All posts by sbleitschuh@gmail.com

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5 Excuses That Prevent Prioritizing Self Care

Parents, Self Care

Self care is essential for parents and helping professionals, but it is easy to put self care on the back burner as we get wrapped up in our daily routines.    Self care is purposeful action that an individual takes to ensure their well-being.   Well-being can include; emotional health, mental health, physical health, and spiritual health.

Below I describe 5 common excuses for why individuals may not make self care a priority.  I also explore the truths behind each of these excuses.

  • Excuse: “Self care is not important.”

Truth:   Self care is important.    As described above, the definition of self care is ensuring our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual well-being.  If we don’t make self care a priority these areas can get out of whack.   Neglecting self care can lead to physical and psychological symptoms such as difficulty sleeping, pain, anxiety, depression and more. Continue reading 5 Excuses That Prevent Prioritizing Self Care →

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8 Ways to Show Children You Love Them Throughout the Year

Children, Families

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.   It can be fun to have a special day devoted to showing our children (and others) that we love them.   But, our daily interactions are essential in showing our children that we love them.

Below you’ll find eight ways we can show children we love them throughout the year.   Many of you may already be implementing some of these suggestions, but some of the suggestions may be ideas you want to consider implementing or revisiting in your family.

Continue reading 8 Ways to Show Children You Love Them Throughout the Year →

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Change

Move, Reflection Questions

“There is nothing permanent except change.” Heraclitus

Change is on my mind lately.   Mostly because I have a couple of significant changes in the works for my practice over the coming months.  Details of the upcoming changes can be found at the end of this post, but for now let’s reflect on change you and your families may be experiencing.

What changes are you or your loved ones experiencing right now?   Have you allowed yourself or your loved ones the time and space to reflect on, process and adjust to these changes?  Often times, we get caught up in all the details that need to be taken care of and we don’t allow ourselves to truly take the time needed to experience changes and to fully consider the ways we can ensure that a change goes as smoothly as possible for all involved.

Continue reading Change →

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Refining Your Approach to Self Care

Reflection Questions, Self Care

Self care is purposeful action that an individual takes to ensure their well-being.   Well-being can include; emotional health, mental health, physical health, and spiritual health.

What self care looks like is different for each person because we all have unique needs and interests.

We are each at our own place in understanding our self care needs and developing an approach to self care that is effective for us.  Some people are amazing at making self care a priority and others struggle with this area.   Some people can clearly identify their unique needs for self care and others are unsure what is effective for them.  With this in mind, I invite you to consider the following questions in determining how to move forward in your approach to self care. Continue reading Refining Your Approach to Self Care →

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Self Care: Quotes to Inspire You and an Invitation

Quotes, Self Care

I’ve made a personal commitment to make self care a priority in 2015.  I hope that some of you will join me by doing the same.

As a mother of young children, I know it is hard for parents to make time for themselves.

As a therapist, I know it is hard for those in the helping professions to make time for themselves, too.

It is important that we take care of ourselves, too! We need to do it for our own well being. Additionally, we need to take care of ourselves in order to make sure we are in a good place to be there for our families and/or those who we support through our work.

Here are some self care quotes to inspire you:

“It’s not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, and to make your happiness a priority. It’s necessary.” – Mandy Hale

Continue reading Self Care: Quotes to Inspire You and an Invitation →

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Family Reflection Questions for the New Year

Families, Reflection Questions

The beginning of the year offers an opportunity to reflect back on the previous year and think about the upcoming year.  While people tend to do this type of reflection on an individual basis, the below questions are designed to be considered and discussed as a family.   Depending on the ages of the children involved in the discussion, some of the wording may need to be modified.   The questions can also be modified for shorter periods of time as some children may struggle to reflect on a one year period of time.

Please see the note at the bottom of this post if you are interested in questions for individual reflection.

Continue reading Family Reflection Questions for the New Year →

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Why therapy? Why not? Part 2

Counseling

People who seek therapy are often struggling with common issues that we all encounter in our lives.   There are many reasons why people seek therapy and therapists work with clients to identify their specific reasons for seeking therapy and to create an individualized plan to address their concerns.    Below I discuss some general reasons why people commonly seek therapy.

5 common reasons why people seek therapy Continue reading Why therapy? Why not? Part 2 →