Empower: Real Talk About Mental Health

Today, we’re going to chat about triggers.  Have you ever noticed that you can come into contact with a particular smell and it brings back certain memories from another time or place in your life?  How did this affect you?  Did it evoke positive emotions, negative emotions, feelings, or thoughts?  This is what we’re going to talk more about today.  What are these things?  How do they form, what t...

Loneliness is a universal human experience like hunger or thirst. It is a natural signal that something is missing from our lives—in this case, human connection. While everyone experiences loneliness, some people are more susceptible to acute or chronic loneliness, meaning that it affects them more profoundly and even possibly more deeply.  Loneliness has many different causes. These vary from per...

Improving mental health can feel quite daunting overall, but you’re more likely to achieve this outcome if you set and track goals. Whether you’re trying to set better boundaries with a friend or prioritize self-care , mental health goals are a helpful tool for making strides with your general emotional well-being. SMART goal setting: Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-related

“Forgiveness involves willfully putting aside feelings of resentment toward someone who has committed a wrong, been unfair or hurtful, or otherwise harmed you in some way. Forgiveness is not merely accepting what happened or simply stopping your anger. Rather, it involves a voluntary shift of your feelings, attitudes, and behavior, so that you are no longer overcome by resentment and can express c...

Dr. Karen Cureton is a licensed naturopathic physician, acupuncturist, passionate neuroplasticity practitioner, and co-creator of the Wired for Wellness program.  She has walked through her own journey with complex chronic illness, anxiety, depression and PTSD and was able to personally realize the life changing impacts that can be had from rewiring your brain and rebalancing your nervous system. ...

Today, we have a very special guest with us, Meg Smeraglia.  Meg is an Occupational therapist, Human Design Guide & Aromatherapist. She weaves together the science of occupational therapy with the holistic & spiritual realms such as Human Design, Astrology, Aromatherapy, Reiki & much more.   We’re going to chat more about all of this on todays episode. You can find Meg using the links...

“Helping you lift weights and fuel your body without restrictions” Welcome to the Empower Podcast.  Today, we have a very special guest with us, Julia Ledford.  Julia has her own business in the fitness and nutrition world.  She was a Division One Rower at Clemson University so she has so much personal experience on the subject.  She has been met with struggles on her own journey and she's gon...

In today's podcast, Mandi will share about her journey through life, mental illness and trauma. You'll hear specifics of her story and the process that helped her to become the person that she is today. https://www.crisistextline.org/ Text  HOME  to  741741  from anywhere in the United States, anytime. Crisis Text Line is here for any crisis. A live, trained Crisis Counselor receives the t...

Dave Gluskin is a father of two, classically trained cellist, DJ, electronic music producer, one half of the group Audiotrap, and owner of Electrocell Studios where he offers among other things, one on one and group training opportunities for aspiring musicians and creatives.  He is a good friend of my husband's, has agreed to come on and chat with us today about some of his life experiences,...

Mind, Body, Spirit with Rob In previous episodes, we’ve talked about how overall mental health encompasses ongoing wellness and happiness relating to emotional, psychological  and social well being.  In short, it’s all about the mind, body and spirit and keeping these three in balance with each other.  Today, we’re going to dive into this concept a bit more as it relates to real world experiences....

Today we’re going to talk about social media and the influence that it has on children, teenagers and young adults and their overall mental health. Research has been done that shows that there IS a connection between social media and youth mental health problems.  Most of these studies seem to agree that the younger someone starts using social media, the more likely they are to experience negative...

In today's podcast, we’re going to do a little bit of exploration into an ultra runners brain and see how that practice affects mental health.  I know that for myself, I just feel better when I’m out in nature.  It’s such a release, it’s peaceful and just so powerful overall. My brother, Jonathan, an avid trail runner and ultramarathoner joins us today to share his thoughts, insights and exper...

Today, we’re going to jump backward a bit to talking about dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT).  We’ve covered Mindfulness, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance previously.  We’re going to cover the remaining piece today which is interpersonal effectiveness.  The goal of this concept is to deal with conflict situations effectively while increasing self respect simultaneously. Learning to...

Today, we’re going to be talking about the love languages and the effects that they have on our mental health.   Most people have at least heard of the five love languages even if they don’t really know what the concept is all about.  The concept, created by Dr. Gary Chapman, made its debut in the 1990s so it’s been around for quite some time and is still widely accepted today. Dr. Chapman breaks...

Have you lived through emotional abuse? What kind of lasting affects did/does it have on your life and overall mental health? In this episode, we talk with my sister in law, Kayla about what she has lived through and how this has brought about growth in her life. Tune in as we learn about her real life examples and how she has overcome childhood trauma to become the powerful woman that she is toda...

Emotion regulation is defined as the ability to affect one's own emotional state. It can involve either increasing positive emotion, decreasing negative emotion, or both. Generally, it involves changing your thoughts or behaviors, sometimes in conscious and sometimes in unconscious ways. For example, you can focus on the silver linings or remove yourself from a difficult situation to regulate...

Crisis, stress, conflict…all of these things happen at least at some point during our lives…some more so than for others. There’s no getting around it.  The concept of distress tolerance is meant to help us survive these difficult situations.  However, these skills need to be practiced beforehand if we want to be able to use them during times of crisis.  We need to have these skills in place so th...

Mindfulness is the state of active, open attention to the present, observing one's thoughts and feelings without judging them as good or bad.  It is being intensely focused on being aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment without interpretation or judgment.  This can be done through breathing methods, guided imagery and other practices that relax the body, mind and help reduce s...

 Our temperament is composed of our thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and, most importantly, our responses to the internal and external world inside and around us.  It dictates our overarching demeanor, and the strength and significance of our reaction to setbacks and successes. Mental illness, on the other hand, refers to consistent, enduring, dysfunctional or pathological patterns of behav...

Have you ever wondered how to help someone without a mental illness to better understand you and your mental health struggles?  Have you ever tried to talk to someone close to you about how life looks for you and how they can help you deal with the normal day to day aspects of life?  Well, today, we’re going to talk about exactly this topic.   Peter, Rebecca's husband is our guest for this cha...

During the past two episodes, we’ve talked about anxiety and depression along with risk factors, symptoms, treatment and coping skills.  During this episode, we want to dive into signs that you or someone you know needs to seek out professional help.  We’ll also discuss warning signs for suicidal ideation and ways we can help someone who is in mental health distress.  If you or someone you know is...

Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States affecting more than 8% (21 million) of American adults each year.   15% of youth (3.7 million) ages 12-17 are affected by major depression. Depression (also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression) causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating,...

In this episode, we will be talking all about anxiety.  We will discuss the difference between stress and anxiety, triggers, coping strategies, our experiences surrounding the subjects.  

In this episode we will discuss ways to keep our mental health in balance.  Mental health encompasses one's mind, body and spirit.  We will go into detail about how we can maintain all three aspects and better our overall mental health.

Welcome to Empower: Real Talk about Mental Health, where we discuss mental health, real world applications, stories, strategies and basically all things mental health.  In this episode, you'll meet sisters, Rebecca and Mandi and learn more about who they are and why they started a mental health podcast.  Disclaimer:  they are not mental health professionals and this show represents...