Going Out On A Limb With: Pam Hyatt, MSW, LICSW

To try and capture Pam is analogous to trying to capture all the elements of nature at once: she’s grounded like the earth, occasionally enjoys playing with fire (when it’s appropriate and relatively safe), understands the inherent duality of water’s gentle and abrasive force, and is always running a little late, which is why she can run like the wind! These elements, and being able to hold space for the different parts of people, contribute to her being an excellent clinician. Her dynamic nature allows her to access different parts of herself and her experiences to relate, inform, and improve a client’s experience of their situation.

She’s able to provide various elements to her clients because she knows what it is to have to go through the darkness and find the light again (and again...). At fifty, around the same time she went to graduate school for counseling, she decided she wanted to become the kind of wise woman she had always wanted to have in her own life. Today, she still aspires to provide others with genuine acceptance, understanding, and unconditional support with a hearty dose of “tough love if needed” that so few people get to have in their life. Whether she’s giving away hugs at the Pride Festival, with her family, or working with clients, she feels “grateful” for the opportunity to “sit in all the ick” with people who “genuinely want better for themselves and just don’t have the right support to get there.”

One thing you might find surprising about Pam: How many single mothers go to graduate school AND run for state leadership? That’s just who Pam is. She has a passion for Organizational Leadership, and armed with a Master’s Degree in the subject from St. Kate’s, she decided she wanted to be the change she wanted to see in the world. While she didn’t win that particular election, she continues to be an advocate for the queer, marginalized, and oppressed populations in the Twin Cities area.

On coping with the pandemic: Pam has always loved the arts and believes she was “blessed with the curse of being artistic.” She started with dance throughout her youth before finding theater in High School and college, which eventually evolved into a seven-year stint in the Chicago Improv scene. In the pandemic, finding a space for art and expression has become even more important to Pam. While she admits her primary coping has relied heavily upon time with her husband, quality calls with her granddaughters, and cooking, she attributes her current sanity to singing anything from showtunes to pop songs, streaming plays and movies, writing, and doing things that help her stay connected to the creative world.

Walk-Up Song: Based on the last paragraph, it might come as no surprise that Pam’s anthem is borrowed from Broadway. Written by Dolly Parton and performed with the ensemble cast of 9 to 5 (including all-stars like Allison Janney and Megan Hilty), “Change It” has a quirky melody and a simple call to action: “Somethin’ gotcha down? Gotcha chained and bound? Well, break it.” It might be an overly simplistic analogy for Pam’s work as a therapist, but there is something about the song that perfectly captures what sets Pam apart from so many other clinicians: she…

…isn’t going to sit back and endlessly validate you. Having been through so much in her life, she knows there’s no getting unstuck without personal agency being involved in the process.

Professional pet-peeve: One of the best things about Pam is that she’s not an unclear person. She’s direct, assertive, curious, and communicative in the therapeutic process, and in her life. While she does believe in unconditional positive regard for her clients, her pet-peeve comes from the mispractice of that same orientation. Pam believes that unconditional validation and support can accidentally enable client’s stuckness, impair client growth, and prevent clients from learning how to get more comfortable with the discomfort they are experiencing. From Pam’s perspective, unconditional positive regard means you know clients are capable of more and therapists are willing to “push people, even if it’s just a little bit past where they think they’ll be comfortable.”

Favorite tool in the Therapist Toolbox: Pam has a very diverse caseload. From queer children to conservative, older couples, Pam tailors her toolbox to meet each client where they are at because the tools that work in one space don’t always translate. However, Pam has found one tool that transcends demographics entirely: Self-of-the-Therapist. This tool is when a unique therapist shares more of their personality, experience, world view, and belief systems with clients in order to create a genuine sense of connection, intersubjectivity, and attachment with a unique client. While that might sound like Pam just talks about herself a lot, what it actually means is that she uses her deep well of human experience to inform and relate to others in order to normalize absurd, upsetting, or uncomfortable experiences clients may be experiencing.

If you have any questions about Pam, her approach, or think she might be a fit for you, please reach out to us at bizoffice@birchcounseling.com. Otherwise, stay tuned for our next blog post where we put the spotlight on Self-of-the-Therapist, and how Pam incorporates it into her approach.

