Shannon Gonter 4/17/24 Shannon Gonter 4/17/24

I may not be the best fitting provider for you…

…BUT THERE IS ONE OUT THERE FOR YOU. I KNOW IT! I ALSO KNOW THAT IT CAN BE COMPLICATED TO FIND THE RIGHT PROVIDER MATCH FOR YOU - SO I AM HAPPY TO ASSIST YOU IN THAT.

I may not be the best fitting provider for you…and that is okay.

BUT THERE IS ONE OUT THERE FOR YOU.

I KNOW IT! I ALSO KNOW THAT IT CAN BE COMPLICATED TO FIND THE RIGHT PROVIDER MATCH FOR YOU - SO I AM HAPPY TO ASSIST YOU IN THAT.

Feel free to reach out via EMAIL and I can gather some basic information from you and point you in the right direction of finding the best fitting therapist to meet your needs.

If you want to browse some therapists or other wellness professionals on your own - check out the below sites and utilize their search filters to find someone who might meet your needs best.

Written by Shannon Gonter, LPCC owner of Therapy by Shannon, LLC

The information and resources contained on this website are for informational purposes only and are not intended to assess, diagnose, or treat any medical and/or mental health disease or condition. The use of this website does not imply nor establish any type of therapist-client relationship. Furthermore, the information obtained from this site should not be considered a substitute for a thorough medical and/or mental health evaluation by an appropriately credentialed and licensed professional.

Shannon Gonter 11/4/20 Shannon Gonter 11/4/20

Louisville Local Mental Health Resources

Louisville, KY is filled with mental health and wellness related businesses. In this post we will explore a variety of different agencies that can assist you in deepening the connection you have with self.

EARTH & SPIRIT CENTER

Offers educational opportunities, workshops for beginners and children and many more.

MENTAL HEALTH LOU

Their mission is to decrease stigma and increase community awareness of mental health resources through connection, mobilization and education.

VIPASSANA COMMUNITY

Purpose is to provide a supportive setting and community for insight meditation practice. Newcomers and beginners are always welcome.

B.MINDFUL LOUISVILLE

Their providers are skilled in what they do - each specializing in their own area and caring for their clients in their own unique way.

LOUISVILLE COMMUNITY OF MINDFUL LIVING

Coming together to meditate, share insights, ask questions and find a peaceful refuge without fear of judgment or rejection.

KORU MINDFULNESS TRAININGS

An evidence-based curriculum designed to teach mindfulness, meditation, and stress management. Hosted by UofL.

THE PETE FOUNDATION

With a vision and mission of rallying the community to champion youth mental health & wellness.

NAMI LOUISVILLE

NAMI Louisville is dedicated to educating consumers, family members, professionals, and the general public to dispel myths and misperceptions about mental illness. Our programs and services are aimed toward eradicating the stigma of mental illness, enhancing the hope of recovery, and improving the quality of life for those in the Louisville area whose lives are affected by serious mental illness.

SLOW DOWN AT THE SPEED

The Speed Art Museum is collaborating with UofL Health Promotion, local musicians, and community mindfulness teachers to provide guidance that will enhance your present moment experiences in the Speed.

Compiled by Shannon Gonter

Shannon Gonter 7/29/20 Shannon Gonter 7/29/20

Podcasts For Mental Health

Educating yourself on various mental health related topics can be very beneficial and impactful on your day to day life. Check out the various podcasts and audio file apps that can assist you in exploring your inner world with more confidence and tackling the external happenings with more ease.

Unlocking Us

Join researcher and #1 New York Times best-selling author Brené Brown as she unpacks and explores the ideas, stories, experiences, books, films, and music that reflect the universal experiences of being human, from the bravest moments to the most brokenhearted.

10% happier

10% Happier author Dan Harris talks with meditation pioneers, celebrities, scientists, and health experts about training our minds.

Happiness Lab

You might think more money, a better job, or Instagram-worthy vacations would make you happy. You’re dead wrong. In "The Happiness Lab" podcast, Yale professor Dr Laurie Santos will take you through the latest scientific research and share some surprising and inspiring stories that will forever alter the way you think about happiness. She's changed the lives of thousands of people through her class "Psychology and the Good Life," and she'll change yours, too.

Are you ready to feel better?

