Real Caring Integrative Therapy
801-853-8744
  • Welcome
  • Philosophy
  • Providers
  • Services
    • Counseling
    • EMDR
    • Expressive Arts Therapy
    • Massage and Bodywork
    • Online Counseling
    • Personality
    • Psychiatric Medicine
  • Referral Request
  • Resources
    • Crisis Services
    • Encouraging Facebook Posts!
    • Organizations
    • Book Recommendations
    • Apps
  • Link Page

Swimming in the Sharknado: Managing Trauma Triggers in the Media

10/14/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Media is always a potential source for trauma triggers. This election year means that virtually every medium is a sharknado poised to suck you in to its dangerous depths. You do not have to succumb to it, however. With these three tips, you can stay in the moment, manage your reaction to the trigger and make a plan to avoid triggers in the future.

1. Stay in the Moment
One of the first steps you can take toward managing your triggers is to acknowledge what is happening. You may be tempted to distract yourself or avoid the feeling as much as possible. This can be helpful if you are not in a position to evaluate your surroundings, but there is benefit to be had from staying in the moment. If you can, take the time to consider how you are feeling. What sorts of physical responses do you observe as a result of the trigger? Take note of them, so that you can be better prepared to cope with them next time.


Read More
0 Comments

Emotional Support Animals Provide Comfort and More

9/3/2016

0 Comments

 
PictureAnimals support soldiers and civilians through the Red Cross human-bond program. Photo by The US Army.
Pets give us love, comfort and companionship, but some animals are so much more than pets. Many work as service animals, helping those suffering from a variety of physical, emotional or mental challenges in ways that medications can’t. Emotional support animals, in particular, bring therapeutic benefits that are immeasurable to those who utilize their services. 

Emotional service animals, or ESAs, help those with disabilities that may not be obvious to the naked eye, such as

  • Depression
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Anxiety and social phobias
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Autism spectrum disorder
  • And more.


Read More
0 Comments

Making It Personal: How We Grieve Orlando

6/28/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Remember what we were doing after learning about the June 12th massacre at The Pulse? 

Remember? We became a nation of somnambulists. In shock, we watched the news for clues. We called family and friends to find out if one of ours was among the dead. Why them and not us?  The fear and helplessness engulfed us. Numb, we demanded blame and blood: Who can we shame? Some of us turned to the 'Just-World Hypothesis', targeting groups and making lines between “us” and “them.” Our collective anger served as a crumbling bulwark against the chaos.


Read More
0 Comments

Eyes:  Windows to the Soul and Key to Unlocking Negative Emotions

6/14/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
How many of you - just for the heck of it - randomly dart your eyes around, back and forth, up and down or diagonally? Most of us don’t, unless we’re dreaming and having REM sleep.

Research has found that this rapid eye movement, that occurs in our sleep, plays a significant role in processing and storing information. Rapid eye movement can also help in the healing of trauma, good news for those dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).




Read More
0 Comments

Combining Art and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Helps Trauma Sufferers

5/30/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Recently I attended an ecstatic dance class encouraging embodied awareness. I walked into the class feeling upset after a difficult day at work, but during the class I became present rather than obsessing over things that bothered me. It was a relief to let go, follow the music, and do whatever felt good. It was safe to be authentic. Within the first half hour of the class, I was feeling much better.

My experience of improved mindfulness is common among those who participate in embodied expressive arts practices and I was interested to learn that Real Caring Integrative Therapy has programs in place that combine therapeutic expressive arts with evidence based therapies like Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), commonly used to treat trauma and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

Mindfulness can be enhanced through art therapy and embodied practices.   “In the DBT group we’re really working a lot with embodied mindfulness,” Shannon Simonelli, PhD, ATR, said.  “We’re filling out the experience of mindfulness and connection with “wise mind” to include somatic perspective and somatic orientation.  We’re teaching people how to check in with and language their observations from a body-based perspective.”


Read More
0 Comments

Inside the World of the Highly Sensitive Person

5/6/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
How many of you have heard the comment “oh...you’re just too sensitive”?   Maybe you feel hurt when people say that and think there is something wrong with you.   According to Elaine Aron, Ph.D in The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), approximately 20 ­percent of the population has a highly sensitive nervous system.   For these individuals (myself included), it's as if they wear their nerves on the outside of their skin.  In the first part of this series on sensitivity I will discuss those who find themselves on the highly sensitive side of the HSP spectrum.

If you’re an HSP, you can experience external and internal stimulation rather quickly and with more intensity and duration.  It’s as though your nervous system is an antenna running through your mind and body—always on and picking up signals from everything around you.   As an HSP, you can become overstimulated and this “noise” or “static” can result in a variety of mental and physical complaints that may be difficult to diagnose.  


Read More
2 Comments

Pushing over the Borderline: Trauma's Influence on BPD

5/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), popularized through films like Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Welcome to Me (2014), is a diagnosis many patient's fear because of the overwhelming  stigma associated with it.

​A tell­tale sign of BPD is a person's erratic and unstable relationships, caused by outsized reactivity when feeling threatened and/or rejected.


Read More
0 Comments

    Archives

    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016


    Categories

    All
    Ally Sanchez
    Amanda Butler
    App Review
    Art Therapy
    Bipolar Disorder
    Borderline Personality Disorder
    Chronic Illness
    Client Perspective
    Community Engagement
    Cultural Traditions
    Diagnosis
    Dialectical Behavior Therapy
    Dissociation
    Embodiment
    EMDR
    Expressive Writing
    Geek Therapy
    Grief
    Group Therapy
    Health
    Highly Sensitive Person
    Holly Smith
    Jennafer Martin
    Jennifer Smith
    Jim Miller
    Krista Clement
    LGBT
    Massage Therapy
    Medication
    Meditation
    Meghan Bomberger
    Movies
    Nancy Foster
    Personality Types
    Personal Story
    Pet Therapy
    Politics
    Relationships
    Shannon McQuade
    Shannon Simonelli
    Social Connection
    Social Issues
    Spirituality
    Suicidal Ideation
    Trauma
    Workshops


    Featured Writers

    Picture
    Amanda Butler
    Picture
    Jennifer Smith
    Picture
    Meghan Bomberger
    Picture
    Jim Miller, MD
    Picture
    Shannon McQuade
    Picture
    Jennafer Martin
    Picture
    Ally Sanchez, LMT
    Picture
    Holly Smith
    Picture
    Krista Clement
    Krista Clement is the Executive Editor for the Real Caring blog.  For questions contact krista@realcaring.org

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
Real Caring Inc. 2010 - 2017
Picture
Picture

CONTACT

801-853-8744
​shannon@realcaring.org


CRISIS NUMBERS

University of Utah 801-587-3000
Salt Lake Behavioral 801-264-6000
St. Mark's Hospital 801-268-7111
CRISIS RESOURCES