Perspectives

SCG Staff Articles

Reflections On Wellness
Elizabeth Hirata Elizabeth Hirata

Reflections On Wellness

After two years of pandemic life, it feels easy to focus on what is going wrong in the world. “I’ve got a runny nose this morning: is it allergies or the plague?” is a thought I’ve had many times of late. That pervasive sense of needing to question our safety is exhausting. Maybe we’re feeling like nothing is going “right” and all the places where we seek solace are crumbling. Sometimes there is a discernible cause such as the death of a loved one or rejection from a school we applied to, but other times the cause of our “unwellness” seems less clear. Difficult seasons are part of life and that’s okay, but they sure get exhausting after a while.

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A Moment of Mental Health
Elizabeth Hirata Elizabeth Hirata

A Moment of Mental Health

I stand at the city bus stop waiting for that cold metal box to transport me to the office. I tick off tasks to complete when I arrive. Adjusting my mask, I review the line items marked through in my mental mead notebook. A woman smiles from six feet away. I thank God for this moment of mental health.

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The Weight of Looking Back
Elizabeth Hirata Elizabeth Hirata

The Weight of Looking Back

Many of us can name where we were when significant historical events happened or when your personal life changed dramatically. This type of episodic memory is important and for many captures key turning points in our personal and communal lives.

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Surviving Covid-19
Elizabeth Hirata Elizabeth Hirata

Surviving Covid-19

Like the simple protective steps to physical health, steps in protecting our mental health are not rocket science but ordinary.  Below are some suggestions you might try if you are emotionally struggling like so many others at this difficult time.

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Is Peace Possible During a Pandemic?
Elizabeth Hirata Elizabeth Hirata

Is Peace Possible During a Pandemic?

And when those lonely, hopeless times come, and you feel weighed down by the darkness of this world on your shoulders, I encourage you to remember the promise of our faithful God who said "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

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Liminal Spaces
Elizabeth Hirata Elizabeth Hirata

Liminal Spaces

In entering liminal space you leave behind your former ideals and conventions, the status quo, the ordinary routines, inherited mindsets. You also leave behind your safety zone; you exit your place of security. You step out into a space where you will see things differently, where your world view might be shattered, where your existing priorities might be turned upside down.

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Maintaining and Bulding Resilience
Elizabeth Hirata Elizabeth Hirata

Maintaining and Bulding Resilience

These are difficult times by anyone’s standards.  The uncertainty of the future, the fear of disease, sickness, and death, the growing financial anxiety, etc., etc., etc.  Our old ideas of normal have been uprooted.  A new normal has demanded space in our lives that is unfamiliar and that threatens our useful routines and traditions.  How do we remain strong in such a time?

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Corona-mommy
video Elizabeth Hirata video Elizabeth Hirata

Corona-mommy

SCG Staff Therapist JoAnn Mullinix, NC Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate and mother, shares insights and reflections on the new normal as a parent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Managing News Media Intake During a Pandemic
video Elizabeth Hirata video Elizabeth Hirata

Managing News Media Intake During a Pandemic

SCG Staff Therapist Megan Clark, NC Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate, discusses managing news media intake during the COVID-19 Pandemic and how to deal with the anxiety that comes with a 24-hour news cycle.

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Managing Fear During a Pandemic
video Elizabeth Hirata video Elizabeth Hirata

Managing Fear During a Pandemic

SCG Staff Therapist Shannon White (NC Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and Registered Play Therapist) shares helpful information about how the brain is wired to handle fear and what we can do to manage that fear without letting it control us in the midst of this global pandemic. This is especially helpful for parents of children or teenagers.

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A Message of Hope from SCG
video Elizabeth Hirata video Elizabeth Hirata

A Message of Hope from SCG

SCG Staff Therapist Diana Moscoso, Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate, reads Philippians 4:12 and discusses how to find grace and gratitude during this COVID-19 pandemic.

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Help Me, I’m Trapped!  Boundaries While Social Distancing
Elizabeth Hirata Elizabeth Hirata

Help Me, I’m Trapped! Boundaries While Social Distancing

If you have been social distancing for more than a week, the “snow day” mentality has likely worn off for you—that feeling that we all get when we get a day off for the weather, as if it’s a day out of time, lost to work and given over into fun and adventure.  For the last few weeks, we have been hit with the sobering reality that these days are long and we are not quite sure when they will end. 

For almost everyone, this has strained our coping mechanisms.  While most folks are feeling grateful for their loved ones, those same folks seem to be ready to pull their hair out on occasion, at the seemingly boundaryless environment that social distancing has created.  In the spirit of coming out of these trying days with our familial relationships intact and perhaps even stronger, let’s look at some ways we can observe healthy boundaries while keeping ourselves physically safe:

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Taking Care of your Relationships During a Pandemic
Elizabeth Hirata Elizabeth Hirata

Taking Care of your Relationships During a Pandemic

The COVID-19 Pandemic has taken the world by storm, wreaking havoc on many American families.

The frustration and disappointment of the new “normal” can cause discord in the home.

So, how can we take care of our relationships during these stressful, scary, uncertain times?

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