn more about our practice and our mental health clinicians, you can visit our website's About Us page, linked here.

Elisa did a follow up presentation on IEPs in fall 2022 which you can watch below.

By Taryn Chase, MA, LPC, LCADC, NCC

​Throughout this last year, we have been focused on survival. We have been trying to get through each day, making sure that our internet is connected, ensuring our kids are in their zoom classes, and keeping up with our own work. It’s been exhausting, and now that it's summer, we deserve time to relax and rest. Now is the time to enjoy the nice weather, safely spend time with family, and try to work on our self-care.

This upcoming fall, things will not look like they did last year in 2020. Many, if not most of us, will be back in our offices in person full time, and our kids will be back to school in person as well. For many, that is a very scary prospect. Many of our children have not been in a classroom since March 2020. Lots of my clients are worried about sending their children back to school in the fall, and that is understandable.

When thinking about the upcoming school year, do you feel buried under stress and daily pressures, trying to balance parenting and other life requirements? Would guidance and support help ease the burden? It is normal to worry about your children and the struggles you and your family have faced over the past year. ​

As we remember last year when this all started, we dealt with changes both internally and externally. I anticipate that this shift will happen again as we go back to work and school in person. Throughout our parent support group this upcoming July, our goal will be to help support your family's transition back into in person everyday life.

To learn more details about our 6 week series and how you can register, please visit our page here or email us at [email protected]. The series will begin on Tuesday September 14th, 2021. Appropriate for parents of school age children. Listen to Michele Bowes (co-facilitator) talk a little more about the group below.

By Emily Suzuki, MA, LAC

​Questions are an inherent part of our very existence and being. There are so many different kinds of questions; from simple questions that come from a child’s curiosity, to the scientific and deep existential questions we ask later in life.

​How do you hold space for questions as they arise from within and as you receive them from others?

​Are you able to make space in your heart and mind to sit with what is unknown? How does it feel to sit with this uncertainty? What do you notice in your body?

​Are there any feelings and emotions that develop when sitting with a question?

​What thoughts come into your mind?

​Is there a voice of judgment or self-criticism that shows up and makes holding the question even more difficult?

​How does it feel to breathe into that judgement and perhaps let it soften a bit?

While ​sitting with these questions, I invite you to start exploring your memories. How did you learn to ask questions as a child? How were your questions received? Were they encouraged? Brushed away or scorned? Were you supported in your curiosity and wondering or shamed for being nosy or prodding? Was there urgency, pressure, or rigidity in figuring out the solution? Or was there more room for an organic unfolding?

​Now, consider this, how did your social location factor into your learning and sitting with questions? How does your culture navigate questions? Was it safe to ask? Was there time or energy? Was there a language barrier?

​Like many things we learn as children, our learned relationship with questions influences how we hold space for them as adults. It’s likely your process has evolved since childhood through education, mentors, or close relationships, and maybe, over time, you’ve learned to hold questions in a different way.

Therapy is a place to help you hold life’s questions. We seek out support during times of upheaval, transition, change, loss, and instability. Inherent in the growth we seek is a process of change, which usually presents a series of questions or crossroads to consider. Such as, what do you want right now? What do you need?

Therapy can also be a space that helps you examine and be curious about how you experience holding a question. Buddhist teachers will encourage this place of learning, arguing that the question itself is more important than the answer that eventually comes. It’s said that in the process of arriving at an answer, we travel through a winding path of inquiry and reflection which can offer rich learning and growth.

​How can you make more room for holding yourself and your inquiry in compassion? What would it look like to practice a little more gentleness and patience? For support in your journey as you explore questions big and small, reach out to your support network and contact Mindful and Multicultural Counseling in Ewing, NJ at [email protected]​ to learn more about our services.

By Taryn Chase, ​MA, LPC, LCADC, NCC

As a therapist, this last year I have seen an increase in the number of people, both in my personal life and professional life, struggling with depression and anxiety as well as substance use issues. Social isolation has increased tremendously. In pre-pandemic life, we always suggested that people join groups or spend time with friends and family to try and distract themselves from their pain. During pandemic life, it's harder to do that. As someone who usually keeps a small circle, it’s been hard to build and sustain friendships in general, and now we've very much had to depend on technology to see and talk to people. I am in front of a computer approximately eight hours a day conducting telehealth sessions, and its caused burn out for me as well as others. 

We as people have been craving contact with others face to face. I hear it from my clients all the time. People are trying to balance their desire to live their lives, be safe, and have consideration for others. We are finding ourselves at a crossroads with our values not matching our actions. We have a choice to make when it comes to where we go from here.  ​

It’s important to note that the only person who can say if you have problematic use and/or a substance use problem is you. If you or someone you know has a problem with their use, please reach out for help through therapeutic services at 1-844-276-2777 to speak with a care coordinator and get connected with a treatment provider close to you. If you are looking for online meetings, please visit smartrecovery.org/, NA.org, or AA.org.

By Emily Suzuki, ​MA, LAC

​Have you sat and really considered your relationship with sadness? 

I found myself pondering this question recently. On a run, I wondered why lately I had been feeling stuck and unmotivated to write, an activity that I usually love. On the surface, I was feeling frustrated with what seemed like writer’s block. I was repeatedly avoiding it, putting it off for a later time, and feeling resentful of the task. ​

​As I named the frustration, I felt a softening, and uncovered another emotion. There, waiting and ignored, somewhere in my body, was sadness.

​In conversation with clients, a similar process often unfolds in a session. Clients come to therapy and share their stories in which anger shows up in relationships, difficult communication patterns, injustices and racism, stress in work, home, loss, and change. Anger, frustration, and resentment is noticeable, sometimes even palpable. 

​When examined more closely or from a different angle, we might reveal what we are working so hard to hide or protect. After all, anger is our body’s very wise and primal instinct to defend against threat and survive. Sometimes, though, it can get in the way of identifying deeper emotions.

​When there is anger or frustration, sadness is not far away.

Sadness is often confused with depression. Depression or Major Depressive Disorder is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think, and how you act. Sadness, however, is a core emotion and a part of being human. So, why do we fear feeling it so much?

​At its root, sadness presents when we feel psychological and emotional pain. It is an uncomfortable feeling to sit with. Culturally, we aren’t provided much modeling of or support to learn how to be with sadness. Hence, we resort to doing what feels least painful, often suppressing it with denial or fighting it off with anger.

​Circling back to my initial question, how is your relationship with sadness?

​How do you experience it? Do you notice all the ways and times it shows up to point out a hurt that wants attention? Do you make space for the sadness to express itself? If so, how? And how much? Or is it too uncomfortable and unfamiliar? Do you avoid it at all costs?

​Maybe like me, you fall into frustration or anger, and it takes a little effort and time to peel away the layers to identify the sadness underneath. In my case, I discovered that underneath the frustration was a sadness for not wanting to do something that usually gives me joy.

​I came across a quote several years ago that centered me around this very idea. It said, there is more joy found in sorrow than in joy itself. This took me a minute to organize in my mind, and still does sometimes, but when I pause, I see its truth. The shadow side of sadness is joy. Through sadness, we mourn something loved, valued, meaningful, or precious to us.

​As I continued on my run, these words came to me, “follow the sadness, let it be your guide.” Perhaps sadness is there on the surface, or maybe there are many layers needing to be unpacked to access it. However it lives in you now, remember that sadness is human, natural, and necessary in order to truly know and appreciate what it is we value and find joy in. 

To learn more about Mindful and Multicultural Counseling (located in Ewing, NJ) and receive support, please reach out to [email protected].