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Showing posts from March, 2020

Are You Feeling Overwhelmed by COVID-19 Stress?

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  By: Megan Brewer IMH   Take a moment to pause where you are. In the midst of countless articles, news updates, Facebook predictions and empty grocery store shelves, it can feel almost impossible to stop moving, thinking and planning. Before you read on, take 3 deep breaths—the type that fill up your lungs completely. Notice what is happening in your mind and in your body. This may be the first time you’ve done that today. Now let’s read on. The fear and anxiety swirling around the unpredictable future of the Coronavirus can feel like an ever-increasing spiral. Just as you’ve read the latest update, rethought next week’s schedule and bought a few more supplies, a new round of news articles appear on your phone and you start the whole process over again. Only now the news is slightly worse and there is a bit more anxiety than the time before. This has been my own experience as I learn to regulate the amount of information I absorb and learn to notice how it impact

Parenting Your Aging Parents Through Coronavirus

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By: Dwight Bain, LMHC, NCC   How do you get aging parents to cooperate with taking coronavirus seriously when they don’t think they are old? It’s happening nationally but especially noticeable in Florida with an older population. Baby Boomer parents, (people born between 1945 and 1964), who don’t feel ‘old’ even when their driver license says otherwise. Even though AARP and the Centers for Disease Control have warned certain populations are at higher risk for this disease, some youthful senior citizens don’t want to heed this life-saving medical advice. Is this bravado and courage from the boomer generation who have seen global wars, recessions terrorist attacks and natural disasters; or simply a fear of admitting getting older? It doesn’t matter - greater exposure to coronavirus will set your parents up for the disease. Social distance and aggressive infection control are necessary to stop the spread. Not pulling back from crowds of people is unsafe for all ages, pa

Do You Have Secondary Traumatic Stress from the Coronavirus?

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By: Christine Hammond, LMHC, NCC Everyone is suffering from Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) with all of the continuous news reports, cancelation of schools, events, and employment, personal experiences from the quarantined, FB updates from family and friends in quarantined countries, and inability to get cleaning supplies or toilet paper. While the threat of the virus is real, the anxiety that it has created is excessive. There is an undercurrent of stress, anxiety, frustration, shock, horror, helplessness, and disbelief of what has occurred. STS is the emotional duress that results when an individual hears about the firsthand trauma experiences of another. Its symptoms mimic those of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Nearly everyone has an element of STS as they deal with the changes in normal everyday life. Those, especially at risk for STS, include: Those with family members who have contracted the virus. Those with family members living in quarantined countries.

What Do Children of Divorce and Third Culture Kids Have In Common?

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  By: Megan Brewer IMH When a couple with children divorces, their children’s lives change forever. One significant change is the custody arrangement. Before the divorce, the child lived in one house where both parents created one family culture in the home. But when the parents divorce and separate, each parent creates a new family culture different from the one they had with their previous partner. When custody of a child is shared, the child now has two home cultures, traveling from one family culture to the other, often on a weekly basis. To understand a child’s experience in more depth, it can be helpful to look through the experiential lens of a Third Culture Kid. What is a Third Culture Kid (TCK)? A TCK is a child who has been raised in a culture different from their parent’s home culture during important parts of their early development. Children with these experiences are called TCKs because they have to blend two different cultural experiences into one and creat