The Lifeworks Group, Inc.

By: Megan Brewer, LMHC During the holiday season, many people find themselves looking forward with eager anticipation to the traditions and celebrations that make this time of year so special. The cool fall breezes, crisp mornings and festive decorations swirl around us and build our excitement as we look hopefully towards the special times and meals with those we love.  But while many are excitedly looking forward to this season, there are some who are anticipating it with dread because the thought of spending this holiday season without someone they have lost feels unbearable. What used to feel like welcomed anticipation has turned into deep sadne ss and trepidation about what it will be like to go through this season without the person they lost. If this is how you are feeling this holiday season, give yourself the space you need to grieve as you move through it. Here are some ideas to honor the person you lost during the holiday season and to help you on your journey through gr...

By: Megan Brewer, LMHC Gratitude: More Than Just a Seasonal Emotion Every holiday season, we start seeing an outpouring of posts, pictures, and advertisements about gratitude. Words beautifully scripted in calligraphy across warm fall landscapes beckon us to search for those warm feelings and happy memories. I don’t know about you, but when I encounter these reminders, it often feels like whatever is going on in my life or in the world needs to be tucked away so I can start searching for the gratitude I’m supposed to be feeling. I don’t think we do this intentionally; it's just something that happens inside of us. It's as if, to be truly grateful, we must do so at the exclusion of any other emotions that might seem opposed to it. What's more, we're led to believe that gratitude is supposed to be equivalent to a warm, feel-good experience we can wrap ourselves in, making it feel true. But real gratitude isn’t like that. It’s powerful and transformative. It changes us fro...

Psychological Coping Strategies from Dwight Bain  “ If you can talk through it – you can get through it. ” “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” – Coretta Scott King  NORMAL REACTIONS TO CRISIS TRAUMA –  Any event outside the usual realm of human experience that is markedly distressing, (which creates horror, helplessness or terror.) Such traumatic stressors usually involve the perceived threat to one’s physical integrity or to the physical integrity of someone in proximity. This is the very intense psychological reaction to feeling highly threatened, which is normal. Children experience Traumatic Stress differently based on age and maturity level as this recovery guide will outline as a tool for parents.  SECONDARY TRAUMATIC STRESS  –  Traumatic stress overwhelms coping with mechanisms leaving students feeling out of control and helpless. Continual exposure to trauma create the normal react...

By: Dwight Bain, LMHC, NCC, Certified Coach & Critical Incident Recovery Expert 20 Strategies to build unity using questions that connect relationships The holiday season can create a loving connection between family members or be a time of conflict, arguments, rejection and hurt. Especially after the emotionally charged 2024 Presidential election left many family relationships stressed while leaving others completely shattered. How can you have a calm conversation with your relatives when there is so much political pressure and unrest? As host you must set the tone that your Thanksgiving table is about connection – not conflict. It is a time of unity not division. The conversation needs to be focused about family relationships of the people who live at your house, not a debate about who is elected to serve at the White House. Talking about personal life allows stress to go down because it allows for empathy and understanding about normal life challenges instead of nation...

21 strategies to move out of the chaos and political fog to find calm By: Dwight Bain, LMHC, NCC, Certified Coach & Critical Incident Recovery Expert ‘Shock and numb to my bones.’ Is how some are describing their reaction to the 2024 election results. It is like they are trapped in a mental fog of political conflict. If you feel the same, you’re not alone. All elections matter, but this one seems to be especially traumatic considering it is happening during a time of hyper-inflation, catastrophic hurricanes and floods, social isolation in the post-pandemic, unemployment, school shootings, protests over injustice, along with a growing fear of what is to come. No matter which side wins – the other side loses, and for some their sense of hope is lost with it. In a national crisis people do not automatically think of red states or blue states – they identify as the United States. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11 our National Leaders joined hands and hearts to pray together on the...