Empowering Wellness: A Therapist Guide To Self-Care | A Therapist Guide to Self-Care
Everyone, meet Avery. Mom. Therapist. Wellness advocate.
Notabadlife: Hi Avery, thank you for taking time out to join notabadlife today. Avery runs @recoveryoucounselingservices with her mom. Both dedicating their lives to empowering their community to become healthier and reclaim their lives.
Counseling is such a selfless job, what encouraged you to choose a career in aiding in mental health?
Avery: I chose a career in mental health naturally, because I wanted to support and help the youth. Most of my practice is with young adults. I feel like I have a deep connection with the youth because when I was a teen I struggled with my own mental health, and I felt like there was no place for me to go to.
I think, being a therapist, and working with adolescents, gives me purpose and as crazy as the adolescents are today I would not trade them for any other population.
Notabadlife: "and as crazy as the adolescents are today I would not trade them for any other population." That's what we call unconditional love.
Like you, I struggled with my mental health as a teen with no support and it continued through college and a few years after until I started to get help. Children are depressed and stressed and just because they are children does not exempt them from being mentally unwell.
- 10 million teens per year are affected by major depression. 60% of teens with depression don't get treated for it. Teen girls develop depression issues about twice as often as teen boys, according to My Denver Therapy. "Academic and social pressures are often cited as reasons why rates of teen anxiety and depression have grown dramatically in recent years."
- Nearly 6 million children and teens are affected by anxiety per year, almost 25% of teens experience an anxiety disorder, which can include generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorders, and more.
- Over 60% of teens say that the world is more stressful today compared to when their parents were teenagers. About 17% of teens say that they feel anxious or stressed all the time—teen girls are more likely than teen boys to feel this way.
We need people like you to not give up on our children, who push people to see their worth.
I know from of experience being a child, that life is not as easy as adults thinks. The pressures of the world, society, our peers is a lot. Especially as a growing girl. You want to fit in, you want to feel comfortable, you want to feel normal. You don't want to get harassed by men, bullied by women- it's a lot when you're coming of age and it doesn't stop there.
Heatlh Assured listed women and mental health statistics with the title "How Common Are MentaI Health Problems In Women" with the list below:
- Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety as men.
- One in five women compared with one in eight men have a mental disorder.
- Over a quarter (26%) of young women aged between 16–24 years old report having a common mental health problem in any given week. This compares to 17% of adults. And this number is increasing.
- Women are more likely to be affected by depression than men.
What are some common mistakes women make when it comes to taking care of their mental health and what are some everyday tasks we can do to work towards doing better?
Avery: Some common mistakes I see with women may include putting their mental health after they handle mom duties or relationship stuff. It is something that needs to be talked about a lot more , but women seem to want to help everyone else before they help themselves and it’s kind of similar to the when you’re on a plane and you have to put your mask on first in an emergency.
Women naturally want to help and nurture. Some advice I have, make sure your cup is full before you pour into another cup. I know that sounds cliché but if you think about it, you cannot give 100% and you cannot give your all until you are hundred percent and take it one day at a time don’t consume too much because again your cup will over flow.
Notabadlife: TALK TO'UM! A credible source letting you that you have to take care of you first. Self-care, no matter how cliche it seems, is a component to your mental health. It starts with you, and not only that.
Your site says your 5 pillars of recovery are faith, safety, health, purpose, and community. Can you explain more about the importance of pillars, purpose and community.
Avery: The five pillars are the most important acts of worship that develop the Muslim character and strengthen the belief in Islam.
These five pillars include faith, prayer, fasting, charity, and pilgrimage all of these things can attest to building and strengthening a community. Recoveryou’s team decided to incorporate Islam as a useful guide to motivate and heal our consumers. Although we use these 5 pillars as a guide we also see non Muslim clients and we utilize these 5 pillars to help guide all of our client’s treatment.
Notabadlife: I agree that all 5 pillars are important for growth in our every day lives. Faith and prayer is honestly how a lot of us start our journey to healing if you think about. The importance of hope is a guiding light. No matter where you are, you know you will make it through.
And speaking of everyday lives, On top of you running your own practice, your a daughter, a friend, a mother. Your job is to help others take better care of their mental health, how do you find time to take care of yourself?
Avery: Another cliché is strengthening your community. I am a mother, I am a daughter, I am a therapist. I am a lot I hold a lot of hats, but I’m not doing this by myself.
I have a strong community and either that be my family, my friends people I met a week ago lol. I think that it is very important for us humans to understand that we cannot do it all alone and it takes a village to not only raise the community, but hold the foundation down to make sure we continue healthy relationships and we continue regulating our emotions, and we continue being the best version of ourselves that we can be.
Notabadlife: Community is important. We all need help, no one is above that. And just adding in that love can conquer all if we let it. Any last words?
Avery: My fav quote “If everything around you seems dark, look again, you may be the light”.
See what Avery does specifically for herself to make her happy here.
Continue reading
Comments
Be the first to comment.
