Heather Quamme Counseling

02/16/2023

02/09/2023

Mindshift is a free app created by Anxiety Canada. https://www.anxietycanada.com/articles/new-mindshift-cbt-app-gives-canadians-free-anxiety-relief/ It has a lot of resources to help better understand stress and our emotions. When the app is open scroll down to the bottom and it has a few tools that you can use to calm your mind. There are audio recordings of calm breathing exercises, tense and release exercises and even how to take a 4 min. mental vacation.

Anxiety Canada, a world leader delivering evidence-based mental health relief through digital channels, has released MindShift CBT for iOS and Android, free to download and use for all Canadians. It employs scientifically proven strategies based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to help users l...

01/05/2023

If you feel stressors starting to overwhelm your day. Here is a strategy to approach a difficult task: break down the hard task into smaller manageable chunks. It doesn't matter if you are climbing a foot off of the ground. You can still learn a lot and build your strength/confidence up for the bigger challenges that you will face.

12/20/2022

Holiday Stress
Anxiety over the holidays is a familiar feeling for many. One way to manage is challenging your thoughts and reframing your worries to reduce your stress. First try to identify what you are worrying about. Then look at this worry from multiple perspectives. Try to reprioritize so that the worry does not have as much power over you. Next restructure your thoughts. It may even help to give yourself a break and relax before you go back to try to resolve the issue and overcome the challenges you are facing. Be it simply undercooking your turkey, driving on the winter roads or managing all the struggling relationships over the holidays take the time you need to manage your anxious feelings. Anxiety can build and make the holidays stressful. If your stress is overwhelming please contact a healthcare professional who can work with you to build a support plan.

11/21/2022

If depression or anxiety are getting in the way doing the things you or someone you know want to do then it is important to get help. Talk to your doctor or nurse practitioner to look at how to get help. Often our first reaction is to avoid connecting with others but this feeling is often a symptom the mental illness. Talk to someone who can help you.

11/20/2022

What are the Symptoms of Depression?
Each person is different and will have unique symptoms, but here are some of the more common symptoms of depression:

Depressed mood
Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness or hopelessness
Loss of interest or pleasure in usually-enjoyed activities
Change in weight or appetite
Sleep disturbances
Decreased energy or fatigue (without significant physical exertion)
Thoughts of death
Poor concentration of difficulty making decisions
If you or someone you know has had any of these symptoms most days for more than two or three weeks, contact your doctor, or a registered mental health professional to discuss the symptoms.

If you or someone you know is having recurring thoughts of su***de it's very important that they get medical help right away. Taken from https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/chronic-diseases/mental-illness/what-depression.html

11/03/2022

WHAT IS ANXIETY? Taken from anxietycanada.com
Anxiety is our body’s reaction to perceived danger or important events. It can be like an internal alarm system that alerts us to danger and helps our body prepare to deal with stress. Anxiety triggers something called the “fight-flight-freeze” response (F3). This has helped our ancestors survive throughout history. Sometimes when we experience a lot of stress our body goes into in a constant state of this fight-flight-freeze response then anxiety can impact our ability to function in our day to day life. Anxiety may be a problem if it; it happens a lot, causes you distress and stops you from doing the things you like to do. If you or someone you know is struggling with anxiety talk to your doctor on how to get help. There are many effective treatments and techniques to manage anxiety.

10/13/2022

10/06/2022

Cognitive Behavior Therapy or CBT is one type of mental health therapy which looks at how our thoughts, behaviors, emotions and physical responses are interrelated. When we assess some of our difficulties and challenges, we can look at our thinking and address our maladaptive thoughts to build new strategies. We can also look at our behaviors and actions to find healthy coping strategies which will in turn impact our emotions and thoughts.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) works to give you tools and teach you methods and skills that are proven to be helpful in facing our daily challenges. Common uses of CBT are to address: stress management, anxiety, depression, anger, panic attacks, grief, mood disorders, eating disorders, drug and alcohol misuse, obsessive compulsive disorders and many other mental health challenges.