DBT OC Blog
Mental Health Awareness Month: Suicidality, DBT and Hope
Posted by DBT Center of Orange County in Awareness, Benefits of DBT, DBT Skills, Mindfulness, News, Recent Work
During the month of Mental Health Awareness in May 2019, BetterHelp will be donating $50 to one of 20 different mental health organizations on behalf of anyone with a website that is willing to publish original content on their website that discusses a mental health & wellness topic. We at DBTOC wanted to increase awareness of mental health and support one of these amazing organizations for all that they do! An important mental health concern today is the rise of suicide in the United States. Suicide is now a leading cause of death (CDC, 2018). Rates have increased significantly since 1999. Many problems can contribute to suicide including challenges with one’s mental health, relationships, or physical health, and job, money, legal, or housing stress.
We Are Warriors!
Posted by Dr. Michele Lob PsyD., MFT, CEDS in Benefits of DBT, DBT Skills, Mindfulness
I recently returned from a Mindfulness training on the outskirts of Zion National Park in southwestern Utah. Being surrounded each day by the craggy, monolithic peaks, aware of over 250 million years of history woven into the fabric of sandstone striations, a thought emerged that we are both fragile and warriors simultaneously.
Relieve Your Stress with DBT
Posted by Nora Josephson LPC, RYT in Awareness, Benefits of DBT, DBT Skills, Mindfulness, Wellness
My Daily Skimm reminded me that it is Stress Awareness Month. Skimm writers shared wonderful ways to manage burnout and even highlighted the benefits of meditation! In our fast-paced environments, it is very important to be mindful of ourselves, our needs and to better manage the stress we face. In our day-to-day lives, it is easy to disregard the “normal” stress we feel from our jobs or school, traffic, relationships, finances and more. We push through in “survival mode” until we feel burned out, exhausted and often resentful. DBT has an entire module called Distress Tolerance to better manage stress and tolerate painful events, urges, and emotions. Mindfulness is another module in DBT, which provides the foundation for all of the other DBT skills. Mindfulness creates awareness of ourselves and our environment around us and returns our focus to the present moment.
Mindful Habits to Notice Your Needs
Posted by Nora Josephson LPC, RYT in Awareness, Benefits of DBT, DBT Skills, Media, Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the foundation of all of the DBT skills. As we practice mindfulness, we intentionally bring ourselves into the present moment and notice what is in the here-and-now. These skills are especially helpful to notice our emotions, sensations, thoughts and needs. Mindful eating can help reduce disordered eating and increase balanced, healthy practices. However, reducing disordered eating does not stop here. We must develop mindful habits around our eating behaviors as well. It is important to pay attention to our habits and our automatic response to internal cues and our environment.
How do DBTOC Staff Self-Care?
Posted by DBT Center of Orange County in Benefits of DBT, Mindfulness, Wellness
We at DBTOC believe self-care is vital to our well-being. When we don’t take care of ourselves we can feel exhausted, depleted and resentful. On the other hand, when we are practicing self-care, we tend to have more energy, feel better, think more clearly and make steps to accomplish our goals and live a life aligned with our values. Our team has been revamping our personal self-care routines and learning new ways to support each other’s wellness. We attended a workshop to be curious about our current self-care practices and brainstorm ways to improve our regimens. We attended a yoga class as a team. We want to now share with you some of our team’s self-care tips!
Exploring The Science Behind Yoga
Posted by Kathy Du Vernet, M.S., CYT, E-RYT 500 in Mindfulness
A new film on UPLIFT, The Science Behind Yoga, interviews a variety of experts to discuss the scientific evidence showing the many benefits of yoga. This, along with other research on yoga and meditation, is good news for yogis to share with their more skeptical friends who often want to see “hard evidence.” As yogis, we have personally experienced and touted the benefits of our practices, and now modern science is reporting significant evidence supporting many of our claims!
Yoga and meditation can help re-shape the brain as well as reduce stress and anxiety
According to neuroscientists, as individuals continue to meditate and engage in meditative body-mind practices such as yoga, the brain actually begins to reshape itself. Studies have shown that yoga and other mindfulness-based practices can reduce stress and anxiety, and improve physical health by activating the parasympathetic nervous system which allows an individual to relax. Over 160 of these studies have shown that meditation had a positive effect on improving anxiety and stress, and research with people who had clinical levels of anxiety found that 90% of those studied experienced significant reductions in their anxiety.
7 Mindful Eating Tips
Posted by DBT Center of Orange County in Mindfulness
National Eating Disorders Awareness week is February 21-27. The goal is to increase attention and provide information to the public about eating disorders. By increasing our awareness, we can intervene sooner and improve the likelihood of recovery for millions of people suffering. For more information about events in your area please visit www.nationaleatingdisorders.org.
Loving Kindness
Posted by Erin Keller in Mindfulness
As we start a New Year, the word ‘resolution’ comes up more often than not whether it’s starting a new diet, making the bed regularly, or implementing an exercise routine in one’s daily life. When I sat down to write my own resolutions for the 2016 year, I intentionally wanted to think from a DBT perspective. One of the key concepts in DBT is that of Mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of being aware of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in the present moment. I have recently taken up yoga and appreciate the meditative state it provides me whether done in the morning to calmly start my day or done in the evening to wind down the day’s events. With wanting to continue this practice on a regular basis in the New Year as one of my resolutions, I was reminded of the DBT skill, ‘Loving Kindness Meditation.’
The Power of Mindfulness
Posted by Ashley in Mindfulness
Yesterday in our Intensive Outpatient Program, Kathy Purdy MFTI, led a mindfulness practice with group members. Kathy, who has had many years of training in yoga and meditation practice, took the group on a mindfulness walk, inviting them to notice their surroundings and to focus on the ‘spaces in-between’. One group member wrote the following poem about her experience. Our DBT team is extremely touched by this beautiful and insightful writing and wanted to share it with you.
Mindfulness Practices: Short, Simple and Sweet
Posted by Keren Clark, LMFT in Mindfulness
The first skills learned in DBT skills training those of mindfulness. In DBT we actually refer to them as skills to “learn to take hold of our minds”. The skills taught in the modules that follow are based upon or require some facility with mindfulness, with being able to take hold or our minds, to be used effectively. To that end, we would like to offer a small primer on some short, simple and sweet mindfulness practices.