Going Out On A Limb With: Mark Bartley, MA, LPC

Mark is a “Meat and Potatoes” kind of guy, both literally and metaphorically. In the literal sense, he’s definitely the kind of guy who enjoys a solid protein and an Idaho spud, and he’d probably do so wearing his flannel shirt after a day of ice fishing. He was, after all, born and raised in Blue Earth, so hunting, wood-working, and carpentry are part of the bloodline.

Sitting down with Mark evokes the kind of built-in comfort which is hard to quantify. It may be a bit like sitting down to a hearty beef stew on a cold winter night, or having a burger with fries in the summer with friends. Those kinds of foods and experiences, no matter where you go or how it’s prepared, feel familiar and tender, down-home and straight forward. Sitting with Mark helps you relax, be present, slow down, and appreciate the simple things in life. It just feels natural doing the work with him, and it very rarely feels like work. 

One thing you might find surprising about Mark: He actually enjoys Telehealth! Don’t get him wrong, he’s also excited to be back in the office again with real live people. When working Telehealth, he appreciates how a client can spontaneously grab a picture, book, or instrument that helps them explain their feelings or experience. As therapists, we don’t usually get that kind of spontaneity or context in our office.

On coping with the pandemic: Mark’s done his own work enough to realize that for him to cope effectively with any situation, he needs two things: variety and access to “doing stuff.” He identifies as a kinesthetic processor, or someone who does better with movement when processing. Things like woodworking, being out in nature, or throwing a ball back and forth, helps him digest what he needs about the world. True to form, there isn’t “one way” that works best for him all the time. That’s why he enjoys a variety of clients, activities, and approaches to life because it keeps him more engaged and motivated. 

 Walk-Up Song: If you’ve never heard Bishop Gunn’s, “Shine,” it’s a unique combination of Blues, Country, and Rock and Roll that sets the perfect backdrop for a care-free summer scene, like driving with the top down or being out at the beach with friends. While the vibe is relaxed, If you reflect on the lyrics, you’ll hear a clear call-to-action to: find peace of mind, ground yourself, and repair emotional wounds. In other words, the song’s deceivingly simple sound allows for it’s otherwise hyper-conscious lyrics to float out there for us to think about and fully appreciate at our own speeds. For that reason, we think it’s a perfect encapsulation of Mark’s style!

 Professional pet-peeve: Mark’s answer is succinct: “Therapists who don’t normalize feedback to their clients.” Mark doesn’t view feedback as a bad thing. Instead, he thinks feedback can make therapy, and most relationships, more productive because it creates an open dialogue on how it’s going and what can work better. By helping clients get more comfortable with feedback, he hopes clients will feel more comfortable advocating for themselves. 

 Favorite tool in the Therapist Toolbox: He’s about solutions, not particular skill sets. That’s why he borrows from modalities like Solution-Focused and Narrative approaches to therapy. But if there was one tool he had to identify with, he picked Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). When asked why, he said because “it’s the one most focused on going from unhelpful to helpful thinking,” and thinks he gets “a ton of energy” from collaborating with clients on finding and applying the right re-frame for them. 

If you think Mark might be a fit for you, or have any additional questions about his approach, please reach out to our team at bizoffice@birchcounseling.com.

Spotlight with Mark Bartley: CBT Therapy

To keep with the food analogies, if Mark is like “Meat and Potatoes,” then Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the “Bread and Butter” of modern psychology. In other words, it’s the Hallmark or cornerstone to a lot of the work clinicians do. CBT can be used with individuals, groups, or couples. It works to treat common issues, such as depression and anxiety, but also offers the option to specialize in a more concentrated scope, such as with Trauma (TF-CBT) or Insomnia (CBT-I). And it often works for people regardless of their age, race, or background. So why does a guy who likes variety borrow most heavily from one style? 

To provide some context for his rationale, Mark wasn’t especially interested in school growing up. Frankly, he found it boring. It wasn’t until he went to college and took his first psychology class that he even understood how to make learning work for him: it had to be applied. Experiences that had historically gone unnamed for him, things like “Automatic Thoughts” and “Cognitive Distortions” were now not only nameable, but also normalized enough that they were being taught in class. They were relatable. They had solutions. And the solutions made sense!

