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Welcome to Session Notes by Grounded In Wellness!
Here you will find information regarding practice updates and new service offerings, as well as useful information to maintain wellness and self-care between therapy sessions
What's Happening at GIW!
SOULSpeak
SOULSpeak
SOULSpeak is a monthly support and healing group for women, femme-identifying, or non-binary persons who crave a safe and supportive healing space to explore who they are and learn ways to express and celebrate their authentic selves. Group will be held on a Wednesday evening from 5-6:30 once per month beginning April 6th.
Special topics, activities, and guest speakers will be featured occasionally.
This space can be accessed both in-person and virtually. To register please email Hafia to be placed on the group schedule.
heart2heart
heart2heart
heart2heart is a monthly therapy and support group for couples and partners who want to learn to understand each other better and communicate with one another more effectively. Emphasis will be on identifying individual values and shared values that exist in relationships, and learning how to support our partners AND assert individual boundaries and needs in compassionate and respectful ways. Group will be held on a Wednesday evening from 5-6:30 once per month beginning April 20th.
Special topics, activities, and guest speakers will be featured occasionally.
This space can be accessed both in-person and virtually. To register please email Hafia to be placed on the group schedule.
All romantic partnerships are welcome!
Feeling Grounded? Merch!
Feeling Grounded? Merch!
Support and represent our wellness space by wearing Grounded In Wellness apparel. A variety of designs and options coming soon!
Wellness Hacks from a Psychotherapist
The Power (and fun) of Group Healing
The Power (and fun) of Group Healing
It takes a village. This message and philosophy was repeated to and ingrained in my siblings and I growing up and it definitely still resonates today. Seriously, sleeping until 7 am on a Saturday morning was considered sleeping in to my Muslim father who would wake me up by playing his Ghanaian guitar and singing the words, "Wake up now. Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up." To this day I have difficulty sleeping past 6 am! But as much as I loathed those mornings when I was younger, they have defintiely shaped the adult human being I am today. So what did we do early on Saturday mornings? We served. We gathered. We learned. I remember going to listen to my dad speak about community accountability at the local rec center in Milwaukee. If he wasn't speaking somehwere, we were atending a Pan-African workshop or serving food to community members. What I remember most about these experiences is that no matter how salty I was as a kid/teenager for not being able to sleep in til noon like many of my friends, when I gathered with community and heard their stories, their songs, their struggles, and their triumphs, my heart smiled and my soul tingled. This is what it's about, is what I would innately feel and the rest (so to speak) is history.
There is something special about people. The collective experiences--good or bad-- and the energy and support can truly feel unmatched when with the right crew. This is what I loved about those Saturday mornings as a kid and ultimately in my work in group healing spaces such as the substance use treatment centers I have worked in and directed in my professional career. Group healing is impactful, period. In fact, there are countless data that illustrate that peer healing spaces can be more effective than or enhance the efficacy of individual treatment immensely. I remember the heated debates, the peer acountability, and other intense moments that created those juicy "a-ha" moments for people in MICD treatment. Though many of them would hate it and resist the vibes in the moment, some of them would come to my office the next day and say, "I really appreicated that experience" in one way or another, often with a swear word or two for good measure. For these very abbreviated but hopefully obvious reasons is why the community feel is so important and encouraged within the GIW Wellness Community. It truly takes a village so give yourself permission to tap into the group spaces offered, or dream up your own group healing topic to lead and hold within our healing community.
Together, we are always stronger. Much love!
-H
4/28/22
Self-Awareness
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is a concept that I believe is foundational in the therapy process. Helping clients explore and discover their core-beliefs and values is one of the first topics I cover with new therapy clients and it is a consistent theme in my psychotherapy practice. I believe that we do not consider often enough what our true values are and how they were/are shaped. I encourage clients to explore what they believe their parents' or parental figures' values are and how they observed those values being "practiced" by these significant figures growing up. Then, we explore society's values that are apparent or stand out and how we resonate or do not resonate with those. We also explore the values of people we admire and respect and what about those values align with our own values or how we want to live. But finally, the true insight develops when we process and explore an individual's own values, specifically comparing and contrasting values one actually lives by to the values they would like to live by. This process can be hugely illuminating and helps people identify areas of their lives they can modify to create more congruence with their actual core-beliefs, which translates to better moods, functioning, and relationships overall.
