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Mental Health Center

The Importance of Setting Boundaries

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Boundaries

By Ashley Barnes   What are boundaries? One of the most important forms of self-care is setting boundaries. Boundaries are limits people set with the intention of creating a healthy sense of personal space; they can be emotional or physical in nature, aiding us in distinguishing our desires, preferences, and needs from one another. Like a fence, it protects our space from factors that could negatively impact our mental health.  When to set boundaries. A good sign that we need to set a boundary could be when we start to feel agitated with that which is infringing on our well being. This may look like feeling exhausted and resentful towards someone in our lives who keeps asking for favors, feeling frustrated with our professional life if we aren’t getting adequate work-life balance, or feeling anxious regarding a romantic partner who is making us feel uncomfortable. Without setting clear boundaries, we …

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Coping with Grief During the Holidays

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Boundaries

By Ashley Barnes Recent Events. Grief touches all of us. Many readers are familiar with the recent tragedy at the University of Virginia (UVA). While on a bus returning from a field trip in Washington D.C., three innocent young men lost their lives to gun violence. Headlines like these have become too familiar and the impact of these losses on victims’ loved ones is insurmountable. The Mental Health Center extends our most heartfelt condolences to the victims’ families and anyone else who is grieving as we move into the holidays.  What is grief? Though many of us are familiar with grief and the heaviness of emotions that it entails, it can look different for all of us. Hospice Foundation of America describes grief as a reaction to loss, as subjective and varied much like how no snowflake is identical; there is no timetable to grief and we may express our …

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November 13th is World Kindness Day!

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Boundaries

By Ashley Barnes Why World Kindness Day? November 13th has been designated as World Kindness Day, an international holiday founded in 1998 to promote kindness throughout the world. The holiday is observed in many countries aside from the United States including Canada, Japan, and Australia. As part of the larger World Kindness Movement, World Kindness Day allows us the opportunity to consider the positive impact that acts of kindness can impart, both large and small. Kind acts can promote unity, positivity, and make a big difference in someone’s life. How to spread kindness. Though there are countless ways we can be kind to others, here are a few ideas to consider in celebration of World Kindness Day: The simple act of smiling at others can promote a sense of safety and compassion. When we smile at someone, we acknowledge their presence in a way that is warm, kind, and inviting. …

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Supporting Men’s Mental Health

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Boundaries

By Ashley Barnes Why it’s important to discuss men’s mental health. While it is important to be sensitive and attentive to the mental health challenges of all identities and genders, men’s mental health has historically gone unnoticed and unattended to. This is largely in part due to the way that men have been socialized, especially in American culture. Due to gender roles, men are often socialized to be “tough,” and to not show emotions that may communicate any vulnerability. Internalizing. Because expressing deeper feelings of hurt may not be deemed acceptable by society, men may turn toward more socially acceptable ways of expressing their emotions such as anger. Men experience the same emotions that other genders do and it is time we break down the stigma that harms men’s mental health. Statistics. According to statistics recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Women are roughly three times …

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Depression and How You Can Support Your Partner

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Boundaries

By Ashley Barnes Depression and relationships. Depression often impacts a person’s functioning in several spheres of their lives including but not limited to employment, education, tasks of daily living, and our interpersonal relationships. Romantic relationships in particular can take the brunt of depressive hardship. Many people report that their romantic relationships have become strained as a result of living with depression. This strain may be due to the relationship dynamic being impacted by a combination of depression symptoms and a lack of understanding. Understanding depression. Understanding what your partner experiences, even if you haven’t personally experienced depression, can help foster a deeper sense of empathy. Some people best understand depression through metaphors. One such metaphor is that depression feels like being stuck at the bottom of a well. Your partner, at the bottom of the well, feels stuck, isolated, and too exhausted to climb out. They may try to start …

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