 What Mark liked about CBT roughly a decade ago is still what he likes about it today: it makes sense and it can be applied in the moment with clients. Having thoughts you can’t control? Experiencing distress that is out of proportion to the situation? CBT helps you re-author your thinking by helping you slow it down and more objectively assess how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all interacting with each other. And it does so without judgement. In fact, one of the core assumptions is that almost all people experience distress from how we interpret ourselves, others, and our world. By teaching people how to recognize what’s helpful/unhelpful about their thinking, observe themselves, and challenge their assumptions through small behavioral experiments, we can increase our faith in our own ability to respond to stressors differently. 

 CBT has a variety of tools that can be used to get you from where you feel stuck to where you’re trying to go. That’s also part of why Mark likes it. If you’re the kind of person who does well with journaling? Great! Prefer experiential learning through debate or role plays? That works too! CBT isn’t about a tool-box, it’s an entire tool shed. That means that regardless of your issue or perceived level of distress, CBT can be tailored to meet the needs of any individual without losing it’s core principle: if we want your feelings and behaviors to change, we have to change how you think about things. For Mark, there’s a “best of both worlds” element to that: familiar and flexible, customized and generalized, both in theory and practice.

 Mark knows when CBT has been effective because clients “don’t need [him] to think of different ways they can interpret or respond to the situation anymore.” Essentially, he wants to teach you how to talk yourself out of needing him. Mark also realizes that new things come up over time, and the kinds of thinking you once had managed might come back with a vengeance. Don’t fret! He’ll be here to help you reflect, reframe, and re-work new adversities, should they arise along the way. 

Welcoming in May: Brian Rose, MA, LADC

Brian worked as a professional bicycle mechanic for 29 years. This allowed him to travel around the country and connect with people from all over. He enjoys spending time on the bike, meeting people and trying to learn to fly a drone. 

After working in the bicycle industry for so long he found himself working for a non-profit that focused on underserved communities. He  envisioned doing more for people and decided to change careers. His own journey with mental health and recovery lead him down the path to becoming a counselor. He earned his master’s degree in Addiction counseling and advanced practice from Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School. He received a Bachelor’s in Psychology with a religious studies minor (focused on Islam) from Hamline University. 

Brian believes that his clients are the experts in their own lives. He brings an existential approach to therapy that focuses on meaning, purpose and personal identity. Brian feels his role in the therapeutic relationship is to create an environment where a sense of safety and acceptance allow for openness and collaboration.  Brian enjoys working with clients on topics around culture, identity and helping find where they meet.

The Winter is Coming: Managing Mental Health Outside of Therapy

Those ominous words from Game of Thrones have taken on totally new (and dare we say intensified) meaning to Minnesotans this year. In an average year, the National Institute on Mental Health reports that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) impacts millions of Americans annually, lasts 40% of the year, and disproportionately impacts people living in the Northern parts of the country. This year, compounded by the pandemic, people who study and suffer from mental health are expecting this winter to be one of the worst on record. And similar to how hospital beds fill up with patients when there’s a virus outbreak, therapists have started filling up as we start to deal with the first wave of the mental health crisis. 

 So what do you do if you need to supplement therapy, can’t find a therapist, or don’t have the resources to get regular mental health care? We’ve got some tips to help you fight the good fight at home. 

1. Try An App or Two

   • Track your mood so you know where you are at in an objective way: Daylio and eMoods are two popular choices, but there are many more to explore!

   • Practice your skills at home with ACT iCoach, What’s Up, or DBT Diary Card

   • Increase your practice of caring for you: Happy Not Perfect, Grateful, and Sleep Cycle help you take the headache out of self-care.

   • Use an app to use less apps: OffTime helps take the shaming out of screen-time management

2. Offline Solutions

   • Workbooks: There are so many, it’s hard to know where to start! You can find one based on an issue (anxiety, depression, self-esteem) or pick based on a particular approach that appeals to you (ACT, CBT, DBT). Whichever you choose, these can be great ways to increase insight, coping, and positive change.

   • SAD Lamp: Sure, it may seem silly, but these powerful lamps help you get your daily dose of sunshine, even on the most cloudy of days.

