How Emotion Focused Therapy can help you face difficult emotions Courtney Bell, MA How often do you experience a difficult emotion and lean right into it? You are not alone if your answer is rarely, or never for that matter. Difficult emotions (sadness, fear, anger, loneliness for example) often elicit the same response as putting our hand on a hot stove top: we pull away in the opposite direction! However, what if I told you that facing and leaning into difficult emotions can bring great ...read more
Understanding Healing
UNDERSTANDING HEALING We have all experienced some kind of hurt, pain and discomfort in our lives and it’s because of this commonality that we can relate to one another. Whether it is pain in the form of having your heart broken by a loved one, facing rejection in school, at work or among friends, loss of some kind, mistreatment or a lack of support when it’s most needed, we have each faced some form of such difficulties. How we cope with undesired relational events can ...read more
Words to live by
Words To Live By How words have an impact on your healing Sara Alia, MC R. Psych (provisional) - Refresh Counselling Words to live by. With so many words in the English language, it can be difficult to find the ‘right words’ in describing a feeling, an experience or one’s insight when delivering a message - particularly in the counselling context. Some words are positive life-giving ones, while others are draining and harmful to one’s mental and emotional well-being. A ...read more
Girls more negatively affected by social media than boys: survey – The Globe and Mail
Girls more negatively affected by social media than boys: survey ERIN ANDERSSEN PUBLISHED JULY 25, 2018UPDATED JULY 25, 2018 Girls in Ontario report feeling stressed, hopeless and overwhelmed by their day at twice the rate of boys, and heavy use of social media appears to make their mental health worse, according to a large-scale student survey released Wednesday. Over all, the survey found students are increasingly absorbed by their smartphones. But while the ...read more
New Year’s Resolutions – 660 News & Refresh Counselling Calgary
Tips for your New Year's Resolutions - Refresh Counselling Calgary In an interview with 660 News Calgary, Robyn Manzano gives a few tips on how we can do better this year with our New Year's Resolutions. Clip 1 Clip 2 Contact us for your free 20 Minute Consultation ...read more
How social media is affecting teen anxiety
Yes, that means a break from Instagram. WHY GEN Z-ERS SHOULD UNPLUG TO RECHARGE THEIR MENTAL-HEALTH BATTERIES Being a teenager was hard enough when the only social technology used on a daily basis was a clunky desktop computer in the classroom (for fighting cholera on The Oregon Trail, duh). Now teens never get a break: When they’re not texting their friends, they’re scrolling through Instagram, and the constant state of connection is messing with their mental health. According ...read more
Choices
Karyn Zuidhof, MA (R. Psych) September 29, 2017 I hate feeling overwhelmed. You know the feeling, the one where you feel like you are barely keeping your head above water, and you are reacting to people and situations in a rash, and sometimes volatile manner. No matter how your partner, kids, or boss did or said something, you take it as an attack. There are so many things on the to-do list it’s nearly impossible to decide where to start, so you find the couch and some ...read more
Prioritizing Self Care
Lauren Chan, MA (Registered Psychologist) September 22, 2017 As the summer is coming to an end and the business of schedules and routines falls back into place, it’s often easy to forget about prioritizing what is truly essential for all of us: self care. What exactly is self care? It is the process of attending to one’s personal health and well-being. For the sake of simplicity, we can classify self-activities into four main categories: ...read more
Advice for Transformation in the New Year
'Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right!" - Oprah Winfrey Are you one of the (less than) 10% of people who keep and accomplish your New Year's Resolutions? If you are, congratulations, you fall into the minority of Canadians who are able to do that. On the other hand, if have a little trouble keeping those resolutions, don't feel bad; you are not alone. Whether your resolution is to finally lose the weight, deal with your anxiety, learn a new language, finish that ...read more