A Chat with Nicole Brown About Bringing Home Baby
Having joined Explore What’s Next relatively recently, I’m still getting to know my esteemed colleagues. I had the privilege of meeting Nicole Brown for coffee this past week to get to know her and her path to becoming a specialist in perinatal mental...
Bringing Baby Home!
Bringing Baby Home is an uplifting educational program for pregnant couples & families with children up to three years of age. It's good for parents which makes it good for the baby! Win-win! Created by relationship experts, Drs. John & Julie...
What Exactly is Mindfulness?
What exactly is mindfulness? The term “mindfulness” increasingly is thrown around in the mainstream media. Because it can take on so many meanings, fully grasping it and integrating it is difficult. Essentially, mindfulness is the process of bringing our attention...
Eight Eating Disorder Myth Busters
I remember first learning about eating disorders in middle school. They were presented as disorders that tend to impact a particular type of person: affluent, white, adolescent, female. Looking back on eighth-grade health class, it was all very black and white: you...
We’re All Faking It: Tips to Manage Imposter Syndrome
We're all faking it. Really. When I got to grad school, I looked around and saw accomplished, eloquent, and well-established men and women. Instead of feeling excited about being able to learn from and get to know these people, I felt flooded with feelings of...
Social Etiquette Tips for Social Media
The way people socialize has evolved significantly throughout the years. The parents of the millennial generation did not have the same level of instantaneous communication that we have today. With email, texting, FaceTime, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, dating...
Is It OK To Cuss In Therapy?
This has happened so many times. I'm working with a client. In the middle of a session, deep in conversation. They let out a "F&%k" or a "Sh*t!" after which, as if they had emitted a very loud, involuntary fart, they slap their hand over their mouth. Eyes wide...
Why Try Therapy?
Why try therapy? That's a great question. Let me tell you a story, and then I'll tackle some common objections to trying therapy. I got a free trial of Sirius radio a few years ago when I bought my car. I was changing channels and stumbled upon Jonah Hill talking to...
5 Steps To Stop Being The Family Scapegoat
Are you your family's scapegoat? How would you know? Do you find yourself on the defensive a lot? Do you hear stories, first or second hand, from various members of the family about your bad behavior? Stories that are very old, or not true or at best,...
Can Therapy Be Fun?
Can therapy be fun? Therapy is tough work! Some people say they feel exhausted after a counseling session. After all, it often involves talking about feelings and life events that are very difficult. At the same time, it can be fun and humorous! Humor is an important...
Could You Use a Therapist?
There are a lot of people out there who could use a good therapist only they don't know it. Do you wonder if you could use a therapist’s help but always seem to talk yourself out of it? You could think you are functioning just fine and still be in need of help. When...
Five Signs that Your Job is Toxic
In my college years, attaining independence became my primary goal. To me, independence meant being able to support myself. It seemed like I was working so hard toward one goal: getting a “good job.” For example, I thought a good job equaled full-time...
Best Blog Articles on Explore What’s Next 2018!
How long can we be wishing each other a Happy New Year? A very hip friend of mine who knows these things answered with confidence, “All the way through January!”Taking this bit of wisdom, I decided it wasn’t too late for a good old fashioned “Best of 2018”...
3 Myths about What it Means to be Strong
There are many myths about what it means to be strong. In a variety of contexts, I hear people say to each other, “you’re so strong.” Recently, I heard it when a stoic widow gave the eulogy at her husband’s funeral, when a young boy broke his ankle but...
Four Rules of Engagement
You got engaged over the holidays! Congratulations! That is so exciting! I am very happy for you both. What's next? Wedding planning! Yay! Or is it, Yay? Turning to a pop culture reference I'm reminded of a scene in the movie Bride Wars. The focus finally turns away...
Grieving Around the Holidays
Grieving around the holidays is the norm for many, but it's not just humans who grieve. Jodi Picoult’s “Leaving Time” is one of my favorite books. It’s about a mother-daughter relationship where the mother is an elephant researcher. Already being a huge fan of...
5 New Years Resolutions That Can Make Us Happy
New Year’s resolutions. Just the words make my heart a little sad. What we need is a New Years resolution makeover! A resolution revolution if you will! I propose throwing those negative, judgy, restricting resolutions into the Explore What’s Next...
When Is It The Right Time To Break Up?
Around this time of year, along with the presents and twinkle lights, there are people holding their breath. They are holding their breath because they are in a relationship that isn't working and they're waiting for the right time to break up. If you are one of those...
My 3 Holiday Wishes For All Of Us
All I want for Christmas is to get through this season with some peace of mind, heart, and body. Is that asking too much? Sometimes I wonder. Even with all the tips, I've written about, and the great ones from others that I've read, I still find myself caught up in...
6 Ways How to Manage the Holidays With an Eating Disorder
The holidays can be a stressful time for anyone, but it is especially challenging if you are working to manage the holidays with an eating disorder. When you have an eating disorder, holiday foods and holiday events with food can be huge triggers. There are a lot of...
Depression or Grief: Five ways to give ourselves a break
Here are some things I’ve learned from my experience of crashing and burning and getting back on track again. Five ways we can give ourselves a break You are not crazy. Stop gaslighting yourself. It’s not mental illness if you are reacting to an event in your...
EMDR Helps To Heal A Painful Past
When healing a painful past event requires more than talking it out, EMDR is there to help Intrusive memories: they can happen to all of us. You think that you’re over your parents’ divorce from over 20 years ago, but every now and then, and completely out of...
Daughter is a VSCO Girl, What Does That Mean?
First of all, don’t panic. It is perfectly normal to be a VSCO girl. Second of all, I am 26 years old and I just found out about VSCO girls in October. I went into work and one of my colleagues was playfully teasing the other. He turned to me and laughed “Isn’t...
Chronic Illness in the Time of COVID
In the old movie Broadcast News, the Holly Hunter character, I forget her name, would take time for herself every morning to cry. She just cried. There was no apparent trigger, no reason or justification ever given for why this intelligent, intense, professional woman...
RE-OPENING!
AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR EXPLORE WHAT'S NEXT CLIENTS REGARDING RE-OPENING OFFICES! All of us at Explore What’s Next sincerely hope this finds you well. Thank you so much for your patience, flexibility, and resilience during this time of great change. The transition to...
Will Tele-Therapy Work For Me?
Throughout the United States and around the world, people are connecting with Explore What’s Next for therapy sessions through tele-sessions. Geography is no longer an obstacle to getting the help you need! Tele-sessions are more like office visits than you think....
DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) Group Info
Explore What’s Next is now recruiting new participants for virtual Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Skills Groups! In the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, a lot of people are struggling with increased isolation from their loved ones and friends. Depression,...
COVID-19 Stuck at home? 10 Tips For Parents
Stuck at home?Here are (hopefully) 10 helpful Tips For Parents for you and your family during this time: A snow day (or two) is fun…but more than a few days stuck at home can quickly become overwhelming. Given the current health crisis and closure of schools, many...
3 Ways to be Socially Responsible: Explore What’s Next Responds with Care
News about COVID-19, how to prepare and how to take care of ourselves and our families, changes every day. With every new piece of information, more worry seems to mount. That’s natural. We know how stressful this time can be. To do what we can to lower the stress and...
Explore What’s Next Speaker Series-Mindy Scime
People pleaser is a label I hate. That it is accurate when used to describe me just makes me hate it more. My ability to be a people pleaser was off to an early start when I first impressed my dad with my reading skills. The book was Little Bear by Elsa Holmelund...