Still Water Individual and Family Therapy Services, Inc.

12/27/2025

After the Holiday Blues?

Oftentimes, after the holidays, people may start to feel down or depressed. The symptoms include sadness, fatigue, and emptiness, especially after a period of festivities. The reasons are less sunlight, overstimulation, and having to return to work and everyday life.

How To Cope:
Ease back into work and routines. Get a little more sunshine! Start to maintain simple, easy routines. Stick to a healthy diet, get sleep, exercise, and talk to friends and family.
It is normal to feel sad at times, but if the feelings persist, seek help. Acknowledge your feelings, journal, and discuss these thoughts.

11/25/2025

Happy Thanksgiving. We will be closed Thanksgiving and the Friday after.

11/06/2025

What is Dialectical Behavior?

Dialectical behavior therapy is an evidence-based psychotherapy that began with efforts to treat personality disorders and interpersonal conflicts. Evidence suggests that DBT can be useful in treating mood disorders and suicidal ideation as well as for changing behavioral patterns such as self-harm and substance use.

10/31/2025

Neurobiology of Trauma

When an individual experiences trauma or extreme fear, the brain chemistry is changed or altered. The brain will begin to function differently. This is a protective mechanism that all of us have inside.

The prefrontal cortex is the logical part of the brain. It helps with decision-making and choice-making and is responsible for rational thinking. The prefrontal cortex is also responsible for planning effective responses and remembering important information.

Everyone has probably heard of fight, flight, and freeze. This is a common reaction to trauma or fear. Often, rather than fighting back or running away, Individuals experience dissociation, which is a survival reflex. The person may feel disconnected from their body. During a significant traumatic experience, memories are encoded differently. The brain will then encode memories, but not in a chronological order, and there are often gaps in the memory.

Send a message to learn more

10/20/2025

Let us celebrate Martha Meek, LMHC. She has been accepted as a doctoral student and will earn her PhD in Developmental Psychology.

What is a developmental psychologist?

A developmental psychologist studies how humans grow throughout their lifespan. They focus on physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development.
Their work helps identify when individuals, such as children with developmental delays or elderly individuals with cognitive decline, may need support.

10/07/2025

Happy Halloween from Still Water Individual and Family Therapy Services and the Sanderson Sisters!

10/02/2025

What is a Certified Integrative Mental Health Provider (CIMHP)?

A CIMHP is someone who is a licensed mental health provider who
has extensive training and will integrate conventional treatments with evidence-based interventions and lifestyle changes. They create a holistic approach that treats the mind, body, and spirit of the patient. A CIMHP will address nutrition, sleep, exercise, and the gut microbiome, along with psychological and spiritual needs.

Still Water Individual and Family Therapy Services has both an LCSW and an LMHC who are Certified Integrative Mental Health Providers!

09/29/2025

What is Inner-Child Work?

Inner-child work for trauma involves recognizing and nurturing the younger, vulnerable parts of yourself when you were a child. The younger you will hold onto the painful memories of the trauma. Childhood trauma will carry with you and interupt relationships in the future.

How does this type of therapy benefit?

Increased Self-Compassion
Improved Emotional Regulation
Healthier Relationships
Enhanced Resilience

09/22/2025

What is Neurodiverse Art Therapy?

Neurodiverse art therapy is a neurodiversity-affirming therapeutic approach that uses art-making to help neurodivergent individuals express themselves and process experiences in a way that aligns with their unique ways of thinking and feeling.

09/15/2025

End the Mental Health Stigma:

What is Mental Health Stigma?

Mental health stigma refers to negative attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors towards individuals with mental illnesses. It can lead to discrimination, prejudice, and social exclusion, preventing people from seeking help and accessing treatment.

How would you be able to help?

Educate Yourself and Others
Advocate for Change
Promote Empathy and Understanding
Use Media Effectively
Provide Resources and Support

09/04/2025

Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect

Parents and Caregivers:

Our young children experience their world through a different lens. Children often look at the world through their relationships with parents, caregivers, teachers, and other adult figures. The quality of these relationships and the environment set the child up for adulthood. When children develop good skills, they will develop and play a key role and impact them as adults.

Here are some tips to help;

1. Set aside time each day to talk and play with your child.
2. Establish structure and routines.
3. Children feel safe and secure when their environment is structured.
4. Please, validate your child's feelings, even if you think they are being "silly" or anxious.
5. Offer physical and emotional support.
6. Know who is supervising your child when they are outside of your home.
7. Monitor who your child talks to online. Teach them about safety on digital devices.
8. Seek parenting skill training programs to help build stronger bonds.
9. Talk to your children about how you feel. It is okay to show feelings to children; this is how they regulate and learn to express themselves as adults.
10. Reach out for help if you get overwhelmed. Children get overwhelmed as well, and teaching them to ask for help keeps them safe.

Final thoughts;
Also, consider finding out if your community offers support groups or programs for parents and caregivers.

08/25/2025

What are the differences between LCSW and LMHC?

LCSWs (Licensed Clinical Social Workers) take a holistic approach, connecting patients to broader resources and addressing systemic issues. LCSWs have a master's degree in social work (MSW) with a focus on social systems and resources

LMHCs (Licensed Mental Health Counselors) focus primarily on individual, group, and family therapy for specific mental health disorders and behavioral challenges. LMHCs typically have a master's in counseling or psychology, concentrating on psychotherapy techniques.

Here at Still Water Individual and Family Therapy Services we have both! An experienced LCSW with years of experience and an LMHC with years of experience.
Schedule today, 812-414-2331.