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Our new monthly newsletter is here to nourish, support, and inform. We hope it can serve as one part of how you care for your mental health.
There is a lot of news and a lot of intensity in our community, our country, and our world right now.
You probably have a lot going on in your life. This month, our newsletter will focus on a range of tools and resources that may be helpful in coping with this moment. Please reach out if you want to talk with someone, need to schedule an appointment, or have a resource question.
First of all, you are invited to join us for self-care in our new webinar series by clicking the button below!
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We’ll spend just 30 minutes offering some support for your mind, body, and heart, with a few concrete practices you can take away and use whenever you need them. There will be no video or audio for participants, so you can join anonymously. Your name will only be shared with us as hosts.
Please feel free to share this link with anyone who might want to join.
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Check out our blog
Our January blog series on Overwhelm (part 1 | part 2) explores how we get overwhelmed and how we can get back to stability, feeling ready and able to do the next useful thing - for ourselves and beyond.
You can go a little deeper with our short video offering a step-by-step somatic walk through turning down the temperature on overwhelm with some in-the-moment exercises.
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Human rights are for every human.
As health care professionals dedicated to improving relationships and mental health, we take a stand against the brutality used against thousands of Minnesotans right now. The ICE operation is having devastating effects on the mental health of children and adults across the state.
People thrive in a balance of freedom - with input, power, and influence, and stability - when laws, standards, and practices remain predictable and consistent. When societies experience chaos, unpredictability, rapid changes to law enforcement, and excessive violence, people become less productive, more fearful, and less connected with one another.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
We have room for a wide range of political beliefs while still sharing common ground about what constitutes basic decency, what human rights are fundamental to all people, and how we want to treat one another when we speak, act, enforce, or legislate.
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This month the Hot Take is:
Do something that matters to you
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One of the best things we can do for our mental health in times of intensity is to stay connected to ourselves, our loved ones, and to the things that matter to us. Taking action is the opposite of getting frozen, stuck, or paralyzed.
Helping is an important part of what gives our lives a sense of structure, purpose, meaning, and contribution, and we can help in so many different ways: offering a few words of love and support to a friend or family member; sharing information with others; or making a small donation - a book, or a blanket, or some canned food, or $5 - to an organization whose mission you support. These are ways we can connect to our values.
Advocating for your values can happen at a local, state, federal, or global level. Calling your representatives to let them know what matters to you, what you appreciate, or what you wish they would do, is a powerful act of advocacy. Our representatives are just individual people who need our guidance, and it is our right to share our views with them. Attending a caucus is another way to participate in democracy and take action, as is voting.
Reducing polarization is something so many Americans are thinking about right now. If you are struggling to relate to loved ones who have different views from you, or finding that you are painting people with certain views with a broad brush, e.g., “All these _______ don’t care about people,” it might be that dehumanization is taking hold. To find ways to connect with loved ones even when you disagree, you can check out resources from Braver Angels, whose mission is to help people disagree better and reduce polarization.
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Parenting can be hard anytime, but right now you might have special concerns, whether your adult children are in the midst of activities related to the federal presence, or your young children are picking up on your stress, or older kids are coping with changes at school, or your teenagers are trying to understand the politics and the violence, and coping with stress.
When you want to give the best to your kids, make sure you start with yourself. Take a look at some of these resources to give yourself some support - physically, emotionally, environmentally, spiritually, socially, or artistically - to be ready for conversations with your kids. It’s like bending your knees before lifting something heavy.
When you talk with kids, listening is the first and best thing you can do. It’s difficult to know what kids are carrying inside of them until they begin to let it show. Treat the pieces they show you - tears, stomping mad, arguing, questions, fears - like little gold nuggets of information about their insides. You don’t have to solve or fix anything for them - you can’t, in fact. See if you can get physically active with your kids, help kids spend time with friends and family, and laugh with your kids as much as you can.
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In the back corner of our office, we have a little corner just for us called the Oxytocin Corner - it’s funny stuff, stuff that smells good, stuff that reminds us of loved ones and beautiful places, and silly toys and squishy stuff.
This section of the newsletter serves the same purpose - it’s a reminder that we need to keep the funny, the sweet, the silly, the squishy, the delightfully surprising, the adorable, and the hilarious right up close in order to enjoy life, weather the storms, and maintain our sense of a life worth living.
Here’s this month’s shot of oxytocin - enjoy!
Stella's Epic Leaf Jumps
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