dr jennifer hartstein Tag

April is National Stress Awareness Month. Stress is something that impacts all of us. In fact, it’s virtually impossible to go through life without some sort of stress each day.
Let’s talk about BOUNDARIES. These are especially important as we are fully immersed in the holiday season. They are not always easy to set and incredibly important to have.
The first week of November is International Stress Awareness week. In honor of that, and, in honor of the upcoming holiday season that often causes a lot of people to feel stressed, let’s take a couple of minutes to talk about what stress is and what you can do to more effectively manage it.
Sometimes, when I think about the fact that September is National Suicide Prevention month, I can’t help but wish it was unnecessary. Unfortunately, the numbers tell us it is.
At the start of every year, we are bombarded with information about what resolutions we need to make, how to change, how to be better, or how to be something other than ourselves. What a horrible way to begin a new year—feeling as if you already aren’t good enough.
As is becoming our standard operating procedure, Hartstein Psychological Services will be closed for the week between Christmas and the New Year. We recognize the need to practice what we preach and know that self-care is one of the important things on which we need to focus.
This is one of my favorite times of the year, with Thanksgiving just around the corner—the changing of seasons, festive foods, and togetherness with loved ones. It is a time when we are reminded to be thankful for the things our lives include, and the holiday can lift our spirits as being grateful is the essence of Thanksgiving!
Maybe David Bowie said it best—"Ch-ch-changes…" Or maybe, it’s just that the past year plus has been full of changes for all of us, with a ton of uncertainty tossed on top.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s important to stop and think about what that means and why we need to focus on it. It’s also important to highlight why we need to stop conflating mental health and mental illness and the issues that arise when we do.
Mindfulness. We’re hearing that word a lot lately. Unfortunately, most of us don’t even really know what it means and why it is important. We also often associate it with new age practices, which, for many of us, may cause us to rule it out before even exploring it as a concept.