Perspectives
SCG Staff Articles
A New Year?
A year is a year, no matter where it starts. In fact, every day presents us with newness, indeed every minute. Ultimately this means we have a constant flow of opportunities to use as we choose. All we need to do is to be aware of opportunities and choose to take advantage of them....When the burden is heavy, the pain intense, the work difficult, it becomes easy to think about giving up. But as the 60’s song went, “tomorrow’s gonna be another day.” Choosing action can be difficult and may require courage. But action can turn new moments and opportunities into good things, perhaps great things.
Happy Holidays 2022
Sanctuary Counseling Group wishes everyone a happy holiday season and, for those who celebrate, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Have a wonderful holiday season, stay safe, and enjoy your community! Come see us again in the new year! We are here.
A Heart of Gratitude: Holiday Edition
Living in a state of gratitude is focusing on what we have rather than what we lack. It is our never-ending choice to take the time to pause and appreciate the things we often take for granted. Remembering to rejoice always in times of sorrow and in times of joy. Remembering to love our neighbors as we love ourselves while being grateful for those who paved the way and poured into our lives.
Domestic Violence Awareness
Domestic abuse, also called "domestic violence" or "intimate partner violence", can be defined as a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner.
National Depression & Mental Health Screening Month
As mental illness further establishes itself within the public consciousness, more and more people have begun feeling comfortable sharing their stories. One of the most common mental health challenges that people face is depression. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in 2020, about 21 million adults in the US or 8.4% of the population experienced a depressive episode. Surely many of us resonate with difficulties coping with challenges that have arisen as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Teenage Bullying
It’s not wanting to get out of bed in the morning. It’s skipping lunch to hide in the bathroom. It’s never speaking up in class. Bullying looks different for everyone who experiences it. While bullying isn’t exclusive to any age it can be incredibly difficult for one age group, in particular, teenagers. One out of every five students reports experiencing bullying (CDC). This level of prevalence is upsetting, but also incredibly useful to understand. Our teens need our help.
National Substance Abuse Prevention Month 2022
October is National Substance Abuse Prevention month in the United States. I’m sure if you follow the news, you have heard about the rise in recent years in drug abuse, drug overdose, and drug-related deaths in the United States. In 2020, for example, drug overdose deaths rose nearly 30% from the year before, resulting in over 93,000 fatalities.
Mental Illness Awareness Week 2022
Established in 1990 by Congress, the first full week in each October is Mental Illness Awareness Week. All of us in this country, in one way or another, are affected by mental illness, and if you’re reading this, you no doubt know intimately and personally, the devastating effects thereof. The figures and statistics (1 in 5 adults and 1 in 6 children age 6-17 experience mental illness each year in the US {https://www.nami.org/mhstats}) are so large that it’s almost impossible to take in, to comprehend the scope of the issue.
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.
Saying Goodbye
Let’s face it. There is nothing harder than saying goodbye. Whether it is the process of grieving a loved one, moving away from your chosen family or even ending an evening with friends---we all struggle with how to say goodbye. I see our society’s issues with goodbyes throughout my counseling practice. Working with people on why it hurts so much to be ghosted by a date or a friend fighting for time off work after a difficult loss. Sadly, we often avoid the goodbyes in our personal, professional, and even in our therapeutic relationships.
Truthiness and Couples Therapy
Back in 2005, comedian Stephen Colbert created Webster’s word of the year that year on his hit satiric news show The Colbert Report, when he invented the word Truthiness. Truthiness, by definition, is the belief or assertion that a statement is true, based on how true something feels, rather than consulting evidence, logic, facts, or intellectual examination. Stephen Colbert applied this term Truthiness to describe how US politics works, where politicians and talking heads often made strong truth claims based on feelings about what was happening, rather than based on any sort of evidence, or logic to back up those claims (and I have to say, it doesn’t seem like the last 17 years has been marked by a decline in thinking rooted in Truthiness).
I Almost Gave Up
Wow, summer is almost here! It is June, the month where most students are preparing for summer activities and parents begin to plan for summer vacations. However, this June our nation will once again mourn the death of small children and adults in Uvalde, Texas. Many are feeling the sting of despair while others fall deeper into depression. You may ask if there is a difference between despair and depression. Maybe there is. Maybe there isn’t. National tragedies can often bring about both. Many despair and ask “why”? Others struggling with depression become more depressed.
Mental Health for Men in Modern Society
Mental health is still very much a taboo topic in the year 2022. In this most recent decade, a lot has been done to make mental health issues more accepted, acknowledged, and understood. However, as a society, we are still very much in the dark when it comes to issues regarding mental health. I see evidence of this everywhere I go, whether it’s on Tik Tok where pop psychology misinformation mongering is rampant, or in the news where horrible acts of violence are frequently misattributed to mental illness. We need to talk about these issues and keep talking about them until they are fully understood, mental illness is fully acknowledged as an illness in its own right, and treatment is no longer stigmatized.
Death and Taxes
Nobody wants to die, but everyone will. It is a fact. Eventually, one day your heart will stop pumping, oxygen will no longer reach your brain and you will perceive nothing ever again. But, people will remember you. Your spouse, your friends, your children, others whose lives you touched. And in a way, they will carry you on into the future, for who knows how long. But, eventually, given enough time, your name, the impact that you had on the world will fade and return to the dust from whence it came. And on Good Friday, if you follow the Christian tradition, we take a moment to remember this fact.
Being Human
One of the core truths of being human is the presence of weakness. We want to hide it, even from our own awareness, but despite our best efforts, there is no way to deny the reality that you cannot do everything.
Including Women
The month of March is Women’s History Month and March 8th is International Women’s Day! It's a special thing to have the opportunity to focus on all of the incredible women who have helped shape our society. Each of these women had a story to tell and without their strength and perseverance, we never would have heard it. People, regardless of gender, experience hardships and periods in life where they need assistance. Sanctuary Counseling Group (SCG) feels that any person who seeks mental health care should be able to access it. We all have a story to tell.
All Means All
As a young African American girl growing up in a rural, southern town, I thought life was great! From dangling from my grandmother’s apron as she hung freshly washed clothes to dry in the warm summer’s sun, to buying penny candy at the local general store, to playing hopscotch with my siblings and neighborhood friends, to riding in the back of Mr. Calvin Edward’s pickup truck to and from Sunday School, I believed I was living the good life. During Black History Month in my local church, we were encouraged to give speeches and to dress up as historical African American men and women who had integral roles in moving the African American race forward. I believed this to be a tradition that all cultures practiced. At such a young age, I did not understand the significance of why we celebrated Black History Month.
The Path Awaits You
One of the real treats I was offered as a child was a “discovery ride”. My father would take me on a jaunt that did not include a preconceived destination. The goal was to travel roads we had not been on to see sights we had never before witnessed. We might travel on major highways, backroads, or even gravel and dirt roads. And the trip might last a couple of hours, an afternoon, or all day. Every trip was unique as were the sights we discovered. It was tremendous fun. I never lost my love and fascination for this kind of road trip and which I still hold today. On my most recent trek, I discovered the Red House Presbyterian Church established in 1756. The cemetery behind the church contained graves of very early settlers who lived when our state was still a colony.
SCG 2021 Christmas Card
Sanctuary Counseling Group wants to wish our community a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Enjoy this holiday season with loved ones. Stay safe. Come see us again in the new year! We are here for you.
Immigrant Day - Self Reflection
I have lived as an immigrant for almost half of my life. Living as an immigrant for all this time is how I found the strengths and qualities that make me today. As an immigrant, leaving one’s country, family, and everything that is known since birth becomes a challenge that is not easily grasped.