   • Body Maintenance: We all know to eat right, exercise, and take care of our bodies, and try to do it when we have the time and energy to. When we aren't attuned to our bodies, it can be easy to ignore or explain things away that actually might have an organic cause. Going to your doctor and making sure your vitamin levels are at their levels and that we have optimized what we have control over can be empowering. If you think it's needed or appropriate, talk to them about your mood and if any if there are any solutions, natural or pharmaceutical, that might be appropriate. We do maintenance updates on our phones and cars... we might as well do it for ourselves, too.

3. Done Everything? Try Alternative Solutions:

   • Healing crystals: Change up the energy in your life and ground yourself with some stones

   • Try something natural: Harvard Medical School found some benefits to things like St. John's Wort and Omega-3 Fats for mental health.

   • Try a homeopathic solution: Acupuncture, Massage, and Aroma Therapy might not feel as legitimate, but their benefits have been well researched and studied. If you've tried everything else, it might be worth a new approach.

4. Get Fancy (When/If Appropriate)

   • Meditate, with training wheels: Use a brain-sensing headband and app combination, like Muse, to give you bio-feedback on how you're doing on your practice of daily meditation.

   • Get your frequency right: Brain stimulators, like Fisher Wallace, can be helpful in treating and managing chronic issues of insomnia, depression, and anxiety.

   • Get your rhythm right: HearMath is a program to get your heart and your brain in sync.

Still unsure about how you're going to make it through the winter, give us a call or email us and we'll be happy to connect you to the right resources for you!

HOLIDAYS DURING THE PANDEMIC: ADAPTING OUR TRADITIONS

We like to anticipate the holidays. This special time includes food, family, friends, and a built-in break from the daily grind. 

However even in the best of holiday circumstances, sometimes the idea of the holidays is more enjoyable than the reality. With all organizing, cleaning and cooking, combined with the uncertainty of who will show up, it's no wonder a 2014 survey found that "64% of people with mental illness report holidays make their conditions worse."  In 2020 we need to add to the mix chronic uncertainty, cabin fever, a pandemic, and a special stocking-stuffer: Ambiguous Loss. 

Ambiguous loss differs from traditional loss in that the loss itself is unclear; we don't fully know what or how much we have lost or if it's ever going to return to what used to be. Symptoms of ambiguous loss can include anxiety, depression, grief, and difficulty in making decisions.

Holiday rituals can be a powerful tool to help us feel a sense of familiarity and help us bounce back from feeling off. Since practicing most traditions is complicated during the pandemic, some non-traditional takes on holiday classics can help: 

Keep the Best Parts

• Getting together with loved ones: Start quarantining two weeks in advance and get a rapid covid test before getting together, keep groups small, and ensure that your group is all on the same page with social distancing practices.

• Sharing Food with Loved Ones: Create a plan to divide the cooking between family or friends and drop off portions for each household.

• Eating with loved ones remotely: Set up computers or cell phones with their own place settings; each device can correspond to a different person or household so everyone can still gather at the table and eat together. Or decide to eat together at a virtual table. Games like Animal Crossing, Minecraft, and Sims allow people, in avatar form, to gather around a table and eat in real-time.

• Hanging out Virtually with Loved Ones: Set up online games you all can play together through programs like JackBoxGames.com or HouseParty.co

Be creative with the Challenging Parts

• Guests who stop by unexpectedly: Keep a Zoom room open all day and send out your link to loved ones. People will be able to pop in and surprise you all day.

• The Stress of Cooking for an Army: Try a few recipes you've always wanted to make because this year, the pressure is off. Or even better, avoid the stress of cooking altogether and support a local restaurant by ordering your dinner to go.

• Awkward Conversations with Family: Get an awkward conversation card deck to get to know your household better or get them more prepared for next year's embarrassing moments.

• Going broke Buying (and shipping) Gifts: A "round-robin" gift exchange--with a set budget-- for different households is easier and cheaper than buying gifts for every person. You can also purchase a gift card or have food delivered from a local restaurant, make a gift donation to a charity, or encourage self-care with care packages!

