Talk Therapy with Dr. Terra

Ah, the joys of summer: The withering heat and school vacations, when your kids give you minute-to-minute updates on their boredom levels. Isn’t summer supposed to be fun and relaxing? If you’ve got summer depression, it isn’t. The warmth, relaxation and flexibility that the summer months bring can be exciting for vacations and sunshine, but for some, summer months can have the potential to trigge...

During the month of June, we celebrate several awareness events, including Juneteenth, Pride Month, PTSD Awareness Month, and Men's Health Month. In 1970, New York City held its first Pride march, one year after the Stonewall Uprising. Since then, we recognize June as Pride Month, to promote the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgende...

I often design my show topics around popular issues that I see amongst my clients. Lately, I have seen a rise in black female clients who come to me reporting feeling devalued, undermined, treated with less respect, less job satisfaction due to bias and microaggressions. These experiences are leading my clients to feel more symptoms of psychological distress, anxiety and depression. There’s no den...

For the month of May the show has been highlighting mental health awareness, the stigma associated with mental health and mental illness, and various ways to deal with these issues. For the final episode dedicated to mental health awareness a special guest was invited on to discuss Police Officer Mental Health. Just like every other person on this earth police officers can struggle with mental hea...

New ways to think about difficult emotions. Difficult emotions sit at the heart of almost every mental health issue. How well do you understand and work with your difficult emotions?  ‘Bad’ emotions? I think one of the fundamental issues in coping with emotions is the way we tend to judge them as being ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘positive’ or ‘negative ‘.  Most people think, for example, that love, and happ...

It is still May, and we are continuing our celebration of Mental Health Awareness by discussing how our parent-child relationships can affect our mental health. A lot of who you are is determined by the people you spend time with, especially those in your family. They tend to have a massive influence on your personality, mental health, beliefs and values, which can have a negative or positive effe...

Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in the U.S. since 1949. Every year during the month of May, there is a national movement to raise awareness about mental health. Individuals, agencies, institutions, and organizations work together, we fight stigma, provide support, educate the public and advocate for policies that support the millions of people in the U.S. affected by mental illness...

Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in the U.S. since 1949. Every year during the month of May, there is a national movement to raise awareness about mental health. Individuals, agencies, institutions, and organizations work together, we fight stigma, provide support, educate the public and advocate for policies that support the millions of people in the U.S. affected by mental illness...

To conclude the discussion on Stress Awareness this show will focus on stress hormones and happy hormones. How chronic stress puts your health at risk. While feeling slightly stressed on occasion is normal, having heightened levels for extended periods of time is detrimental to your health. Stress can disrupt your body’s natural hormone balance, causing issues such as obesity, insomnia, low energy...

April Is Stress Awareness Month These days, it can sometimes seem as if “stress” is a synonym for “life.” Whether it’s the boss piling on yet another deadline or worrying about family health and finances, it’s all too easy to shift from chilled out to stressed out — that overwhelmed, slightly sweaty, breathless feeling that makes it hard to think and function effectively. Stress is becoming more a...

April Is Stress Awareness Month Since 1992, Stress Awareness Month has been observed with the intention to raise awareness and increase the knowledge about the negative impact stress has on our lives. During the month of April, Stress Awareness Month is recognized as the time to spread awareness, but also to increase knowledge on how to better manage or prevent it from affecting your physical and...

Understanding how to self-regulate our emotions and actions is an essential skill to develop. If you are working towards “earned secure attachment”, think of this as a milestone on that path. Individuals with one of the insecure attachment styles may find self-regulation a bit difficult to get used to. In this podcast, I will help you understand common relationship triggers for those with each of...

Attachment Styles and how they Affect Adult Relationships Are you struggling with relationship problems? The cause may be the attachment style you developed with your primary caregiver as an infant. John Bowlby’s work on attachment theory dates back to the 1950’s. Based on his theory, four adult attachment styles were identified: 1. anxious-preoccupied, 2. avoidant-dismissive , 3. disorganized / f...

A lack of self-acceptance can hold you back in every area of your life. It affects your confidence and can prevent you from reaching your full potential. People with high self-acceptance are more resilient to criticism. They understand that it’s okay to accept themselves while also working for continuous self-improvement. But what is self-acceptance, really? And why are some people more self-accep...

Do you ever feel as if you're wearing a mask? Perhaps you think that you must act a certain way around your family, friends, boss, or feel you have to say certain things to your co-workers, so that you'll be accepted. Instead of being yourself, you may be playing a role to fit in, or to impress others. Most of us have gone through times like this. Instead of behaving in a genuine way, we tell peop...

Self-care is extremely important, especially as we deal with a stressful world. You can practice self-care in many ways: exercise, eat well, meditate, seek therapy, and more. Each method of self-care fits into one of the seven pillars: mental, emotional, physical, environmental, spiritual, recreational, and social. A well-balanced self-care routine involves each of these, so avoid restricting your...

We will discuss the lowdown on self-love, the greatest love of all, and all the ways to cultivate self-love. The clients I work with often struggle to know how to love themselves. There is often some internalized shame-based beliefs and the need for self-love, and typically they do not know what steps to take to make the necessary changes. They become lost and unfamiliar with how to navigate the p...

February brings the opportunity to celebrate Black History Month and examine, learn and revisit the missing and unacknowledged chapters in our history as a nation. This month is about celebrating the many contributions of African Americans in the United States. It is about recognizing how far Black Americans have come throughout history and highlighting areas that still need work. One of those are...

This month I have been discussing all the ways to make a fresh start for the new year – a time for reflection, goal setting and move forward. And it’s a great time to declutter! If it’s been a while since you’ve sorted through your stuff and said goodbye to the things that no longer serve you, you might want to declutter for the new year. Not only will it help you truly feel as though you’re start...

Manifestation is how you turn your goals into reality; well manifestation and hard work. The process is enchanting, it is not total magic, though. And it's not something that happens overnight. For manifestation to work, you must set your intention, believe that it will become a reality, then take active steps towards making that abstract idea come to fruition. No matter what your goals are—to lea...

It happens to the best of us: Obstacles appear out of seemingly nowhere, leaving us wondering how to overcome them and continue on the path to achieving our goals. But whether it’s a difficulty at work, family trouble, illness or time management issues, it’s possible to overcome and emerge on the other side of those roadblocks stronger than ever – and even closer to achieving your goals. During th...

It's that time of year again where we begin to reflect on the past, accomplishments and flaws. It’s a new year and you are probably motivated by a fresh start. You have high hopes to finally achieve your dreams or bounce back after a tough year. You are probably setting New Year's Resolutions to lose weight, achieve lofty goals, get organized, develop new relationships, or finally land that dream...

If you are looking for ways to start the new year, search no more, this podcast will provide you with tips of how to end 2022 and begin 2023! So, sit let’s sit back, reflect on your year so far and make a list of all the things you want to achieve before 2023 rolls in.

If you are looking for ways to handle relationships during the holidays, search no more, this podcast will provide you with tips of how to manage yourself and any difficult relationship you many encounter during the holiday season. Tonight were are talking about how to navigate the holidays when you do not have strong family relationships, how to handle strained relationships, how to get through t...

If you are looking for ways to handle holiday stress, search no more, this podcast will provide you with tips of how to manage your mood during the holiday season. Each week I will cover a different topic and share tips for dealing with seasonal stress and holiday blues. Some topics include how to deal with pressure from family and friends, tips for getting support when living with loss, grief, or...