Mental Health Matters

Choices Beyond Parenthood Having recently celebrated that 100-year-old holiday honoring mothers, and with another day set aside for fathers coming up, I began to think

Four Legs For Mental Health My husband knows I sometimes forget about writing this article until the last minute AND rarely misses a chance to

Caring For The Caregiver When I was a mother of an infant and a toddler, working full-time and living very far from my hometown, my

Finding Heroes In Ordinary Places My husband (at his age!) goes to every superhero movie as they are released. I would rather have a root

A Tough Question Each and every one of us will ask this question at least a few times over our lifetimes. If we have children,

The Only New Year’s Resolution We Need New Year’s resolutions turn out the same way for most of us. By the end of the first

Paint The Pig My daughter asked if she could share the following for the December paper. Not only is she the best daughter I could

The Ones Left Behind In Grief As difficult as this information is to write, it will be infinitely more difficult for some people to read.

The Importance of Nurturing our Whole Selves Just as the name of this column tells us: MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS! In truth, what in our own

The Best School Year Yet! Having been an educator at the kindergarten through the college level AND a parent of two public-school-educated children, the ups

Getting Your Kids to MOVE! Summer is here and that creates a very different schedule for most children. The school year is much more regimented

Finding Your Happiness Turning on the news, opening a newspaper, listening to a current event’s podcast can all set our mood for the day, often

Choosing Your Tribe There are many old sayings about choosing those you associate with:You are the average of the five people you spend the most

The Greatest Gifts I am not a grandparent, but I know some pretty good ones. Recently, I was with two old friends who came to

Bullying When asked to write an article on bullying, my heart sank. Having worked to strengthen the mental health of children for almost 40 years,

Just Ask! Family history is YOUR history and MY history. One day, if you are lucky, you will find yourself in my situation — the

Helping People We Love After writing several articles about coping with depression, I have been asked this question a few times: “How can I help

Over the river and through the woods! Grandma’s dressing recipe! Family and friends! School holidays! Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas! Gift giving! Tamales! Bizcochitos! Travel! Eat, drink,

Resilience is the ability to “bounce back” after a negative event. Think about a new rubber band versus an old piece of elastic. Stretch the

Turning on the news, opening a newspaper, listening to a current event’s podcast can all set our mood for the day, often negatively. Harsh weather,