For most people, 2020 has been a challenging year. If you or a loved one are struggling, are experiencing mental health concerns over this holiday season, or simply feel stuck on how to combat the holiday blues, please reach out to us at Birch Counseling. We are here to help. 

What Trauma Looks Likes →

In this powerful short film from producers Nathanael Matanick and Christina Matanick, we witness the impact of domestic violence on a young girl.  The consequences of her caregivers’ violence are far-reaching.  The girl's world is shattered, her family breaks apart, and her life is turned up-side-down.   

This is trauma.

This film shows graphically how trauma fragments the world outside.  But it also depicts how the world within is injured.  Trauma undermines self-esteem and erodes trust,  setting the stage for difficulties ahead.

As difficult as it is to watch,  the film illuminates the core elements of trauma.  It offers a starting place for understanding, repair, and hope.

Stress in a Stressful Time

Even if your life before this year was relatively smooth sailing, likely, you are not making it through this year unscathed. After all, who could mentally prepared for civil unrest, unemployment, natural disasters, and a global pandemic all at once?

The dramatic events of 2020 are especially difficult for those with a trauma history. People with trauma include those whose past is marked by economic insecurity, frequent moving, homelessness, food insecurity, sudden or unexpected loss, or medical trauma.

Trauma survivors typically develop an “Early Warning System,” alerting against perceived danger. For example, suppose your parents fought a lot when you were a child. In that case, you are likely to be especially sensitive to tension, conflict, or discord around you. This additional sensitivity offers insight as to why today’s upheavals are incredibly stressful for trauma survivors.

 If this sounds like you or someone you know, what can you do?

Become fully aware of your feelings and name them.

If you’re watching the news at home and feel panic starting to flood your system, become consciously aware of your reactions. After acknowledging your feelings, recall that you have heightened sensitivity to current events because of your past traumas. Try watching the feelings as, in most cases, they will fade in time. Also, this is an excellent time to change your environment, like going for a walk.

Use your support system.

By putting your truth on the table with someone you trust and acknowledging the impact it’s having on you, you’re gaining control over the uncontrollable. You’re also modeling to others that it’s okay for them to share with you. If you have a limited support system, it might help do some resourcing online or in therapy.

Self-care is important.

Stretching, yoga, journaling, meditation, cooking, or watching comedy can help you feel safe and present. Taking good care of ourselves requires making your needs a priority. As we take better care of ourselves, we will show up as a better partner, parent, worker, and friend.  

If what helps you happens to be watching puppy videos on Instagram, please tag us so we can also enjoy a little puppy Prozac!

Be kind to yourself.

The world was stressful before 2020, and it certainly doesn’t seem to be winding down any time soon. Allow yourself to feel sad, scared, stressed, exhausted—whatever comes up. Give yourself time to acknowledge and validate these feelings. You may find it helpful to acknowledge at least one positive for every negative thing you noticed.Are you struggling to go back into the office? Remember that you now have half the traffic you used to  Struggling trusting yourself? Remember, it’s okay to not feel like the authority after your entire world has changed. Ask someone you trust what their honest evaluation is of the situation.

Making small adjustments like this work to help you to keep you in balance.

If there was ever an appropriate time to feel a little crazy, this is it. If you find that your internal alarms are going off an awful lot lately, remember you are hardly alone, and at least you know your system is working! Finally, if you are struggling to turn them off, we are happy to connect you with help. Feel free to call us at 866-522-2472 or drop us a line at bizoffice@birchcounseling.com.  

Accepting what is versus chasing happy

Somewhere, somehow most of us have learned that a happy life means never having to feel anything other than positive emotions.  When sadness visits, or anger, or disappointment, it feels sick, like something is wrong with us. It feels as though we are not enough, our lives are not enough.  We try to distract from negatives and chase happy feelings, only to fall short again and again.

What if we could learn to work with these “negative” feelings in a way that better informs us?  Accepting and being curious about the entire range of our emotions can help us become more compassionate, healthy and ultimately more resilient.  

Social Media and Teen Mental Health

A study recently published in JAMA suggests social media use among teenagers is significantly correlated with increasing suicide rates. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services suggests 71% of pre-teens, teenagers and young adults use more than one social media site. The most popular social media platforms are Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Day-to-day usage can include messaging, video chatting, picture posting, blogging, article sharing, among many others. Essentially, young people today are connecting with each other online far more than face-to-face.

