Cate's Counseling Corner

Negative Thinking Habits For the month of September I have had the privileged of going into classrooms and teaching on unhelpful thinking habits. This is a concept that is from www.getselfhelp.co.uk. The focus of this is on the negative thinking patterns that our brains become accustom to. They are the patterns that create negative emotional reactions, negative thought processes and it could also create negative behaviors. Crazy to think that is how our brain works!  If you take time to look at the original from Get self help UK you will see all of the patterns we fall into. I have adapted a version of this for our students on campus and our awesome Lower School students.  This is a good conversation to have with your kids about how their thinking habits impact their behaviors, moods, reactions, attitudes and their relationships. A lot of time we have no idea when (and sometimes why) these thinking patterns happen so its up to us to create a check in with our emotion...

Emotional Health and External Stimuli    Fun fact about me is that I love to read. Reading is one of my favorite self care techniques but it also allows my mind to drift away from things that may be stuck in the cycle of my chaotic brain. Right now I am reading a book and its crazy the emotions that it has brought up. Its a story about bank robber, that is not a good bank robber, that creates a hostage situation but its not really a good hostage situation since the bank robber becomes friends with everyone. Intermingled in the story is so many personal issues that each of the characters are facing. I have really been surprised at how my emotions have been impacted. I have been moody, I have not been sleeping as well and I have been more short tempered. Its crazy how external things can impact our internal process.  I say all of this because it brings up a question: do you recognize when external stressors are impacting your internal responses. We normally function as huma...

  People seen as animals: a child's perspective I wanted to bring you one of my go to therapy activities. I use this activity to just see how kids see people in their lives. Sometimes we have one perception and kids have a different perception so its great to know what kids are thinking. Its also good for us, as adults, to stop ourselves from making assumptions about what kids are thinking. Kids are very perceptive and have their own world. Its our job as adults to gain a deeper understanding and help them to navigate and lead them towards personal, emotional and physical growth.  Activity Time! Have your child use a piece of paper, they can choose any type of paper (construction paper, colored paper, white paper, etc). Have them use markers, stickers, glue, whatever makes them happy. Ask them to draw their class, their family, their friends, or any group of people as animals. Please remember that your definition of what an animal means is not what a child may feel an a...

 Big Big Feelings We all have big feelings. Even if you are one who do not like to acknowledge it, we all have them. We may feel scared, frustrated, angry, jubilant, passionate, silly, happy, ecstatic, sad, elated, annoyed, and so many other things. Our culture has taught us to keep certain emotions deep down to not be seen as “weak," you may not know how you feel or you could even use other emotions to cover up what you are truly feeling. Why is it important to experience feelings?  Our bodies and minds are wired with feelings to establish connections, identify worry signs, identify what we like or dislike, to understand what we need emotionally, to protect ourselves and so many other things.   Our emotions serve a purpose but if we do not allow our bodies to utilize these emotions then we begin to loose sight of why we need them. How do we retrain our brains to experience feelings? We must acknowledge when we allow our true feelings to be masked by other feelings or...

  Managing feeling out of control Now that we are back into the swing of things with school, sports, life and everything in between, I have heard that life is getting a bit stressful. Weather or not its just struggling with having enough time to complete everything, feeling that your overwhelmed with work or just having a hard time balancing everything going on, people are really feeling the impact of our current world and our daily obligations.  One thing I have learned is that we should not be worrying about things we cannot control. We should only stress about things that we can change. If you think about this idea, when you look at things that your stressing about or worry about, do you feel like your stressing or worrying about things you can control or change?  Here are a few tips, tricks and ideas to help you work through some of the stress and worrying that you may be consumed with.  Create a priority list. This can be daily, weekly, monthly. This list is to ...

 Weekend brain There is something about returning from a holiday weekend. Some people come back refreshed, others come back more exhausted and some people let the three days pass by without notice. So how do we get our brains back in the "lets be productive" space? How do we get our brain to switch off of holiday brain?  What we know about the brain is that it can fall into patterns and it takes constant effort to get out of that pattern. Keeping a consistent routine, creating realistic expectations for ourselves, drinking water, exercise and eating healthy foods can all keep us aligned and allow our brains to shift back to school mode.  It can be so difficult but it can also be so beneficial to our body and our brain.  What does this look like? It looks like going to bed at a consistent time, waking up at a consistent time, and making sure that you turn off your devices and take a break from the screens. Reading, journaling, meditating, coloring or just taking ...

First Monday in September Thank goodness for the first Monday in September. Its normally a good stopping point to just take a breath and to focus on the beginning of school, the unofficial end of summer but also a time to be able to stop and refocus. The start of the school year has been an interesting one. We have navigated health screenings, wearing masks, social distancing, social distancing greetings, Plexiglas, eating lunch outside/in the classroom, sanitizing sanitizing and more sanitizing, and beginning the school year. There has been so many learning curves and so much patience and grace. Without the compliance of the students, faculty and staff, we would not be able to navigate this new normal. But with Labor Day right around the corner, we have the option to embrace the quiet and take the time to just take a breath and relax for a day, or two, or three. This is a time to refocus and allow your body to rest and recharge. Although you may be looking around saying “what! W...

  One of my notes for the coronablogs from back in March-May: "Once all of this is over we will have to practice grace and gratitude. Grace for ourselves and others as we get back into the groove with our everyday lives. Grace for others as they also get back into the groove. This is going to be a perfect opportunity to practice kindness and remind ourselves that we have the ability to spread kindness" I would like to set my intention for the 20-21 school year to be filled with grace, kindness and humility. Our world can be beautiful as long as we see it that way.