Marcy L. Peska

06/11/2023

Let me know if you have questions or want to sign up!

05/02/2021

I am tremendously excited to now be offering this new service! There are more details in the comments!

04/27/2021

I highly recommend this fantastic video about how to release stress, anxiety, and other difficult emotions, from your body. 💚💚💚

https://youtu.be/GZw8fRPK-8k

Trauma, Anxiety, and Other Emotions can get trapped in your body- essentially emotions can get stored in your autonomic nervous system response. Your Nervous...

08/24/2020

This is a terrific video about “Mental Strength” and “Mental Weakness”. Yeah, if those two ideas make you feel skeptical, uneasy, defensive, or angry you’ll appreciate this vid. 💚
https://youtu.be/Waq7koz_Gkw

This video answers the questions: What’s the secret to being mentally strong? How can one become mentally strong? How can someone avoid become mentally weak?...

06/20/2020

There has never been a time when we’ve had more awareness about mental health, or needed to have everyone be able to provide basic mental health support to ourselves and each other.
This looks like an amazing resource and I’m planning to go through the program. It’s FREE! Will you try it, too?
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/johns-hopkins-is-offering-free-online-course-in-psychological-first-aid/

The class, which is being offered through the online educational platform Coursera, is currently being taken by more than 200,000 people around the world.

03/25/2020

This is a very worthwhile read.
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https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a collective loss of normalcy.

03/24/2020

Get your fix of Alaska photos! 💚💚💚
https://www.juneauempire.com/news/wild-shots-photos-of-mother-nature-in-alaska-11/

Reader-submitted photos.

03/21/2020

I highly recommend you create something like this for yourself.
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03/21/2020

What is it like when your narrative about the future changes abruptly? This video is about that paradigm shift, and about how we find our balance afterwards.
https://youtu.be/cCNW9jO7EyM

The way we make sense of the world is mostly invisible to us...but times like this can make it visible. There have been moments in my life my expectations ha...

03/19/2020

03/08/2020

Have you ever been playing hide and seek, or maybe gone hunting, and found it almost impossible to suppress a sneeze or cough? Ooooh, that feeling can make a person mad!
The pressure for us all to quit touching our faces is rising, and for me, at least, trying to stop can bring those same sensations of compulsion, discomfort, and intense frustration.
The trouble is, habits are hard to break and few habits are as long-standing, or as rewarding, as touching our faces. You most likely began touching your face as a form of social communication, and a form of self-soothing, well before you said your first word. That puts this habit in a new perspective, doesn’t it?
Changing deep seated habits, like this, is possible, but it requires more than simply deciding to stop.
-> The first step is to begin practicing mindfulness of your facial touching. Turn your awareness towards this habit, and spend a day or so noticing, non-judgmentally, each time you touch your face. Don’t focus on stopping yet, simply practice noticing. This step is the foundation of your plan to change this habit, so please don’t give it short shrift.
-> The next step is to begin noticing the urge you have to touch your face, before you actually touch it. Here is where you have a chance to begin decreasing this behavior. When you notice this urge, observe whether the behavior is necessary. Most of the time it won’t be necessary, but there are, obviously, still times when we all need to touch our faces. This entire process is about gaining control over the behavior, and choosing when to touch or not.
-> Notice the urge, and if the behavior is *not* necessary, substitute an alternative behavior. It’s good to have one or two substitute behaviors selected in advance, to experiment with. These substitutes should be self-soothing and/or distracting behaviors like brief but complex mental tasks (listing all the national parks you can think of, counting backwards from 100 by sevens, etc.) and self-soothing activities like breathing exercises, tapping, or massaging the back of your neck.
-> If you’re able to delay touching your face, or resist the urge entirely, CONGRATULATE YOURSELF! This is a significant achievement and the more genuine and positive self-talk you have about each success, the more successful you’ll continue to be.

One more thing:
Some habits are urgent enough to be all-or-nothing propositions. This is often the case with drugs, alcohol, and to***co. Touching your face is NOT one of these scenarios. There will continue to be many times when it is both safe and appropriate to touch your face, and it’s a stressful enough habit to break that it’s worth letting down your guard, dropping your mindfulness, and returning to “normal” some of the time. When are those times? Most likely when you’re at home, you are certain that anyone who lives with you isn’t contagious, and, of course, when you have squeaky-clean, freshly washed hands.

What experiences, tips, and tricks, do you have around changing this habit?
💚💚💚

01/21/2020

This is a great video and makes important points about the vital role of primary care providers treating folks with mental health concerns.
https://youtu.be/FudoiSkcTv8

Lady Gaga recently went on stage with Oprah and said A LOT of great things about mental health. However, one of the statements was less than ideal so I decid...

12/21/2019

Stop Negative Thought Patterns for a Happier New Year!

Do you have negative or automatic thoughts that upset you? Do you rehearse scenarios in your imagination that leave you feeling angry or helpless? Do you deal with negative self-talk?

Start the New Year out right, be more effective, and feel better by learning to identify and counter Thought Distortions. I’m offering a short, intensive class January 3-6( Fri-Mon) via a private Facebook group. I’ll upload a daily video and be available to discuss the material in group each day from 2-4pm AKST (6-8pm EST). YOU get to show up to the group, watch the videos, and comment/participate at whatever time of day works best for you. Although timing is flexible, participation is required.
Cost: $40/person
Group Minimum: 5 participants
Please feel free to share far and wide!

Note: folks who’ve covered this material previously are welcome to treat this as a refresher course. 💚

12/02/2019

This is a beautiful video with a great message. 💚💚💚
https://youtu.be/vASD7kkGdqs

When "Angels In Heaven" went viral in 2017, my life changed in a lot of ways. This video is about the flood of comments tha followed the video. If you though...

11/05/2019

This is a long but interesting article. If you are a fan of high quality, best practice treatment for trauma survivors, you may be interested in reading it. It’s also interesting if you are, like me, a fan of the work done by The Satanic Temple. I know, it sounds horrifying, but the name is part of how they demonstrate that religion and government need to be separate and that reason and human rights should be top priorities in civic life.

https://apple.news/AKoJYwewBQe2PvHsamfAbNw

Activists with The Satanic Temple say a now-former therapist in Canada has been pushing conspiracies about globe-spanning, mind-controlling cults for years. And after they exposed some of her professional talks to her licensing board, she voluntarily gave up her psychology license.

10/26/2019

Do you know how to evaluate the science you read about? If you’re not sure, please look up “scientific literacy”, which is a very important skill in this age of “garbage science” and “alternative facts”.
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https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/21/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-pace-trial/

A much-touted study recommended therapy and exercise for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Problem is, it was based on bad science.

10/20/2019

I’m considering offering FB-based group classes again, in the next month or so.
In the past, I’ve offered groups covering mental health skills including Interpersonal Boundaries, Emotion Regulation, Skills for Living with Mental Health Concerns, Goal Setting and Achievement, and Identifying and Challenging Thought Distortions.
I’m open to repeating any of these, and/or to offering something new based on requests.
Who is interested in classes?
What content are you wishing for?
💚💚💚