Kenton Bartlett Counseling

05/16/2025

Here are some pictures from yesterday's mental health provider event!

It was a lot of fun to have some great conversations and learn more about the kind of work everyone is doing to improve mental health offerings in our community.

I was also trying to think of a way to make this event a little more interactive and brought along some conversation-starter question cards. The company who makes these is called, We're Not Really Strangers, and they have card decks with lots of different themes, including 'Healing,' 'Self-Love,' and 'Self-Reflection.'

(This is not an advertisement for them, they just have really great questions!)

Many thanks to Longleaf Recovery & Wellness for hosting this event, and hope everyone has a great weekend 🎉

05/07/2025

I hope everyone can come out to this event next Thursday, May 15, from 10a-12p!

There will be free food (BBQ & hot dogs) and booths from several mental health providers who would love to share more about what services they offer. It will be a great way to become aware of different providers in our area and join in for a community event. I'm looking forward to setting up a table and hope to see you there 🎉

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Sidenote: The people coordinating this event have also been doing a lot of work to address the mental health crisis in Jefferson County. They have been spearheading meetings of mental health providers and organizations over the past few months. It's been inspiring to connect with others and explore how we can all do our small part to address this ongoing challenge facing our communities. These monthly meetings are open to mental health providers, and if you would like to participate, feel free to reach out directly or contact Jennifer or Lakebra for more information.

01/23/2025

It’s 2025, and we’re near the end of January.

While the new year often kicks off with big resolutions, it’s hard to keep the momentum going—especially when it comes to mental health. In our rapidly moving world, where so much demands our time and attention, it’s easy to overlook what’s happening inside us.

While it may not always be a top priority, taking care of our inner lives has never been more important. Stress, loss, and heartbreak are part of the human experience, but today, we also face the challenges of nonstop news, constant distraction, and ever-changing technology.

Sometimes, the noise makes it hard to slow down and listen… to really, truly, listen.

— What’s happening in our hearts and minds?
— What do we need to feel okay?
— What memories, emotions, or thoughts are we avoiding, and what impact is this having on our daily lives?

Counseling provides a space to explore these questions—and do so with support. Whether through conversation or deeper therapeutic techniques, engaging in therapy can sometimes be a game-changer.

If you’re curious about counseling, I’d love to collaborate (https://www.KentonBartlettCounseling.com)! And if you’re looking for other options, here’s a more extensive directory (https://www.PsychologyToday.com/us).

Of course, counseling is just one of many avenues to take care of our inner lives and emotional wellbeing, and it often takes a mix of strategies to keep ourselves grounded. Feel free to share in the comments what you’re doing for your mental health this year 🌱✨

Sending lots of encouragement your way for whatever you might be going through, and hoping you’re taking time to care for yourself and others as we all do our best to navigate this modern world together!

10/01/2024

We've all heard about mindfulness and how "being present" is theoretically a good idea. In practice, however, it can be challenging. We're consumed with thoughts and emotions— we're frequently anxious, preoccupied, insecure, regretful, and discouraged, to name a few.

Mindfulness can be a useful tool in reducing our tendency to get swept up in this internal noise. One of the best definitions I've heard is that mindfulness is "Paying attention to the present moment without judgment." Another variation is "Selective awareness in the present moment without judgment."

This type of focus can be useful in that we are directing our attention to something that is happening right now: our breath, the sky, the texture of a piece of cloth, the sounds going on around us, the flicker of a candle flame, the conversation we're having with another person, and so on. Whatever it is, we can gently observe it, without judgment.

This is easier said than done, of course. Our minds seem to love to chatter incessantly and critique everything all the time— including ourselves for not being mindful enough, even when we're doing our best.

This is normal.

As distractions inevitably happen, it's important to extend compassion to ourselves and softly redirect our attention back to the present moment.

There are many ways to approach mindfulness, and lots of tips and tricks. One simple technique that I love comes from a mindfulness teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh:

– Step 1: Breathe in
– Step 2: Identify your current emotion and say to yourself, "I'm aware of my [anger/sadness/fear/anxiety/etc.]"
– Step 3: Breathe out
– Step 4: Say to yourself, "I'm taking care of my [anger/sadness/fear/anxiety/etc.]"
– Step 5: Repeat

This sounds simple, but it's accomplishing several things:

– By focusing on the breath and our current emotion, we are bringing ourselves into the present moment.

– Simply identifying our current emotion allows us to become aware of and "sit with" the feeling instead of getting wrapped up in an elaborate mental story about it. For example, "I'm experiencing sadness right now," rather than, "I'm sad because X, Y, or Z happened five years ago and because a catastrophe might happen tomorrow. I'm also sad because I don't like something about myself, that thing someone said, how the world appears to be, and the fact that I'm feeling sad."

– Saying, "I'm taking care of [my emotion]," is a simple act of self-love and/or self-compassion. We are not judging ourselves for having emotions or dwelling on the stories behind them. We are simply acknowledging the emotion, allowing it to be there, and letting it pass.

– This is an active and concrete way to accept and deal with feelings as they come up, which offers a structured way to sit with our emotions.

Practicing this technique, or any mindfulness practice, in a relatively calm state of mind may help to develop this skill so that it can be implemented during moments of emotional distress.

If you're wanting to learn more, mindfulness has been utilized in several approaches to mental health counseling – Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), and others. Courses, videos, books, and workbooks are available, and collaborating with a therapist around this or practicing independently can be a great way to dive in!