Teens spend dozens of hours a week scrolling, posting, and reading, and increasingly data confirm this comes at a high cost. Social media makes it easy to airbrush experiences and life events, leaving out details about the mundane, the struggles and difficulties. Young people are particularly vulnerable to these distortions as their sense of self is still in the process of developing, and peers are highly influential. “Who am I compared to others” is one of their top concerns, and when you compare yourself to airbrushed profiles, you tend to come up short. Increasing numbers of young people report feeling inadequate, jealous, anxious and depressed.

If you think social media may be affecting your mental health or the health of someone you know, consider these tips:

• Turn off your notifications for at least a few hours each day (which you can gradually increase); put your phone in “Airplane” mode or “Do Not Disturb”.

• Delete apps that contribute to unhealthy body image or other feelings of inadequacy. Add apps that help you feel better about yourself or inspire you to engage in healthy behaviors. Meditation apps can be a better use of your time, for example: Calm, Insight Timer, and Headspace. 

• Use an alarm clock instead of relying on your phone as an alarm to prevent you from using your phone the minute you wake up.

• Take a day off from social media to focus on other things. Sunday is a good suggestion since it is a day when you probably aren’t in school or at work.

• Consider putting your phone in grayscale. This makes your phone less enticing to look at. With the colorful apps and notifications changed to gray, they may be easier to ignore.

• Set boundaries or only certain times when you can check your notifications.

• Start a habit of placing your phone near the door when you come home — doing it with a friend, partner, or family member can help you stay motivated and accountable! Make a plan with a group of friends to spend more time hanging out in person and less time interacting via social media.

• If you are a parent wanting to learn more about how to limit your child or teenager’s social media use, check out these additional tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Connection Between Facebook and Depression

We live in a world of social media addiction and a virtual world that isn’t real. We’re online constantly: at home, work, the bus, school, and simply whenever we have down time. We’re barraged by what people choose to share — the best of themselves, and what they want you to believe about their lives. 

No doubt about it, there are psychological effects of this new digital age that are only just being uncovered. 

Depression and Social Media
Recently, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine conducted a study about the effects of social media habits on the moods of users. 

This research found that the more time young adults use social media, the more likely they feel  depressed.

According to their study, participants used social media 61 minutes per day and visited various social media accounts 30 times per week on average and more than a quarter of them were classified as having “high” indicators of depression.

How could Social Media cause Depression?
What we present on social media isn’t necessarily the truth of our lives. Rather, most are aware it's a thin veneer of a highly edited, idealized and exaggerated version of who we'd like to be. Still, it tends to bring out feelings of envy, a sense that others are happier than we are or living a more successful life.

Despite recognizing the shallowness of social media content, many still feel stuck in constant participation, then end up feeling empty, lost in meaningless exchanges that feel like a waste of time.

Spending significant time online exposes social media participants to cyber-bullying, invites gossip and judgment from others. While many who struggle with depression may use social media to fill a void, exposure also can strengthen depression, and so create a vicious cycle.

What can I do? 
Set limits on how often you are on social media. Seek out offline interactions with friends and family. If you can, stop using a smart phone — the tendency to check updates and alerts is ever-present, and often they are not important. 

If you find that you are unable to control your online behavior, seek professional help to break the compulsive cycle.

An estimated 600,000 US Women Experience this Depression...

On International Women’s Day, we’ll take a look at a mental health issue affects a large number of women: postpartum depression (PPD), or a depression that occurs after childbirth.

Counter to what you might think, PPD is fairly common.  According to the CDC, 11 to 25 percent of mothers experience postpartum depression.

Sadly, more than half of those affected by it (15 percent) do not seek any professional help.

There are multiple issues that keep women from seeking help for this disorder, most notably guilt and shame. It’s difficult for new mothers to come to terms with “the baby blues” – after all, isn’t having a new baby supposed to be the happiest moment in our lives?

