Wellness Institute Blog

Why selecting the right counseling program is easy?

We won’t be talking about the pros and cons of a counseling career today but pay attention to the right program choice that can open your door to the professional counseling world.

As far as you are looking to find the program, I suppose you are perfectly aware of what counseling psychology means. Perhaps, you just graduated from school or university and want to become a counselor, or, maybe, you need a sip of fresh air and are just at the beginning of your journey into this highly competitive field.

No matter who you are or where you’re from, once you’ve decided to work in counseling, there’s nothing to stop you. We are here to help you choose the best master’s degree program in counseling and make your life easier.

Gratitude is the act of being thankful and expressing appreciation. It is essentially a change in mindset, encouraging you to focus on and reflect the positives in the present. 

This article introduces the practice of gratitude and why it’s important. 

Improves physical health

Gratitude works wonders for your physical health. Those who are grateful tend to have less physical symptoms and pain. Grateful people are also more likely to be conscious of their health. This is likely to prolong life expectancy. Interestingly, those that expressed gratitude spent more time exercising. 

Exercise has been proven to be incredibly important to health and well-being. However, there are many barriers to exercise. The most common being lack of time. If you’re struggling with finding time to exercise, think outside the box. Incorporate fitness into the workplace. Try take short walking breaks or do some basic stretches. Get your co-workers involved to help with motivation.

If you’re suffering from work-related stress, you’re not alone. 43% of people in the US report that their job has a negative impact on stress-levels, which can have far-reaching consequences in other areas of life. Stress can take a toll on your physical and mental health, affect your interpersonal relationships and hinder productivity. Taking steps to cope with stress is crucial for enjoying a better quality of life.

Many people appear to be skeptical when it comes to hypnotherapy and how it can have a positive impact on the way you think. There are many common myths about hypnotherapy which lead people to question its effectiveness. It has been used for over half a century to treat many dozens of issues.

From being used to control pain through hypnobirthing, to helping aid weight loss, treat addiction and also improve symptoms of anxiety and depression; hypnotherapy has been proven to be an extremely effective method of solution-focused therapy.

It's no surprise that more and more brands are taking their business online. In fact, marketing experts from Maryville University state that digital marketing is on the rise, sparking a demand for content creators and social media gurus. Nowadays, brands can no longer afford to ignore their online presence if they want to stay competitive and reach their target customers. This finding holds true across all brands — from fashion shops and nail salons, to cupcake stores and gyms. Of course, therapists can also find value in social media, but the rules are a little different.

While most businesses leverage their websites to promote discounts and lure customers into buying products, the ethics of these engagements are questionable for therapists. After all, you're dealing with mental health. Nonetheless, mental health providers can still use social media to increase their practice's visibility, and in turn, help more people. Here are some tips.

In today’s digital world, it seems like every therapist on the block has a website. So, what do you do to stand out in that crowd? How do you inspire your dream client to reach out and become YOUR client? Here are a few quick things you can do on your existing website to make that a reality.

I had double bypass open heart surgery two weeks ago. Here are some of the lessons I'm learning from this experience.

The deep subtlety of what my heart is telling me. For example, I resisted going to the emergency room when my heart was telling me to go because my experience didn’t match my image of a guy clutching his heart and screaming out in excruciating pain.

My symptoms were more benign, thankfully; light headedness, nausea, pressure in my chest. Fortunately, Diane made the decision to pay attention to my heart’s message and go to the emergency room.

Ok, you’ve set up a blog page on your therapy practice website. You’ve set aside an hour or two in your day for writing and you’ve cleared a calm, distraction-free work zone in your office. Now to write, letting the dazzling ideas flow from your therapy-expert brain onto the digital page.

Except, you have no idea how to get started. You thought this would be easier!

Don’t panic.

Writing and publishing blog content is a great way to market your private practice, show your voice and personality to potential clients, and establish yourself as an authority in your particular niche of psychotherapy. But blogging doesn’t come easy to anyone — not at first, anyway.

Your therapy textbooks were certainly not short on jargon. So you probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that other groups of professionals love to throw around their own insider terms. The business world is especially guilty of this, and one of their favorite abbreviations is ROI.

Like most bits of jargon, ROI is a needlessly technical way to describe a simple concept. It stands for return on investment. Basically, when you spend money (or other resources) on something — hiring a new employee, an updated piece of equipment, a redesigned logo — you hope to get something back, preferably more than you put in.

The amount you get back from any given expenditure, positive or negative, is your return on investment. Smart business people calculate ROI for almost every decision they make.

Are you constantly thinking about food or your next opportunity to eat?
Do you see yourself as thinner or heavier than others see you?
Have you tried several weight loss/food control methods?
Do you feel shame about your eating or not eating?
Are you juggling multiple roles in your life?

As you take in these statements, are there any that resonate with you?  Perhaps you are a mother coordinating the schedules of your children while managing the title of wife and business woman.  Maybe you are a businessman traveling and you miss your family, so you reach for another serving of cake, at least it allows you to feel some sweetness while you are on the road?  Or maybe you are so stressed out from trying to people please that all you can think about is devouring your next meal?  Maybe you’ve gotten to a point in your life where food is love.  Your food or drink of choice might represent a substitute for emotional satisfaction.  Perhaps it helps you to drown out the pain of loneliness, fear, guilt, or shame?  Maybe you are stressed out and can’t quite put your finger on the ‘why’ of it?