Inspired the design of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I have conceptualized my version of a self-actualization model, changing Maslow's langauge of "self-actualization" to simply being self-aware. Same difference to me, just simpler! Here is what I believe: self-awareness (what we know about ourselves) is supported and crafted by both self-esteem (how we feel about ourselves) and self-confidence (what we believe about ourselves). Our experiences, self-talk, reinforcements and feedback we receive from our loved ones and peers, and our achievements (to name a few variables), combined with the narratives we internalize about our experiences, all contribute to how we experience ourselves and our overall awareness of ourselves. This is why making sure we are being kind to ourselves, giving ourselves grace as needed, and watching the way we talk to and about ourselves is so important in maintaining a balanced sense of self and ultimately, self-mastery.
Visualize it! What comprises your self-awareness pyramid?
Trust yourself--you got this!
~H
3/29/22
Journaling for Emotional Insight and Healing
Journaling for Emotional Insight and Healing
See the contents of your soul through your own eyes.
I often talk about the emotional and mental health benefits of journaling and reflective writing with clients, exclaiming how useful a tool it is to get in there (the mind and psyche, that is) and become aware of the emotional "stuff" that is persistent, intrusive, or trying to get your attention. It comes up for a reason and when we are aware of it, we can identify it and organize it in a way that helps us address and understand it more effectively, and ultimately, manage it or eliminate it altogether. Whatever "it" is, you have more power and mastery over it than you know and journaling helps you visualize exactly what it is so you can do something about it.
So what is journaling? Is it writing out what I did in a day or how I feel? Great question! I often tell clients to write about and document whatever "comes up" initially, specifically noticing constant or peristent thoughts and feelings that arise over the course of a day or week. These "themes" are likely trying to get your attention or awareness so you can do something about it. There is no right or wrong way to journal as long as you are capturing what needs your attention and raising your self-awareness. With each entry you should feel more curious and aware, and should feel as though you are achieving "a-ha" moments over time. Start by noticing big emotions you may have and try to document what may have precipitated or "triggered" these moments. By doing this you will become more proactive about emotional triggers and manage them more effectively in the moment or perhaps even prevent them altogether.
How do I get started? If you are feeling stuck about what to write about, here are some book and journal recommendations. One recommendation is a journal written by a poet that emphasizes self-awareness and self-care. The other is a book about mastering self by managing thoughts and worry, discontinuing people pleasing, and avoiding placing unnecessary pressure and expectations on yourself.
I also encourage clients to start by writing responses to these three prompts: What have I learned new about myself today? How did I surprise myself today by what I did or did not do? What am I proud of myself for today? These moments happen everyday but we are often too preoccupied or stuck in our own thoughts to notice. Being aware of how we overcome new challenges or even ways we surprise ourselves in any given day is a great way to boost self-awareness and even self-confidence!
If you need free resources about journaling please reach out. I am happy to help.
Happy journaling!
~H
3/27/2022
Remember, you are exactly where you need to be.
Remember, you are exactly where you need to be.
Love and appreciate the space you are in. It serves a purpose, too.
Have you ever asked the question, why me or why am I going through this? Great questions and you are not alone. I often encourage my psychotherapy clients to understand that life usually operates in phases and stages and to remember the impermanence of any situation--positive or negative--you may find yourself in. Feeling drained or tired? Cancel that happy hour. Feeling sluggish or lethargic? Take a look at your physical activity, diet, or rest habits and make necessary adjustments. Our bodies and psyches keep the score and speak to us all the time. If you feel it, acknowledge it. What is it "hinting at?" If you can support or refute any feeling with evidence (what are the facts?) you can give yourself permission to respond accordingly; even if it feels like you are letting others down. Remember, we cannot pour from empty cups, and you are responsible for yourself and attending to your own needs first. Period. (Insert hand claps and neck roll)
Need proof to understand you are likely exactly where you need to be in life? Check out Erikson's stages of psychosocial development and see if you resonate with your chronological psychosocial stage.
If you resonate with a different stage, that's okay too. Ride the wave, open your mind and heart, and learn the lesson. The next chapter gets better!
I see you! Be gentle with yourself. You are here.
~H
3/27/2022
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