Get Out of Your Own Way

Learn from Brittany Johnson, LMHC about “getting out of your own way”. Exploring your why, things we do to self sabotage, and more.

The Struggle Bus

The Struggle Bus is an advice show about mental health, self-care, and just getting through the damn day. Co-hosts Katharine Heller (@spkheller) and Sally Tamarkin (@sallyt) answer listener questions about family, friends, work, mental health, love, and literally everything else — no topic is off-limits and no problem is too big, too small, or too weird. Climb aboard and get advice from two friends who have lots of feelings and lots of opinions.

IFS Talks

IFS Talks is an audio series to deepen connections with the Internal Family Systems Model through conversations with lead trainers, authors, practitioners and users.

You can find it here at this link.In these audio interviews, we will have the opportunity to draw out aspects of IFS Lead Trainers and skilled presenters to create a user-friendly format for listeners to get to know each trainer or practitioner, their background, in and before IFS. With candid, self-led dialogue, trainers and practitioners can share their specific interests with listeners interested in deepening their inner knowledge and IFS practice.

Written by Shannon Gonter

I specialize in working young adults. I am passionate about my career and want to work with you to create positive change. I also strive to create a counseling environment where men and young adults can relate, feel heard, and find new solutions to their negative patterns. Some issues that I most commonly work with are stress, relationship issues, difficulty saying “no” to others, difficulties recognizing emotions and emotionally connecting to others, anger, and intimacy issues, among others.

Shannon Gonter 7/1/20 Shannon Gonter 7/1/20

Good Reads For Your Mental Health

If you are a book worm, check out this blog post and explore some of these good reads. They are filled with science based, factual stories and information that is aimed at assisting you and your day to day life in regards to mental health and understanding yourself and your relationships better.

Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

When Wherever You Go, There You Are was first published in 1994, no one could have predicted that the book would launch itself onto bestseller lists nationwide and sell over 750,000 copies to date. Ten years later, the book continues to change lives. In honor of the book's 10th anniversary, Hyperion is proud to be releasing the book with a new afterword by the author, and to share this wonderful book with an even larger audience.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

In The Power of Habit, award-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to the sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.

As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives -- a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys -- she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.

With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is revolutionary in its candor, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.

The Mindful Twenty-Something: Life Skills to Handle Stress…and Everything Else

As a twenty-something, you may feel like you are being pulled in dozen different directions. With the daily tumult, busyness, and major life changes you experience as a young adult, you may also be particularly vulnerable to stress and its negative effects. Emerging adulthood, which occurs between the ages of 18 and 29, is a developmental stage of life when you’re faced with important decisions about school, relationships, sex, your career, and more. With so much going on, you need a guide to help you navigate with less stress and more ease.

The Koru Mindfulness program, developed at Duke University and already in use on numerous college campuses—including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Dartmouth, and several others—and in treatment centers across the country, is the only evidence-based mindfulness training program for young adults that has been empirically proven to have significant benefits for sleep, perceived stress, and self-compassion. Now, with The Mindful Twenty-Something, this popular program is accessible to all young adults struggling with stress.

With Koru Mindfulness and the practical tools you’ll learn from this acceptance-based, proven-effective approach, you’ll be able to cultivate the compassion and mindfulness skills you need to manage life’s challenges from a calm, balanced center, regardless of what comes your way.

Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself

More and more, psychologists are turning away from an emphasis on self-esteem and moving toward self-compassion in the treatment of their patients—and Dr. Neff’s extraordinary book offers exercises and action plans for dealing with every emotionally debilitating struggle, be it parenting, weight loss, or any of the numerous trials of everyday living.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a #@%!: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.

For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.

Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.

There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.

Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life

Researchers have spent the last decade trying to develop a “pink pill” for women to function like Viagra does for men. So where is it? Well, for reasons this book makes crystal clear, that pill will never be the answer—but as a result of the research that’s gone into it, scientists in the last few years have learned more about how women’s sexuality works than we ever thought possible, and Come as You Are explains it all.

The first lesson in this essential, transformative book by Dr. Emily Nagoski is that every woman has her own unique sexuality, like a fingerprint, and that women vary more than men in our anatomy, our sexual response mechanisms, and the way our bodies respond to the sexual world. So we never need to judge ourselves based on others’ experiences. Because women vary, and that’s normal.

