DCTT Welcomes a New Therapist
We are pleased to announce that Miranda Jean, LICSW, has joined DC Talk Therapy.
 
Ms. Jean works with clients experiencing anxiety, depression, stress, grief and loss, and life transitions. She particularly enjoys working with clients within the LGBTQ+ community and those from diverse cultural backgrounds.
 
She offers daytime and evening hours.
  
Prior to joining DC Talk Therapy, Ms. Jean provided behavioral health services to individuals and families at Community of Hope in Washington, D.C., as well as at Washington Hospital Center.
 
A native of Houston, Ms. Jean holds a master’s degree in clinical social work from The University of Texas at Austin.
 
Ms. Jean will do all of her sessions remotely, using Zoom or Doxy.
 
To make an appointment with Ms. Jean, please call 202.588.1288 or email us at info@dctalktherapy.com.
Group Therapy Starting Soon
Our next group will begin Tuesday, March 15 at 5:00pm-6:15 pm.
 
The group will be for Black men 25-45 years old. It’s designed to be a forum for Black men to openly discuss experiences specific to them.
 
Yvany Peery, LICSW, will facilitate the group, which will run for eight consecutive weeks.
 
All sessions will be done over Zoom. The cost is $75 per session, and there is a maximum of eight participants.
 
To reserve your seat, please email us at info@dctalktherapy.com or call us at 202.588.1288.
Realizations, Not Resolutions
This time of the year it’s popular to make a list of new year’s resolutions -- things we want to start doing or things we want to do better at in the new year. Familiar ones are losing weight, exercising more or spending more time with friends and family.
 
While these are all commendable goals, it misses two key points.
 
  • One is that there’s a general, rather than specific, quality to the changes people are looking to make. For example, it’s one thing to say, “I want to lose weight.” It’s a very different thing to say, “I want to lose 10 pounds.” The person with the more specific goal is much more likely to achieve their goal because it’s quantifiable.

  • The other problem with most resolutions is that they tend to be so future- focused. Yes, that sounds strange, so let’s explain.
 
When we focus on changes we want for the future, we don’t normally take into account mistakes we made in the past and, more importantly, the valuable lessons learned from those mistakes. That’s where the building blocks for change are found.
 
For example, if we want to exercise more often in 2022, we need to ask ourselves ‘What worked last year?’ and ‘What got in the way of exercising more often?’ (We also need to be more specific with our goal, moving it from ‘I want to exercise more often’ to, for example, ‘I want to exercise four times a week’.)
 
If we’re able to ask ourselves those kind of reflective questions, we can both maximize past successes and better assess for solutions, rather than making an empty proclamation about change.
 
So, to use the above example, something that may have worked in 2021 was attending 6 pm spin classes at the gym (assuming your gym was open during the pandemic and offering such classes). For many, the accountability of signing up – as well as paying for a class – is critical to following through with exercise.
 
When we think about things that got in the way of exercising more often in 2021, two possible reasons were boredom or extended hours at work.
 
Maybe you got tired of only going to spin classes and didn’t jog outside often enough. Perhaps you allowed the demands of your job to bleed into your evenings and you stopped attending those 6 pm classes.
 
These are issues you may not have even been aware of until it was months down the road and you “fell off the wagon” with your exercise routine.
 
In short, we first need to look backward, not forward, if we want to make lasting change in 2022.
Apps Getting a Lot of Buzz
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STOIC

Created by Polish serial entrepreneur Maciej Lobodzinski, Stoic is a daily mental health tracker that combines cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness and philosophy to help its users.
 
The app offers mood tracking; guided journaling; meditations and reflections. It also analyzes your emotive influences to give you insight on how to be happier and more productive.
 
The process is simple. You open the app in the morning and evening and it prompts you to answer a few questions and perform some exercises.
 
For example, it may ask you to rate your current level of fulfillment and identify what made you smile today. It may also give you guided exercises like journaling and breathing.
 
Stoic is inspired by Lobodzinski’s interest in Stoic philosophy, and the app includes quotes from different Stoic philosophers like Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.
 
The basic app is free. There is also a premium version for $27.99 per year.

Available on Apple and Android.
Books We Like
‘Our Country Friends’ is one of the best books to come out of the pandemic.
 
Written by Russian-American novelist Gary Shteyngart, it’s the story of eight middle-aged friends who retreat to the host’s country house in New York during the early stages of covid-19.
 
The book explores meaty topics such as love, friendship and betrayal. In addition, it examines the impact that technology, notably apps and social media, has on everyone, not just the younger generation.
 
There’s also an acknowledgment to the growing (and sometimes ugly) socioeconomic and political divide in this country.
 
If you’re looking for a smart, funny, thought-provoking book, this is the one for you.

Our Clinical Team
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