Postpartum depression can be serious. Symptoms may include:

• Depressed mood or severe mood swings
• Excessive crying
• Difficulty bonding with your baby
• Withdrawing from family and friends
• Loss of appetite or eating much more than usual
• Inability to sleep (insomnia) or sleeping too much
• Overwhelming fatigue or loss of energy
• Reduced interest and pleasure in activities you used to enjoy
• Intense irritability and anger
• Fear that you're not a good mother
• Feelings of worthlessness, shame, guilt or inadequacy
• Diminished ability to think clearly, concentrate or make decisions
• Severe anxiety and panic attacks
• Thoughts of harming yourself or your baby
• Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide

Hormonal changes and the stress from sleep deprivation that comes with caring for a newborn are thought to be causes of PPD.

Left unaddressed PPD can lead to chronic problems with depression and anxiety. Mothers with PPD often have difficulty bonding with their children, which impacts their development and so can affect their own mental health down the road.  For your sake, as well as the sake of your child, it is important to seek help. 

Postpartum depression can lead to suicidal thoughts.  
Should you have thoughts of harming yourself or your baby, it is critical to seek help right away.  Please ask for help from those who support you and your baby.  You may also contact:

• Your mental health care provider
• The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).
• The Crisis Connection, at 612-379-6363, or 1-866-379-6363.
• Your primary care doctor, minister or spiritual leader
• 911
• The mobile crisis team in your county:
  • Anoka: 763-755-3801
  • Carver/Scott: 952-442-7601
  • Dakota: 952-891-7171
  • Hennepin: adults - 612-596-1223, children - 612-348-2233
  • Ramsey: adults - 651-266-7900, children - 651-774-7000
  • Washington: 651-777-5222

Please remember: PPD is not your fault. 

Your body has just undergone significant hormonal changes, and you’re adjusting to a very stressful new reality.  You are not alone.  In the United States alone, an estimated 600,000 women struggle with this disorder. Help is available. 

For your own sake, and the sake of your baby, please reach out.

You are NOT your problems.

It takes a lot of courage to ask for help. And, it usually takes a lot of time to muster up that courage. 

But, by the time you ask, you’ve most likely internalized your problems. 

Internalizing problems over a long period of time can lead to ‘absorbing’ the problems into our identity, meaning you begin to define yourself by the problems. This not only exacerbates your problems, but it also becomes a malicious adversary in our lives. 

When you realize this, it’s time to begin to view problems as being ‘other’ and therefore able to be influenced, challenged, changed, even eradicated.

Therapy can help challenge any preexisting internalization of the problem. That is to say, therapy can be understood, in part, as a process by which the individual can begin to be separated from his/her problematic symptoms. 

No matter how educated we may be and intellectually or emotionally sophisticated; in the quiet moments when our problem presents as overwhelming how long until some version of the internal message ‘what is wrong with me?’ enters into our consciousness.

We live in a society that relentlessly facilitates the internalization of our problems; intertwined into the habitual fabric of our lives. Some of us grow up in homes where shameful messages were ever present. ‘Something is wrong’ so often became ‘something is wrong with me’. If our problematic symptoms are indivisible from ourselves then we are condemned to being ‘less than’, ‘broken’, being ‘apart from’. 

But this is not true.

• You are NOT your symptoms. 
  • You are NOT your problems. 
    • You are NOT your thoughts.

Through Narrative Therapy, we can help you externalize the problems and affirm that you are not the problem, rather the problem is the problem. 

We are here to help.

This Halloween, don't wear self-harm make up.

Self-injury is a non-suicidal form of self-harm which is intended to hurt oneself on the surface of the body and can include cutting, burning, or punching oneself (among other forms). It is a way to deal with emotional pain and can have similar features to other addictive behaviors because it can cause temporary emotional relief but is often followed by feelings of shame and guilt and accompanied with secretive behaviors. 

Self-harm is also dangerous as it has been shown to have a "cluster effect" meaning that the occurrence of self-harm can increase for those who are in close proximity to those who self-harm. Oftentimes individuals who self-harm are not doing it for attention but rather are trying to express (however unhealthy) painful emotions. 

This Halloween, stores are selling "suicide scar" make up. We at Birch Counseling want to increase awareness, and as mental health professionals want to note that this "costume" increases stigma, may prevent those who are secretly struggling from seeking help, and may spark an increase in self-harming behaviors. Self-injury is not a joke and should not be treated as such.

