Mental Health Awareness

Throughout a week in October, many mental health providers and mental health advocates take time to raise awareness of mental health. This includes trying to normalize taking care of our mental health by taking time to go to therapy or finding other ways of self care. We try to tell people that it is okContinue reading “Mental Health Awareness”

Task Three: Adjusting

We have reached week three of our series on Worden’s Four Tasks of Mourning. This week we are talking about the third task which is to adjust to an environment where the deceased is missing. This task focuses on working on finding a new normal without our loved one with us. If you have notContinue reading “Task Three: Adjusting”

The First Tasks: Acceptance

There are many approaches that people have created to illustrate how people process grief.  Some talk about stages, some talk about steps, and one talks about tasks.  William Worden provides for us four tasks of grief in order to achieve equilibrium in our life again. These four tasks can be completed in the order theContinue reading “The First Tasks: Acceptance”

My Grand Baby Grand

“My mother bought it secondhand from a silent movie star It was out of tune but still I learned to play And with each note we both would smile forgetting who we are And all the pain would simply fly away” Well, my mother did not buy our piano second hand. In fact, it wasContinue reading “My Grand Baby Grand”

4th Day of Fourth Grade

In August 2000, I went back to school on August 4th.  It was a Thursday and my dad had been in the hospital for almost 10 months straight. At this point, he had suffered from two heart attacks and multiple organs had started to fail.  My mom and I were guessing his time left onContinue reading “4th Day of Fourth Grade”

The Keepsakes

Throughout our relationships with people, we hold onto little things. A movie stub from seeing a movie you both loved, pictures, or a special birthday card are just some of the small keepsakes we hold onto. When our loved one dies, we tend to put these items all in one place and tuck it away. OurContinue reading “The Keepsakes”

Keeping the Traditions

It’s July, which means for some this is a weird time to talk about traditions.  Normally topics of tradition come up during the Holiday season, but what about the traditions in the other times of the year? Those are traditions we don’t seem to acknowledge during other times of the year are important too. MyContinue reading “Keeping the Traditions”

The Importance of Help

It has always been in the forefront of my mind that there are many people that know they require mental health care, but are not sure where to go.  This hit home for some in my circle this week.  My friends suffered a loss that could have potentially been prevented if their friend had beenContinue reading “The Importance of Help”

Grief and Mental Health

To go along with my last post about mental health, I thought I would also talk about how our grief interferes with our mental health.  As it is not an actual DSM diagnosis, people pass off grief as just a short term thing that does not affect our mental state for that long. But untilContinue reading “Grief and Mental Health”

May: Mental Health Awareness

I did not want May to end without talking about Mental Health Awareness month.  May is set aside for mental health, for advocacy, for awareness, and for helping people see that taking care of your mental health is ok.  Not only is it ok, it is required of us to take care of our mentalContinue reading “May: Mental Health Awareness”