What A Typical Therapy Session Looks Like

Anxiety and What Your First Therapy Session Looks Like Over the course of our lives there could be many circumstances that might cause you to seek out therapy. You or someone you know may have been recommended therapy or considered going to therapy for help. But the unknowns that arise

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Not All Therapists Are The Same

There Are Many Types of Therapists When seeking out help for your mental health, a psychiatrist or psychologist may be the first professional that comes to mind. While only a psychiatrist can prescribe drugs, a number of other designations also serve to work with you through other methods to improve

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Therapist Spotlight: Jacqueline

It is an important part of therapy to connect with your therapist and to have your therapist able to connect with you. Studies show that therapy is more beneficial when you have a good relationship with your therapist.  At  West Wellness we would like to help facilitate better relationships with

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ADHD Affects Productivity

ADHD and Productivity Everyone may experience the inability to focus: feeling impulsive and hyperactive can affect productivity at some point in your life. It doesn’t automatically mean you have ADHD. However, when these behaviors are present, persistent and causing disruption in the daily on goings of your life, there may be

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Transitioning Seasons & Mental Health

How Mental Health is Affected By Transitioning Seasons We all have a season we favor and look forward to each year. Most people, when asked, will say they have a favorite season. Usually it’s followed with all the reasons why. For those that love Spring reasons might be because the

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It’s Ok If Therapy Doesn’t Work Out

Establish Expectations That It’s Ok If Therapy Doesn’t Work Right Away When clients seek support for their mental health it’s important for the therapist to establish realistic expectations. Immediate relief is often expected but therapy doesn’t work that way. It’s important to emphasize that it’s ok if therapy doesn’t work

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Navigating The Symptoms of Depression

Understanding the Difference Between Sadness & Depression It’s important to understand the difference between experiencing normal emotions and navigating the symptoms of depression. Feeling depressed is a phrase that a lot of people throw around casually in conversation to describe negative feelings. An unhappy event has occurred. You’ve gotten some

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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

What is PTSD? Most of us are familiar with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) mainly in reference to soldiers that have fought in wars and experienced horrific things. The truth is PTSD can take a number of forms and can affect anyone. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental health

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The Struggles of Body Image. 

The Struggles of Body Image.  Body image and self esteem has been a hot topic for well over a decade. In recent years we have seen an increase in the variety of people we see online, in magazines, and in various forms of media.  Body Image Starts Young A study

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Feeling Left Behind by Peers

Feeling Left Behind by Peers When was the last time you felt behind your peers? Like everyone was achieving their goals and gaining traction and you were just barely past the starting line.  While some are gaining promotions, or having babies, getting married, moving to a new city for their

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Losing it all. Job Loss.

Losing it all. Job Loss.   You can lose virtually anything, things, loved ones, friends, your wifi password. You can lose things for a short while like your car keys, or forever, like a loss of a life. Some of these things we lose are mere inconveniences, car keys, wallet, your

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Setting Boundaries in Relationships

Setting Boundaries in Relationships Setting boundaries can be one of the hardest things you will ever do. They can also be the best thing you can do for your relationship. Relationship with your parents, partner, children and the relationship with yourself.  Why is setting boundaries so difficult?  When it comes

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10 Things to do While Grieving a Loved One 

Grieving is a complicated process (as we looked at in our previous article) and can be difficult to navigate. There are lots of things you can do to help with processing a loss. Finding what works may be difficult, it may bring up emotions that are difficult to feel.

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Is medication right for me?

Is medication right for me? – Steps you can take to find out.  Often when we talk about medication it seems rather obvious. You have an infection therefore you take antibiotics. You have high blood pressure, or diabetes, or even just a cold. It is easy to decide to take

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High Functioning … 

What does it mean to be High Functioning? We hear this term “High Functioning” quite a bit when it comes to anxiety, depression, addiction, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ADHD…

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Burning the Candle at Both Ends

Burning the candle at both ends.  Your alarm bursts to life at 6am each morning you hit snooze and roll over, but the amount of sleep you are getting never seems to be enough. You wake up exhausted no matter how early you go to bed. No amount of caffeine

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Finding Red Flags in Your Therapist

Finding Red Flags in Your Therapist It is a growing trend – a meme even – to call out red flags. Red flags in people, red flags in relationships, red flags in strangers, in situations. You name it, people are throwing out red flags, for things as silly as how

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Tips for finding YOUR Therapist

Tips for finding YOUR Therapist Improving your mental health is not a one size fits all scenario. As such, finding the therapist that works for you is key to aiding your journey. There are plenty of qualified and educated professionals out there ready to help, but what makes one counsellor

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Finding Time For Self-Care

This list has tasks that can take as little as a couple of minutes to as much as a day. Self-care is not meant to be a chore or to be stressful, and it also is not one size fits all. It doesn’t have to be complicated, we hope this list can make it less so. 

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Therapy Is Not for the Weak of Heart

It seems scary because it is, and society and media has told us for years that getting help and seeking out therapy makes you weak. However, just like anything in our body your brain deserves to heal and you along with it deserve to heal physically and emotionally.

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