We want you to know that if you self-harm, you are not alone, we understand and we're here to help.

Birch Expands and Announces Appointments Within 24 Hours

Press Release    
For Immediate Release

Contact
John Komarek
john@curlycreative.us

BIRCH EXPANDS, ANNOUNCES  APPOINTMENTS WITHIN 24- HOURS AT NEW LOCATION

Golden Valley, Minn. – Birch Counseling announces the addition of Appointments Within 24-hours at its new location in Golden Valley.

“People experiencing a Mental Health Crisis are sometimes asked to wait for weeks, sometimes months.” Surerus said. “As a counselor, asking a client to wait for help during a crisis is unacceptable. We needed to eliminate that barrier.”

For ten years and counting, Birch has been dedicated to making essential counseling services more accessible, and through this new location and new service they increase that accessibility.

“A Mental Health Crisis doesn’t follow an appointment calendar, so why are people asked to wait?” Founder Christa Surerus said. “Birch is proud to offer counseling when a person needs it most: when they muster up the courage to call for help.”

Every year, 1 in 5 people live with mental illness and will need Mental Health Counseling during their lifetime Currently, it’s not unheard of to be put on a two-month wait list just to be seen.

“Life changing events happen to us all, and that can lead to the need for Mental Health Counseling.” Surerus said. “And during a crisis, minutes count. A small barrier like waiting for a scheduled appointment may have a large impact.”

Appointments Within 24-Hours are now offered at Birch’s Golden Valley location and will occur during business hours: 7am-6pm.

Birch Counseling serves Minnesotans with safe, compassionate, and confidential Mental Health and Substance Abuse Counseling. They have locations in Minneapolis, Hopkins, and now Golden Valley.

Birch Counseling Announces No More Wait Lists

Birch Counseling's Founder Christa Surerus announces that they will offer Appointments Within 24 Hours for mental health counseling at their location in Golden Valley.

How you can help a loved one who struggles with depression

It's the little things that can make a big difference for someone battling depression. Here's 5 things you can do to help a loved one with depression: 

1. Invite them to a social gathering with people. Not a huge party, but even just coffee with you at a coffee shop, or a small quiet group of friends watching a movie together.
    
2.  Offer to pick them up and take them to the event. Make it as easy and effortless to participate as possible.  Make sure the gathering is low key and expectations are low.
    
3. Making decisions can be very difficult for people who struggle with depression. Help them by giving them easy choices.  Pick or organize an event or show you know they’d like.  If needed, make childcare arrangements for them.
    
4. Go for a walk or a bike ride with them.  Take them to a gym. While they may not always feel up for it, exercise, being in the company of others, and spending time outdoors can help. 
    
5. Caring for someone with depression is hard and can lead to burnout.  Make sure you assemble a team of people who can help support the person, as well as you.

Help is available

If you believe a loved one is considering suicide, you should know that help is available.  In addition to Emergency rooms and crisis hotlines, every county in the metropolitan Twin Cities area has a mobile crisis team. Mobile crisis teams are trained to help.  They can talk to your loved one, offer transportation to a safe place, and connect them with resources and professional support. 

Response time for a mobile crisis team can be a few hours.  

In immediately life-threatening or extremely dangerous situations, please call 911.

Examples of situations when the local county Mobile Crisis Team should be called:

1. When you think someone you know is in danger of committing suicide
2. When you notice disruptive, suddenly bizarre, or out-of-control behavior of an adult or child.
3. When you are a parent who needs to place your children in the Crisis Nursery.
4. When you need support in caring for someone who is struggling with mental illness or emotional disturbance.
5. When there has been a domestic or sexual assault.
6.  If you have general questions about handling a crisis or need to be referred to professional resources.

How to reach your local crisis team:

1. Anoka                  (763) 755-3801
2. Carver/Scott       (952) 442-7601
3. Dakota                 (952) 891-7171
4. Hennepin             (612) 596-1223 (adults)      (612) 348-2233 (children)
5. Ramsey                (651) 266-7900 (adults)      (651) 774-7000 (children)
6. Washington         (651) 777-5222