P.S. An ideal time to practice mindfulness is always right *now*, and taking a few seconds to pay attention to your next breath in and out is already the practice of mindfulness 🥳

09/26/2024

Have you ever heard of a therapy technique called EMDR and wondered, what the heck is that?

These letters stand for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, which don’t exactly roll off the tongue. Some people would call it a trauma therapy approach, which it is. However, it can also be applied more broadly for therapeutic progress.

It can be an excellent tool for addressing challenging memories of any kind:

– Loss of a loved one
– Life transition
– Relationship breakup
– Family conflict
– Childhood events

It's also useful in examining negative core beliefs, like these:

– I’m not good enough
– I’m a failure
– I’m helpless
– I’m defective
– I’m abandoned

EMDR works by encouraging focus on a negative memory and a negative belief, and then visually tracking an object – like a blinking light or a moving hand – which allows the eyes to go back and forth. It can also work by engaging both sides of the body with tapping or other body movements. While it might sound strange, this often allows people to go deeper inside of themselves to bring up stuck memories, emotions, and even body sensations that might be hard to access otherwise.

Bringing the negative memories and beliefs to the surface may be emotionally challenging at first. Over time, however, many people experience new insights, perspective shifts, and emotional processing that tends to lower the distress.

As the emotional turbulence decreases, we then move to a more optimistic part of the process, which includes focusing on a positive belief and a positive memory. For example, “I am good enough,” “I can accept myself,” “I helped a friend yesterday,” “I did the best I could with what I knew at the time,” etc.

For many of us, it’s hard to deeply connect with how we feel— especially about the past and the ingrained ways we see ourselves. Activating both the negative and positive memories/beliefs at the same time can then facilitate “reprocessing,” which essentially means reviewing this material in a new way and processing it differently.

This technique is designed to work in a series of sessions and can also be integrated into talk therapy and other approaches. Given its potential to evoke challenging memories and emotions, it’s also crucial to have coping skills established before diving in.

Through experiencing this technique firsthand during EMDR training in 2020 and offering it for several years, I have found that blocking off 100 minutes for EMDR processing sessions works well. This provides sufficient time to access emotional content and ensure that there is enough space to arrive at a “soft landing.”

If you would like to learn more about this, I made a brief video discussing it here (3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzARfwFzCt8

Additionally, this engaging animation elaborates further (5 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNdMHuwvF_M

It’s exciting to live in a time where innovative paths for improved mental health are increasingly available, and if this approach seems like something you would want to try, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

09/23/2024

"The Importance of a Breakdown" is a top favorite video from a Youtube channel called The School of Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC3uUGCJpqs&t=112s

The main idea is that at some point, many of us have a "breakdown." Maybe we're suddenly too depressed to get out of bed, too anxious to go to work, or perhaps we spiral into a pattern of behavior that disrupts our lives in significant ways.

On the surface, it's incredibly troubling that this is happening.

Looking more closely, however, the "breakdown" often provides a signal from the unconscious mind that something isn't working and needs to change. By taking a step back and listening to the stuff, deep down, that we may have gone to great lengths to avoid, it's not uncommon to find that the breakdown contained important messages that needed our attention.

It could be memories that we've buried, emotions that we're no longer able to outrun, or a call for significant change in the life we're living that – once addressed – might loosen its grip.

If you resonate with the video, a few reflection questions might include the following:

– What is your breakdown trying to communicate about yourself and your life / what are its hidden messages?

– What does your emotional self want you to know?

– How can your breakdown be harnessed for growth?

This is not meant to oversimplify the complexity of mental health challenges or lump all "breakdowns" into a single category. Nevertheless, I hope this exercise might be useful somehow and that we can all continue to cultivate the skill of listening closely to what's happening within!

Having a nervous breakdown could seem like the ultimate calamity. Far from it. Handled correctly, it can be a unique opportunity to learn - and to get proper...

09/17/2024

Just wanted to make a quick video to say hello!

The shift from summer to fall can sometimes offer a natural pause for self-reflection. There’s a lot going on in the world, and for many of us, a lot more, deep down, that we haven’t had the space to process. If you’re looking for therapeutic support – through talk therapy or other techniques that might help to process emotions, memories, or stuck beliefs – I hope we might be able to work together!

Lately, I’ve also been embracing the changing of seasons and am excited to share several new videos and writings on here, www.KentonBartlettCounseling.com, which more thoroughly explore how our collaboration could look.

Hope you’re able to check out the website, and take some time to enjoy the changing leaves and pumpkins as the summer finally cools off 🍂 🎃 🍂

https://youtu.be/EvLzfqWASb8

https://www.KentonBartlettCounseling.com

08/21/2024

Good afternoon!

If you or someone you know is looking to engage in therapy services, openings are now available for focused talk therapy (approximately 4-20 sessions), intensive and experiential sessions with Brainspotting and EMDR (two techniques that are great for processing emotions, memories, and stuck beliefs), and consultation about alternative and emerging therapies.

If you would like to learn more about any of these services or set up an appointment, please check out this website with more information about getting started!

www.KentonBartlettCounseling.com

(Also, for those who may be interested in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, I wanted to share that this service is paused for the time being. Many local colleagues and I are passionate about this multidisciplinary approach, and we are working hard behind the scenes to expand access to this service in our community, as well as increase education among healthcare providers and the general public. We appreciate everyone’s interest in this and ongoing support, and we hope to have good news to share soon 🙂)