Romeika Consulting, LLC

01/22/2025

In a tumultuous world at a tumultuous time, activism can be an important pathway to societal change, and self-care too.

Activism brings people together, fights off feelings of helplessness, and helps process negative emotions – all of which bring about a wide range of positive health benefits.

Action can be difficult to initiate and sustain. Take the time you need to care more for yourself. Whenever you’re ready, you’ll find your community of volunteers, advocates, and allies to join.

“The time is always right to do what is right.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a longtime Girl Scout, Hikmah Jamal has had plenty of opportunities to engage in community service. In sixth grade, she helped raise funds for a local Islamic school to purchase books for its struggling library. She made and donated no-sew blankets to a hospital for patients with cancer during he...

01/03/2025

Happy New Year! Still looking for a doable resolution to take on?

Try kindness.

Kindness, it turns out, is double-edged. When we do good by someone, not only do they benefit, but we do too. Researchers have noted improvements in cognitive functioning (memory, executive control, positive emotions) and physical well-being (cardiovascular, activity level, pain tolerance) when we make a habit out of being kind and giving.

Find a volunteer activity to take on this year. Take the initiative with small, random acts of kindness (holding the door, picking up litter, complimenting a service worker, etc.), maybe once a week. If nothing else, smile more and show some grace every now and then – for your own sake.

Whether it's volunteering at a local school or taking soup to a sick neighbor, improving the welfare of others can also improve our own physical and mental health, a sizable body of research shows.

10/12/2024

All of this.

10/11/2024

Managers and organizations bear a responsibility to establish safe and healthy working conditions. This includes respecting the psychological space. Work is challenging enough: profits correlate with productivity, creativity, managing risks and ambiguities, and interacting effectively with others. It’s only humane for those in power to ensure that the inherent challenges of work are met with less friction and more appreciation. There’s also a strong business case to be made for empowering and supporting workers, the most vital part of any organization.

All workers have the right to a safe and healthy environment at work. There are effective actions to prevent mental health risks and support workers with mental health conditions.

08/19/2024

A reminder to parents on the threshold of the college year: Let your kid fly, and let them fall.

At this age, young adults need to be developing their resiliency skills and independence. This sets them up for success, now and in the future.

Don’t short circuit those efforts by over-managing them. You can (and should) still guide, support, nudge, and educate them, in developmentally appropriate ways and means. Which means, taking your hands off the wheel a bit more than may be comfortable.

Most of your kid’s failures will not be catastrophic or irreparable. Give them some slack to make mistakes and (most importantly) learn how to fix them, on their own.

When your kid flies the nest to go to college, you might want keep them from falling. But there are the downsides to taking away their independence.

08/12/2024

One person’s in-depth description of their psychotherapy process. While individual experiences vary, this account reveals a lot of common and important features.

“A therapist is part detective, part archaeologist, scratching at the surface, finding something of potential interest and digging a little deeper.”

And: “We… work as a team, trying to piece things together, make connections.”

You don’t need to wait for rock bottom to engage in therapy. You don’t need to have all your thoughts, questions, and worries figured out. (That’s what the sessions are for!)

Some therapeutic orientations may “root around in your past,” and others don’t go there at all. In either case, therapists are motivated to collaborate with you to enhance your life in the future, by focusing on who you are in the present.

Therapy was like finding a key for a door that had been locked my whole life. Here are the nine things it’s taught me

07/24/2024

“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.” – Anton Chekhov

07/15/2024

Dr. Ruth Westheimer was a force of nature. More than a s*x therapist, she was a relationship expert who understood – and normalized – s*xual literacy as a cornerstone of intimacy. Direct but compassionate, science-based but ever in awe of the magic of s*xual connection, Dr. Ruth empowered millions to approach their s*x lives with curiosity and intentionality. May her memory be a blessing.

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive s*x therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died.