Second lesson: sex happens in a context. And all the complications of everyday life influence the context surrounding a woman’s arousal, desire, and orgasm.

Cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines tells us that the most important factor for women in creating and sustaining a fulfilling sex life, is not what you do in bed or how you do it, but how you feel about it. Which means that stress, mood, trust, and body image are not peripheral factors in a woman’s sexual wellbeing; they are central to it. Once you understand these factors, and how to influence them, you can create for yourself better sex and more profound pleasure than you ever thought possible.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

When our embarrassments and fears lie, we often listen to them anyway. They thwart our gratitude, acceptance, and compassion—our goodness. They insist, “I am not worthy.” But we are worthy—of self-discovery, personal growth, and boundless love. With Brené Brown’s game-changing New York Times bestseller The Gifts of Imperfection—which has sold more than 2 million copies in more than 30 different languages, and Forbes recently named one of the "Five Books That Will Actually Change Your Outlook On Life"—we find courage to overcome paralyzing fear and self-consciousness, strengthening our connection to the world.

A motivational and inspiring guide to wholehearted living, rather than just the average self-help book, with this groundbreaking work Brené Brown, Ph.D., bolsters the self-esteem and personal development process through her characteristic heartfelt, honest storytelling. With original research and plenty of encouragement, she explores the psychology of releasing our definitions of an “imperfect” life and embracing living authentically. Brown’s “ten guideposts” are benchmarks for authenticity that can help anyone establish a practice for a life of honest beauty—a perfectly imperfect life.

Now more than ever, we all need to cultivate feelings of self-worth, as well as acceptance and love for ourselves. In a world where insults, criticisms, and fears are spread too generously alongside messages of unrealistic beauty, attainment, and expectation, we look for ways to “dig deep” and find truth and gratitude in our lives. A new way forward means we can’t hold on too tightly to our own self-defeating thoughts or the displaced pain in our world. Instead, we can embrace the imperfection.

Unfuck Your Brain: Getting Over Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Freak-Outs, and Triggers with science

Our brains do their best to help us out, but every so often they can be real assholes―having melt downs, getting addicted to things, or shutting down completely at the worst possible moments. Your brain knows it’s not good to do these things, but it can’t help it sometimes―especially if it’s obsessing about trauma it can’t overcome. That’s where this life-changing book comes in.

With humor, patience, science, and lots of good-ole swearing, Dr. Faith explains what’s going on in your skull, and talks you through the process of retraining your brain to respond appropriately to the non-emergencies of everyday life, and to deal effectively with old, or newly acquired, traumas (particularly post-traumatic stress disorder).

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.

Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.

Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential.

When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work.

But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start.

Written by Shannon Gonter

*Therapy by Shannon is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Shannon Gonter 6/17/20 Shannon Gonter 6/17/20

Must Have Apps for Mental Health

We all have so many different apps on our phones (a lot of them that we never use). How about deleting some of those and replacing them with ones that can benefit your overall sense of self and mental health?

KORU MINDFULNESS

Koru Mindfulness® is an evidence-based curriculum specifically designed for teaching mindfulness, meditation, and stress management to college students and other young adults.

MINDFULNESS

Besides offering an extensive number of meditations with world-renowned teachers, the app also includes a reminder function which can be activated on specific times and places.

SANOMIND

Listen to audio content created by licensed therapists and psychologists.

INSIGHT TIMER

Offers the largest free library of guided meditations on earth and the world’s most loved meditation Timer, for free.

CALM

Calm is the perfect mindfulness app for beginners, but also includes hundreds of programs for intermediate and advanced users.

HEADSPACE

A personal meditation guide, right in your pocket with hundreds of themed sessions on everything from stress and sleep to anxiety and depression.

Written by Shannon Gonter

Shannon Gonter 6/3/20 Shannon Gonter 6/3/20

Websites to visit to learn more about mental health

We are constantly surfing the web, scrolling through newsfeeds and consuming information. In this post, we will provide you with a handful of new sites and videos to watch to deepen your understanding of meditation, mindfulness based practices and vulnerability.

WILDMIND

Wildmind’s mission is to benefit the world by promoting mindfulness and compassion through the practice of Buddhist meditation.

KRISTEN NEFF’S SELF COMPASSION

Kristin Neff, Ph.D. is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on self-compassion, being the first one to operationally define and measure the construct over a decade ago.

