For Your Family

We've all heard the stories of Sigmund Freud, an Austrian Psychiatrist who started a clinical practice in 1886 in Vienna. He founded Psychoanalysis, a totally new approach to well-being that addressed mental health through talk therapy based on scientific research, rather than using a strictly medical model to reduce "pain or illness" with medicine. A lot has changed, including 130 years of research and evidence to support the efficacy of counselling, or talk therapy. 

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Did you know that Upper Island Counselling publishes an informative newsletter four times a year? Each issue of Live. Work.

This September 30^th, 2022 marks the 2^nd annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day, an event that has been recognized annually since 2013. This is a day to honour and uphold survivors and intergenerational survivors of the residential school system, and to commemorate those who didn’t return home.

As the rain starts to recede and the sun makes more of an appearance in our little part of the world, getting outside can become an easier and more enjoyable way to spend the day. A simple and pleasurable outdoor activity for many people is going for a walk (and for those who are unable to walk, rolling in a wheelchair can be equally pleasurable).

It’s already half-way through Pride Month! We wanted to take the opportunity to highlight some of the upcoming events happening in our community, share some resources, and talk about UIC’s commitment to providing a safe space for all. Pride Month recognizes the impact LGBTQ2S+ individuals have had locally and across the globe. It means many different things to people, it can be a celebration, but also a time of mourning and activism.

I have no doubt that over the past 2 years of living with Covid-19, feelings of fear and anxiety have surfaced for most of us. Sometimes these feelings can be overcome by anger, a natural response to a perceived threat. When anger takes over, our ability to reason and think logically decrease, while our instinctual motivation toward action can lead to confrontation.

Through the past couple of years stress has been accumulating for many of us and our strategies for coping have been limited. Planning social time is difficult when the weather doesn’t accommodate outside gatherings and limitations are required for meeting indoors.

A stressor refers to something in the environment that evokes an internal stress response. This environmental stressor could be something that poses a threat or challenge to your health, family, finances, schedule, or routine. When a stress response shows up it can be acute and intense or chronic. Your personal stress response is a dynamic process influenced by many variables including; coping style, support system, previous exposure to the stressor, underlying mental health concerns, personality traits, and cultural or systemic pressures.

What do you do in life when you’ve tried all “the things” – the strategies, the suggestions, the desperate measures – but nothing seems to work. I feel like I face this challenge daily in parenting (more often than not), at least with my oldest child. I’ve read all the books, scoured all the journal articles, talked to all the experts (wait, aren’t I an “expert”?), and still I come up short. When all else fails, and I feel close to ready to rip my hair out, here are my fail-safe, back-to-basics approaches: