School refusal is different from truancy. Children who are truant refuse to go to school because they want to do something else. They will often concoct elaborate schemes to avoid going to school. However, school refusal is related to anxiety about situations or expectations at school.

Trauma is an emotional reaction to a significant event that can happen once with intensity, a series of significant events that may have varied intensity and be ongoing, or a combination of both. Trauma affects our interconnected systems physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually.

We often look at physical health and mental health as different, but they are not. If you break your arm, you go to the doctor and eventually heal. If you suffer from PTSD, depression, anxiety, or any other mental health issue, you may suffer in silence, have feelings of shame or guilt, and not seek help due to fear and/or the stigma.

For the most part, saying someone is being “lazy” is assigning a character judgment to them. This person has two options: either they continue saying that they’re just “lazy” because that has been determined as a part of who they are as a person, or they continue being labeled as “lazy” but they feel bad about it. This is a difficult pattern to break. By calling ourselves “lazy,” we are assigning the appropriate punishment for this terrible characteristic. By calling others “lazy,” we get the satisfaction of placing blame on them.

We often repeat those phrases so frequently that we forget where we first heard them, but we probably have examples of situations in our lives that “prove” the idea. These phrases are often harmless and the reason they are well-known is probably because they do hold true in many cases. The problem is that when we have held onto an idea like these for so long, we sometimes forget to question whether or not it remains true for us any longer or whether or not it applies to our current situation.

If you are feeling as though you are in crisis, either you are concerned that you are having thoughts of harming or killing yourself, or are feeling out of control emotionally, the most important thing you can do is to tell someone. This can be done over the phone or in person. If you don’t have a support person you can contact, call a crisis line. Having a therapist can help to develop long term ways of coping so that crises happen less frequently.

The really amazing thing about mirror neurons is that you can use your mirror neurons to help your child when they are struggling to regulate their own emotions. If you stay calm in situations which are causing your child distress (ie frustration, anxiety, fear, anger, etc) and maintain a supportive presence, your child will essentially “catch” your calm.

Celebrating neurodiversity is celebrating the different ways people think, learn, and experience the world. Neurodiversity includes conditions like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and more. While we have made progress as a society in accepting neurodiversity, there are times when even well-meaning people say things that can make neurodivergent individuals and their families feel misunderstood. In this blog, we will explore common statements that can be hurtful and provide guidance on how to be a more understanding and supportive friend, parent, or advocate.

It is important to protect yourself from second-hand anxiety because chronic stress can lead to long-term health problems. In addition, as a parent, you are not helping your child if you are taking on their anxiety.

Our culture is not just unfair, but in many cases dehumanizing, to people living in larger bodies. That’s the actual problem, not people’s bodies themselves. But in trying to spare our children’s pain and stigma by directing them to eat a certain way, especially amidst the forceful and persistent cultural focus on childhood weight, we unknowingly point kids toward a risky and unproductive path for their health and relationship with food and their bodies. It is a lot- so much of parenting is. But even though you can’t change what your kids will be exposed to (since diet culture is everywhere) you can change what’s happening in the home.