07/09/2024

(Clearing up some terms that the news may or may not be covering very well…)

“Cognitive tests” are brief screening measures of gross brain functioning. They detect that something is amiss, but they don’t pinpoint a diagnosis. Like the “check engine light” or that clang you hear in your car, you’ll need a closer inspection to figure out just what is wrong, and what to do about it.

“Neuropsychological assessment” is an in-depth, multi-faceted, comprehensive evaluation conducted over the course of hours. It’s more nuanced and precise. Neuropsychologists are specialists with extensive training. While the cost is considerable, neuropsych testing is the best tool available for diagnosing cognitive disorders and developing robust interventions.

Cognitive screenings don’t assess intelligence. Neuropsych testing may include measures that yield a traditional IQ score, if warranted; but the focus of a neuropsych evaluation is often on specific cognitive functions: memory, language, reasoning, attention and concentration, to name a few.

Cognitive tests check for problems with your cognition, which is how your brain processes thoughts. The tests involve answering questions or performing simple tasks.

06/24/2024

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

So sayeth the eminent philosopher Ferris Bueller, the ultimate live-in-the-moment character.

But his wisdom holds true to those of us who are more future-oriented and have wondered if we could do it differently – a better career, better relationships, a closer match with our true inner selves.

Every now and then, it’s good to take a hard, honest look at where we are on life’s journey. Ask your family, friends, and colleagues for feedback and perspective. Dare to dream about what else you could be doing, if you stopped and looked around.

Encouragement helps, a lot. Lean on the people in your life who believe in you and see the possibilities you might miss.

Which brings to mind another (fictional) Chicagoan and the faith that Carmen Berzatto’s late brother had in him. Maybe you too are talented and ready enough to strike out on your own and “let it rip.”

You don’t have to commit to action, only to contemplation. Give yourself that much.

06/17/2024

Change is hard… a lot harder than we think it is.

New research finds that we overestimate the likelihood of bouncing back from failure. Which means that, when that mythic triumph doesn’t happen, we lose patience and empathy.

This has tremendous implications for how society tends to treat those whose challenges are particularly pervasive and stigmatized. Think drug addiction, mental illness, poverty – all objectively very difficult things to overcome.

But, the same research shows that, when those exaggerated beliefs about resilience are corrected with data, hopefulness and empathy are restored.

Bottom line: Monitor your expectations for change. Be realistic. Carefully evaluate your own failures and look for new strategies, resources, and interpersonal supports to help you bounce back better the next time.

And be more understanding and supportive of others when they need it the most.

Exaggerating the likelihood of success after failure may make us less willing to help others who are struggling.

06/10/2024

Physical pain can seriously impact psychological health.

Unfortunately, “pain free” strategies – trying to shut down pain completely with opioids or other substances – not only carry the potential for serious side effects but also in many cases don’t address the actual root of pain.

Research points to a number of cognitive techniques that are effective at reducing our experience of pain. Mental tricks that work are ones that shift attention and intensify focus onto a competing stimulus – puzzles, crosswords, games, conversation with a loved one, whatever stimulates you the most. An intentional mindset of control (“I have several options for easing my pain”) and optimism (“I can manage this”) also works remarkably well, drug-free.

Of course, consult a trusted healthcare provider to explore all the options that are best suited for you. Medication still has an important role in pain management, but it’s only one of many interventions to choose from.

Check out this TED Talk for more details on this evolving perspective.

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/07/g-s1-3281/have-we-been-misled-about-pain-how-new-understandings-can-help-us-better-manage-it?utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2MXgeyQGgm9V66P8FY3_wwtwR6ljAP0nF32erPU4I9ym9RifDFYJetvrE_aem_AS3IL_9urI_AHB1O24UsPpWYw5aB_diTpL5r2BnYkjWcqsjZMF7OPjVUmvkBRvpljz4-vZ1rnSVqoLs64N9C2LQg

Dr. Amy Baxter says you can’t just shut down pain with a pill. But we’re not helpless either — by understanding how pain works, we can use various other treatments to get some relief.