YOUTUBE

In a poignant, funny talk at TEDxHouston, Brene Brown shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity.

TARA BRANCH’S GUIDED MEDITATIONS

Tara Brach’s teachings blend Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, compassionate engagement with our world.

MEDITATION OASIS

Through the use of guided meditation and technology, we have been able to bring meditation to thousands of people worldwide.

YOUTUBE

Kati Morton, a licensed therapist, channel is all about mental health. You name it and she talks about it.

Written by Shannon Gonter

Shannon Gonter 3/30/20 Shannon Gonter 3/30/20

COVID-19 Resources

Shannon Gonter, professional counselor with will detail the three main transitions affecting those due to COVID-19, some symptoms people might be experiencing and some actionable steps to take to cope during these uncertain times.

RESOURCE GUIDE

With any change, even the ones we plan for, we are going to have some difficulties transitioning and adjusting to the new. It’s wired deep down inside of us to be hesitant towards change (even when we know it’s good for us).

Because no human is perfect and all humans have mental health concerns, we all had some degree of mental health symptoms (anxiety, depression, sadness, fear, worry, phobias, etc…) present before COVID-19.

So in this situation, no wonder most people are struggling to adjust to this “new norm”. A pandemic is NOT something good and it is NOT something we prepared/planned for and it is NOT in our control. Plus the very uncertain time frame for how long it’ll be here for…surely makes a lot of room for mental health symptoms to increase and rise to the surface.

In this post we will focus on the ways each and every one of our lives has changed over the past couple of weeks due to COVID-19.

Now because there are so many different ways this has all affected us and we all have such unique situations, I am not going to be able to touch on every single shift, symptom and coping skill but I am going to do my best to focus on three of the biggest changes and the symptoms people are experiencing and some actionable skills to assist you in getting through this.

So I have broken it into three different categories: SOCIAL DISTANCING, WORK, AND SCHOOL

COVID19 Mental Health and Lifestyle Resources

Common Symptoms:

EVERYONE REACTS DIFFERENTLY TO STRESSFUL SITUATIONS, so don’t compare yourself to others. If you neighbor is over there “looking” fine and doing all sorts of renos on their house. Go them, but you aren’t them. If you are over there watching Netflix, go you. You do you. We are each unique in how we digest information and how we react to it. Check in with yourself and evaluate the new and changing symptoms you are experiencing and compare them with your baseline and history. You have had things happen to you in the past that you had no control of. How did you work through and tackle those? Use that data to help reframe this situation as best as it can.

Some people may be experiencing
- changes in sleep and eating habits
- increased fear and worry
- difficulties concentrating
- increase usage of alcohol or other substances
- symptoms of anxiety (rapid breathing, overthinking, sweating, trembling, pressure in chest, feelings of restlessness, etc)
- depressive symptoms (fatigue, loss of interest/pleasure in activities, hopelessness, discontentment, mood swings, agitation, excessive crying, thoughts of harming or killing yourself etc.)
  - Please call 911 or national hotline at 1-800-273-8255 if you are having thoughts of harming or killing yourself or others

Transitions:

