LiftWell Health

07/21/2025

Emotional resilience isn’t about avoiding struggle. It’s about building the internal and external resources that help us face it with flexibility and care. Supportive relationships, open communication, self-compassion, skill-building, and perspective are some of the materials we lay down—brick by brick—to create a path that can lead us through life’s harder moments.

07/14/2025

There are days when progress feels solid and self-assured and there are days when everything feels fragile, like starting over. Most people move through both, often multiple times. This is not failure, it’s part of the shape recovery takes.

Recovery isn’t built by force of will, it’s shaped by rest, structure, relationship, routine, rupture, return. Change doesn’t always look like progress, sometimes it looks like persistence.

When patterns resurface, or everything feels off, try this:
• Step back from urgency. Pause before reacting.
• Reach out, even if it feels awkward or late.
• Return to something you trust: a meal, a mantra, a person.
• Notice what’s missing, not just what’s wrong.
• Give yourself the same gentleness you’d offer someone else.

The shape of recovery isn’t linear, it circles back, folds in, unspools. There’s progress in stillness and strength in returning. If you’re navigating a moment that feels like a step backward, you’re not broken, you’re still becoming. Keep choosing yourself.

07/11/2025

We love affirmations! Share your favorites in the comments!

07/02/2025

Ever picked up the phone or visited a treatment website and felt like you needed a translator? Let’s decode some of the most common (and confusing) acronyms in mental health and eating disorder care.

IOP = Intensive Outpatient Program
Still living at home. Still managing your life. But you’re showing up for treatment a few times a week because things are getting harder to navigate on your own.
It’s therapy with more structure and more support, without pressing pause on everything else.

PHP = Partial Hospitalization Program
You spend most of the day in treatment, usually several days a week. Like a full-time job but for your healing. It’s called “partial” because you go home at night, but during the day, you’re in a dedicated space focused on getting better.

RTC = Residential Treatment Center
You live there. It’s not a hospital, but it’s not home either. You’re in a place designed for deep, immersive care, away from the stressors and routines that might be making recovery harder.

IP = Inpatient Treatment
This is hospital-level care. It’s where you go when safety is the top priority, for your body, your mind, or both. It’s not forever, but it’s there when things feel like too much to manage anywhere else.

So… how do you know which one is right for you? That’s where a good assessment comes in. It’s not about choosing the “highest” level. It’s about what fits your needs, your support system, and your goals. Care isn’t a straight line. It’s a set of options and a way to figure out what kind of help actually helps.

The acronyms might sound clinical, but they’re just different ways people reach for steadier footing. You’re not expected to know the language before you ask for support. That’s our job. Contact LiftWell to learn more about mental health treatment in Westport, CT.

06/25/2025

All coping is an attempt to manage something hard, but not all strategies help us long term. Some create more distress over time.

Helpful coping skills often…
✔ Soothe the nervous system
✔ Support emotional expression
✔ Build connection
✔ Promote flexibility
✔ Align with personal values

Harmful coping patterns may…
✖ Avoid or suppress emotions
✖ Disconnect you from others
✖ Offer relief... but with consequences
✖ Reinforce shame or rigidity
✖ Interfere with healing or goals

Even unhelpful patterns often come from a place of self-protection. Of doing your best to manage stress, pain, or overwhelm. Try looking at what you tend to fall back on to cope. Not with judgment, but with curiousity.

If you were to ask yourself "Is this helping or hurting?", what would your answer be? From there, you get to decide what you want to carry forward and what you’re ready to outgrow.

06/17/2025

8 Common Misconceptions About Mental Health Treatment

Common Beliefs That Hold People Back
• You have to be in crisis to start therapy.
• If therapy didn’t work once, it won’t work again.
• You should feel better right away if it’s working.
• Medication is a last resort or a failure.

Misconceptions About Intensive Treatment
• Higher levels of care are only for people who’ve “failed” outpatient.
• If you’re functioning day-to-day, you don’t need structured treatment.
• Going to PHP or IOP means you have to put your whole life on pause.
• You have to go away to get intensive support.

Mental health treatment can be life-changing.
Lifting yourself out of survival mode and into something steadier takes courage, so allow yourself the grace—and that courage—to explore what healing might look like.
Mental health treatment isn’t about being broken, it’s about giving yourself a chance to feel different. More connected. More whole.
You don’t have to wait for things to fall apart before reaching for something better.

06/13/2025

During Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re reminded that pain doesn’t always announce itself. It can hide in routines, roles, and the pressure to keep it together.

If this resonates, consider what support might look like for you or someone you care about.

06/04/2025

This Pride Month, we’re highlighting the mental health realities facing LGBTQ+ communities. The numbers tell a story of resilience—and the need for more support, understanding, and access

06/02/2025

Having just wrapped Mental health Awareness Month, we are reflecting on what support really looks like. What has helped you or what is something you have done that you were told was helpful? We want to hear your stories, and we want this list to be twice as long next year!

05/23/2025

What Gets in the Way of Getting Help?

Making the decision to seek mental health treatment can be deeply personal, and often complicated by outdated ideas about what treatment is, who it’s for, and when it’s “needed.” These misconceptions can keep people from exploring support that might actually help.

Common Beliefs That Hold People Back

• You have to be in crisis to start therapy.

• If therapy didn’t work once, it won’t work again.

• You should feel better right away if it’s working.

• Medication is a last resort or a failure.

Misconceptions About Intensive Treatment

• Higher levels of care are only for people who’ve “failed” outpatient.

• If you’re functioning day-to-day, you don’t need structured treatment.

• Going to PHP or IOP means you have to put your whole life on pause.

• You have to go away to get intensive support.

Mental health treatment can be life-changing. Allow yourself the grace and courage to explore what healing might look like.

Lifting yourself out of survival mode and into something steadier takes time, care, and support. You don’t have to wait for things to fall apart before reaching for something better, because it’s not about being broken, it’s about giving yourself a chance to thrive.

05/19/2025

Perfectionism and eating disorders often share a hidden script: only when I get it right will I be okay.

Control becomes a comfort. Rules feel like safety. Over time, flexibility starts to feel like failure.

You might be praised for your discipline, focus, and ability to keep it together. But those traits can hide a lot of pain.

Healing means stepping off the tightrope and finding space to be imperfect. Recovery is not about lowering the bar, it’s about letting go of the bars that keep you caged.

This is your reminder that healing isn’t about getting it right. It’s about reclaiming your ability to make mistakes, to rest, and to take up space without explanation. You don’t have to earn your way into recovery. You just have to begin.

Get started with LiftWell, Fairfield County’s premier PHP and IOP program for mental health and eating disorder care—rooted in support, uplifted in recovery.

RO-DBT IOP/PHP programs for adolescents and adults with mood and anxiety or eating disorder.

05/10/2025

So many high achievers don’t notice burnout until it’s taken root. When productivity is wrapped up in self-worth, rest feels like failure and slowing down becomes terrifying. But chasing impossible standards often leads to disconnection — from our bodies, relationships, and even the work we care about.

At LiftWell, we help clients redefine success on their own terms, reclaiming energy, purpose, and space for healing.