Outdoor-Based Mindfulness Group
Hi! If you’ve found your way to this page, you’re likely seeing some mental health symptoms in your kid that scare you. This is such a common problem. Sadly, It’s typical for people of their generation to compare themselves to others, to experience bullying, to become perfectionistic about their performance, to struggle to make friends, and to lose the zest for life that we have always associated with children.
Anxiety and depression are on the rise for them and many mental health professionals explain it by pointing to the lifestyle that our society has built for them.
This includes the amount of screen time they have, the lack of outdoor time, and the limited connection with parents because of other expectations and pressures in their lives.
I’d like to be a part of changing that.
It’s important to note that this program would NOT be considered therapy and is not a replacement for therapy.
You can read below for more information about how I can help your kid!
In our medical system we often wait for people to get sick before we treat them. It’s the same way with mental health.
I own a private practice in Brunswick and parents call me with concerns about their children daily. Often, I have to turn them away because their child’s anxiety doesn’t qualify for a diagnosis. Insurance companies need you to wait until your children’s mental health concerns are so bad that they are affecting their whole lives. I’ve created a program that will hopefully alleviate some of this problem. I would like to build mindfulness skills with kids in the outdoors that will mitigate anxiety. Ideally, these skills will follow them throughout their lives.
In the psychology community, we have a saying “what fires together, wires together.” My mission is to infuse kids with the subconscious instinct to get outside when they’re feeling down; not to get rid of the feelings, but to give them a space to breathe and release. I want them to believe in those little parts of them that they might not feel are worthwhile and listen with curiosity.
In this skills group, I will introduce coping and preventative skills that kids can use in their every day life to:
- Regulate their emotions
- Decompress from school
- To speak up when their boundaries have been crossed
- Build social skills
- And to feel liberated to say what’s on their mind with confidence
The basic format of the program will be that I:
- Educate kids about their brains and neurology
- Present a correlating coping skill
- Have them practice it
- Review how it worked for them
This differs from therapy in that I will not be focused on their experience. I might prompt them to think about it, but I will be doing more of the talking than the listening which is the inverse of therapy. This group can not be considered therapy. This group will be more of a preventative activity. I will instruct rather than treat. I want to work to avoid mental health concerns such as clinical depression and anxiety so that they don’t end up in my office later.
I don’t want it to seem like I am anti-therapy. I feel like it should go without saying that I am not. I just see so many kids that would have avoided a lot of pain and saved a lot of hours in my office if they had just built up mental fortitude to deal with common pressures of their environments.
Please email me to sign up for a time slot if this sounds appealing to you. Because it is not therapy, there is no commitment. You can plug them in whenever they’re free! Just like with any skill, it will more likely become a habit with consistency and it will be even better if you practice with them. Kids have never been good at listening to us, but they never fail to imitate us. If you don’t have the time or energy resources to practice these skills with them, I do!