Mental Health

My favorite lesson to do with my four-year-olds was on the book “How Full is Your Bucket? ... for Kids.” The concept is that every person has a bucket. At any given moment our bucket could be full, running out, or empty. The book shows ways in which we empty and fill each other’s buckets. The takeaway for the class was that in a kind and loving community we spend time filling each other’s buckets with love and kindness and in return our bucket becomes full also. This book really tries to teach children empathy. To treat others how they want to be treated. To look out for others and also yourself. When becoming a mother I remember other mothers constantly telling me “you...

Sometimes, it feels good to let it all out. To process, to free yourself of all the worries and thoughts that grate your nerves. It’s normal, it’s healthy, but depending on who your audience is- your deepest, most inner point of view, may land differently. Therapy is different than going to lunch with your friend. I say this with utmost confidence, as I have been working as a therapist for over the last ten years. And I have friends. Amazing, salt-of-the-earth people who are the most fun to share my latest gripes and mom victories. Nothing is more fun than venting to a tried-and-true BFF who gets it and will do me the favor of keeping it between us… and...

Midway through last year, my mental health took a serious nosedive. I’d previously struggled with severe anxiety and depression following some big life changes that left me reeling, but fortunately, I’d found fantastic mental health professionals who were able to get me back to being a (mostly) functional human being, wife, mama, teacher, and friend. It turns out that it’s okay if your serotonin is store-bought. But sometimes that serotonin in a bottle isn’t a foolproof genie, solving all your problems. Sometimes you have to rub a multitude of magic lamps before you find one that works for you with the least amount of side effects. After three and a half years on the medicine that very literally saved my...

Disclosure :: This post is sponsored by Ochsner Baton Rouge and written by Dr. Lori Cook. Promoting a healthy body image in children is so important and we are excited to bring you these tips!  Three Tips to Promote Healthy Body Image in Children No matter where we look, we are bombarded with images of what we are told is a “perfect body.” Magazines, television shows and movies are filled with women with flawless skin, the perfect measurements and accentuated body features. Men appear with chiseled jaw lines, six-pack abs and muscles in all the right places. What they do not show are the cosmetics and photo editing that went into getting that look. Studies show that these images are affecting our...

We live in an imperfect world. I used to live life somewhat unbothered by the tragedies of the world. It was easier to disconnect from that stream of sadness. Maybe it is because I have more time to kill by closely following headlines, or maybe I am just officially that old, but the nature of the news does haunt me these days. The 2020s have been hard, and in the context of raising babies and toddlers in a happy bubble, it has been challenging to navigate the opposite natures of those worlds. As a parent, your list of responsibilities is exponentially longer. At this point, I have some confidence in my ability to persevere through some tough times. There is...

I grew up wanting to do everything. Play every sport, join every club, chair every event, volunteer for everything, etc. This mindset of I can do everything literally started at age 7 when I left dance class and went to my flag football practice right after. Still, to this day, I am the yes girl. I’ll lend a hand, start that committee, and attend this event. I cannot seem to drop the mindset of needing to do it all. Becoming a mom only seemed to intensify this desire. We live in a world where moms seem to do it all. From cooking to cleaning to chauffeuring to breadwinning. Women do it all. But I can tell you when you...

Dior is the only one coming out of this trial happy; neither Johnny Depp nor Amber Heard will come out in one piece, and the court of public opinion is at an all-time low. As a law student who aspires to change the way abuse, family court, and general civil matters surrounding the family unit are conducted and perceived, the public’s synthetization of the Depp v. Heard trial is, at best, disheartening. It’s important to back up and understand why this trial is taking place in order to clearly see how far off public opinion regarding it is placed. Like anything that happens in court, this is not an issue as to who is right or wrong, it’s an issue of...

I’m a law school student, and I’ve been spending a great deal of time around family law. This is a place where everyone has to give the person they are leaving a mental health diagnosis in order to justify pursuing a divorce. It seems like everyone has a narcissistic ex, even though only about 6% of our country’s population has been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder. This isn’t just an issue in family law. People weaponize mental health terms in order to make themselves feel like “the right one,” the “good guy,” etc. Basically, we’ve all become that guy that says “That b**ch is crazy” about all of his exes, we’ve just found fancier words for it. Which made me realize how...

Death is rough! No one is ever prepared and it isn’t easy to deal with or talk about. We lost a significant part of our family this past summer, and as an adult, the feelings that have come with that have been painful and hard to articulate, so for my young children, it must be overwhelming. I have learned that it is important to discuss what happened and to talk about it. I am in no way an expert, but here are some things that are helping me as I walk with my children through this painful process. Being Open Right Away. Telling my children shortly after it happened provided them with an explanation for the red eyes and constant tears. Allowing...