A New Opportunity to Improve Your Mental Health
The new year is an opportunity for new beginnings, new approaches, and new perspectives. We at Creative Care believe that attending to one’s mental health should take its rightful place alongside traditional new year’s resolutions like eating better and exercising more. With over 30 years of experience in treating mental health conditions, we have a vested interest in the mental wellness of the community and a number of strategies to employ. With this in mind, and in the spirit of the new year, here are a few tips for improving your mental health in 2022.
Name Your Feelings
This is a huge step toward self-awareness and developing your emotional intelligence or “EQ.” When we can name our feelings, we can get to the root of what is truly going on internally. Furthermore, we can reduce the power our emotions hold over us. In other words, we can begin to choose how to act rather than react. An article by Six Seconds gives an example of being stuck in traffic, something to which those of us in Southern California can surely relate. To paraphrase, we may “get angry” at a driver trying to switch lanes on a jammed-up 405. If we take a moment to recognize that we’re actually just frustrated about being in traffic, we become less likely to lash out and that frustration begins to lose its power over us.
Take a Mental Health Day
Mental health days, or sick days for your brain, are becoming more common and more accepted as employers and employees are starting to realize the importance of mental wellness. If you feel guilty about taking a day off to attend to your mental health, consider this: negative emotions like anxiety, stress, and malaise have a detrimental effect on cognitive function. We have a hard time concentrating, we become forgetful, and we struggle with abstract thought and problem-solving. In short, our work suffers. Taking a day to recharge – getting outside and exercising, creating something, or simply resting – can dramatically improve our emotional wellbeing and easily offset the loss of one day of work.
Volunteer
Volunteering is a great way to help out your community, but it can also do wonders for your mental health. A UK study examining biannual surveys from 1996-to 2014 found that those who volunteer reported better overall health and more satisfaction with their lives. The author of the study believes this is the result of a combination of factors. First, volunteering is intrinsically rewarding. It’s doing good for the sake of doing good. Additionally, it helps promote social connections which alleviate feelings of isolation and depression. Finally, it’s a good way to network and build skills, which leads to a sense of accomplishment and new opportunities.
Be Heard, Be Nurtured, Be Healed.
While these tips can all go a long way in improving your mental health, serious issues require professional attention. Creative Care employs a wide variety of techniques to best suit and meet the mental wellness needs of each individual client. The goal is to provide our clients with a proper and complete diagnostic picture. From there, we unmask the internalized pain that has been hidden by problem behavior for years. A comprehensive mental health treatment plan may include:
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Expressive Arts & Groups utilizing Music and Art
- Attachment-Based Psychotherapy
- EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Therapy
- Equine Group
- Family Therapy
- Mindfulness Interventions
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Psychological Testing and Diagnostic Testing
- Trauma Therapy
- Yoga
With over 30 years of experience, Creative Care provides innovative, compassionate care. Indeed, we give our clients the best chance at a successful and sustained recovery. If you or someone you love is struggling with mental health, please give Creative Care a call today at 855-954-0762.