Everyone gets stressed out. Kids and adults alike can have trouble regulating their emotions when they are in an overwhelming environment. This is called dysregulation, which happens when the body's threat response is triggered. Sensory interventions can help! Sensory Interventions When you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed, your body goes into a threat response mode, where you feel like you can't control your emotions or process your thoughts. This is where sensory interventions come in. A sensory intervention is something you can use to distract yourself from a stressor. It could be [...]

Many people are affected by trauma at some point in their life. Symptoms of trauma can include anxiety, confusion, agitation, dissociation, and more. Luckily, there are treatments for issues caused by trauma. There are also many ways to alleviate symptoms. Yoga and trauma-sensitive meditation can help calm and ease anxieties that result from traumatic experiences. Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Trauma-sensitive yoga is a great way to help manage and decrease symptoms that arise from trauma. This type of yoga focuses on getting out of your body's stress response and entering into a relaxation response [...]

Just about everyone experiences trauma. Trauma can be anything that brings large amounts of distress emotionally and/or physically that can last long after the traumatic experience. Something that is traumatic to one person may not seem traumatic to another, so people might minimize their own traumatic experiences, but all trauma and all experiences are valid. No matter what kind of trauma someone has gone through, there are a variety of treatments and therapy models that can help. These might include EMDR or Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). Trauma-sensitive yoga can be [...]

To celebrate Mental Health Month, we asked our therapists to give recommendations for books related to mental health. Looking to improve your everyday life? Want to learn more about different mental health issues? Diving deeper into the art of therapy? Healing from trauma or addiction? Raising little ones and want to get them started off on the right foot when it comes to mental health? Our providers have great suggestions for all of that! Here are the mental health books they recommend. No matter where you are in your mental health journey, there's a book to help you. Choose the route that [...]

Stress is a normal part of life. It affects everyone from babies to the elderly. However, stress manifests differently in children and adolescents. Stress in children might look a little different, but there are still tools you can use to cope. What is stress? Stress is a physical and emotional response to a situation that is perceived as demanding or threatening. Where does stress come from for kids? Stress can come from a variety of sources for children and adolescents such as: Changes in their home life Conflict with peers School demands Societal pressure perceived through social media Any [...]

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Since 1983, this annual observance has recognized the importance of communities working together to prevent child abuse and neglect. One of the best ways to prevent child abuse is to educate children about setting boundaries and giving (or not giving) consent. Here a few tips for getting started. Tips for increasing children's awareness of boundaries and consent Educate Them Kids don't know about boundaries and consent until someone teaches them. The best way to empower kids is through education and communication. Talk about safe touch and unsafe touch [...]

For some, the struggle of staying sober is like wading through tough waters. First Step Recovery is here to be the life raft that gets you through addiction treatment and the recovery process. Here is a beautiful testimonial from a First Step client: My treatment for recovery has shown me a path forward through troubled water. Grief and daily struggles in life can be like wading upstream along a long and winding river. The water’s flow may be just a trickle at times, barely covering my feet. At other times, the water may become deeper with a stronger current. The effort of moving upstream [...]