Social Distancing
- Not being able to see friends and family, cancelled/postponed trips and events, not having the freedom to go out to our favorite restaurant, bars, shops, museums, gyms…
- Skills: Take breaks, take care of your health, unwind, and connect
  - Take breaks. Like real breaks, not ones that consist of mindlessly scrolling through Instagram. Get outside, phone a friend, go for a walk, watch a comedy show, do a favorite hobby, etc. Doesn’t have to be long but it does need to happen multiple times throughout your day. We forget that we naturally have some breaks built into our days (commuting to and from work, running errands, walking here and there, etc) so during these times when we are pretty much staying in one place, we just need to be more mindful to give ourselves the baseline of breaks, but also maybe even more due to the heightened stress.
  - Take care of your health.
    - Food: Make sure you are staying on schedule and eating as your normal do. It is suggested to have three meals a day and some snacks. Make sure you are drinking PLENTY of water. Also a great time to explore new recipes, eat clean and support local when you can!
    - Physical: When it’s nice out GET OUTSIDE. Soak in the sun. Go for a walk. Workout. Move your body. I know Shred415, Inner Warrior, and all sorts of other gyms are providing free and paid for virtual workouts. Take advantage!
    - Mind: Meditate, do mindfulness based activities, focus on your breathing, sitting still and in silence, listen to calming music, unplug from your phone, stop the mindless scroll on social media from time to time…
  - Unwind. Do things that you enjoy. Whatever you used to do on your time off, see if you can still do it (just from the safety of your own home). Lots of adults don’t have hobbies and I have been seeing this great post go around saying “In retrospect, I should’ve developed more hobbies beyond “going out to eat”. This is SO true for so many and what can help you in finding these hobbies is thinking back to what you used to do as a kid and see if you can pick any of those back up. Maybe it was dance, volleyball, running, drawing, singing, writing music, reading, organizing, painting, knitting…
  - Connect. Use technology for all its good! Lots of us have our phones tied to our hands all day every day and are very accustomed to using it for work, social media and calling/texting/facetiming someone for a short conversation.
    - The way we are now having to use technology to connect is a bit different so we need to reframe how we think about it. We need to remove its professional identify (for example using zoom for social things and not just work) and take the pressure off of it (for example you don’t have to call someone to ask them a question you can simply just call to call). You can have a virtual happy hour, game night, watch Netflix together with the Chrome extension, workout together, etc. And don’t forget to talk about non COVID topics too!
Work
- Working from home, going into work and having new hygiene and safety rules and regulations, working more hours, getting laid off, being on lack of work
- Skills: make a schedule, follow the rules. lean on your community and the government for support
  - Make a schedule (similar to your typical one) wake up, get dressed, and if at all possible set up your office in a designated “work” area. I know not everyone’s living situations will allow for you have a legit office and desk but what we want to avoid is your couch turning into the catch all. Where you work, where you eat, where you watch TV, where you video chat people, etc. We want to create some type of separation physically so then mentally it will be easier for you to transition from “work mode” to “home mode”.
  - Follow your work guidelines if you are going into work still. Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, maintain social distancing at the workspace and remind yourself that this is all new so don’t beat yourself up when you make a mistake or are slower at your job duties. The hygiene hyper-vigilance and extra precautions are not to be annoying, they are for your safety.
  - Lean on your community. Font line workers may be doing overtime or working well over their typical schedule in order to meet the demands of this virus. During this time rely on your community and loved ones for support. Maybe it is doing grocery delivery, takeout meals, or having a friend drop off meals for you so you don’t have to spend the time in public at the store. Maybe it means relaxing the duties around the house so when you come home you can do your essentials and do to bed. Maybe it would be helpful to make your house or room a CALM sanctuary and only allowing things in there that make you feel good. Prioritize yourself and your safety during this time and maybe let the non essential household duties and expectations be more relaxed during these times.
    - Take lots of deep breaths, knowing that help is there for you and that it is okay to ask for help. For discounted online therapy session from licensed mental health professionals around the nation check out https://www.coronavirusonlinetherapy.com
  - Rely on the government aid during this time. If you have been laid off during this time, push the stigma of receiving financial assistance from others aside and take care of yourself and your family. No one saw this coming. No one could have prepared for these happenings. You being laid off has nothing to do with you and your work ethic and has all the things to do with protecting you and others from this virus. Surround yourself with loved ones, lovely things and rely on the community and government to get you through these hardships.
School
- Kids being home from school, figuring out what to do for childcare, navigating online classes, your classes being cancelled, graduations being cancelled, end of the year celebrations being cancelled…
- Skills: Breathe, re organize priorities, lower expectations and reframe
  - Breathe. If you have kids and they are out of school or their childcare has stopped. Breathe. You don’t need to do it all. Reminder that you are just one person who had NO TRAINING for this. Be open with your employer about the situation (sure they will already be in the know). Lower your expectations and be kind to yourself and do what you can do without losing your mind! You aren’t going to be able to do it all (perfect employee, homeschool teacher, cleaner, master chef, gardener, etc.).
  - Re organize priorities. If you are in classes and they have been moved online. Adaption is going to be key here. Online classes aren’t everyone’s favorite I know, but the plus side is that your school is allowing you to complete your course online and not making you retake the entire semester. Reframe. Not ideal, but could be worse.

Resources To Help You Get Through These Uncertain Times

Written by Shannon Gonter