Objectives ~ Define psychological flexibility ~ Explore how to apply psychological flexibility ~ Identify the shortcut question What is Psychological Flexibility ~ The willingness to accept things as they are in the moment and make a conscious choice to act with effective purpose choosing behaviors, thoughts and feelings that move you toward a rich and […]

Support from emotionally healthy family and friends is important to recovery.

An overview of the book 365 Days of Happiness which helps people start each day with a technique to live happier.

Environmental Interventions for Depression: Increase the Happy and Reduce the Stress

100+ Practical Tools to Defeat Depression Physical Interventions Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes, PhD, LPC-MHSP, LMHC Executive Director, AllCEUs Counseling Education Podcast Host: Counselor Toolbox, Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery Objectives ~ Identify why physical interventions are important to recovery and happiness ~ Explore different physical interventions Intro ~ There are a myriad of reasons why physical interventions […]

~ The way people think and perceive situations has a huge impact on how they feel ~ Helping people embrace the dialectics can help them feel more positive and empowered ~ Just like it is imperative to add happy emotions, it is imperative to add happy thoughts as well ~ By practicing optimism and addressing unhelpful thoughts people can reduce their overall stress, sleep better, gain more energy and feel less hopeless and helpless (depressed).

Based on Doc Snipes' upcoming book 100+ Practical Tools to Defeat Depression. Summary When people are depressed, they often feel helpless and hopeless and nothing makes them happy. By adding in happy things, people can buffer against the depression By addressing the unpleasant feelings, they happy chemicals can be more effective. Emotional interventions help you address the unpleasant feelings and add pleasant feelings By developing a better feelings vocabulary, it will be easier to identify how you are feeling and address it. Mindfulness helps you stay in the present moment so you are in touch with your feelings and don’t let them fester like a dirty wound (or a bag of poop)

Steps Toward Self Validation ~ Identify the values and characteristics about yourself that make you awesome. ~ Make a Bill of Rights. “I deserve to…” ~ Follow your own Bill of Rights ~ Identify the people in your past from whom you craved validation and never got it. Explore why that may have been more about them than you. ~ Identify why you crave validation. Do you want to know you are important? Relevant? Lovable? ~ Make a list of people you know who fit that label. ~ How are you like those people?

Raising a Happy Child ~ Help them develop an emotional vocabulary ~ Develop self-awareness, mindfulness and psychological flexibility ~ Develop empathy and compassion for self and others ~ Develop self-esteem and self-confidence ~ Educate about unhelpful thoughts ~ Educate about hardiness ~ Develop good vulnerability prevention habits ~ Teach about distress tolerance Accepts and Improves

Depression and anxiety impact millions of men annually. In this episode for men's health month learn about the causes, signs, symptoms in men (which are often different than in women) and treatments available.