Athena Counseling

Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept. Anna Taylor

Kincade Fire Resources: Website with coping tools: www.mysonomastrong.com Free App: Sonoma Rises ... NAMI Warmline: 866-960-6264 for non-emergency mental health services Crisis Textline: text HOME to 741741 to speak to a crisis counseling Sonoma 24/7 Suicide Prevention Line: 855-587-6373 National 24/7 Suicide Prevention Line: 1-800-273-TALK Food banks open with free food for evacuees: https://refb.org/current-emergency-food-distribution-info/

Word of the day: A.W.A.R.E. Accept the anxiety Watch it from a distance Act constructively... Repeat the above Expect the best https://www.adelaide.edu.au//pdp-nav-change-aware-framewor

Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept. Anna Taylor

Hard days hit us all and we can't always predict what our resources will be to handle them when they come. When I'm faced with uncertainty I like to ask myself "How do I want to be about this problem?" By shifting the focus from "what do I do!?" to "how do I want to be" it helps me let go of trying to control the situation and refocus onto my own behavior and attitude, which is within my control. Take a moment to think about how you want to be when problems land on your path.... You will probably feel a lot of emotions: anger, sadness, frustration, overwhelm. How would you like to be in relationship to your feelings? An example: I'm in my feelings today, with nothing to really point to as to why I feel the way I do. I'm a little anxious, quite sad, and pretty generally uncomfortable with some bouts of anger. I don't have a solution except to let these feelings pass through me. But how do I want to be about this situation? I could stomp my feet, cancel my appointments and run home, I could yell to my mom, or drown my thoughts with some television. Some of those actions might be useful, and some might be problematic solutions for noble needs. So, I choose to be patient toward the problem, I choose to stretch and seek wisdom from my body, I choose to breathe and invite new air into my lungs, I choose to forgive myself for the self judgments my brain is feeding me., I choose to face one hour at a time. I still don't know what I'm going to do about it, but once I've decided how to be about it I feel a little less frantic and a lot more hopeful that I'm going to find the right solution. Next time you're faced with a problem, try asking yourself how you want to be about the whole thing, and see what unfolds from there. Set your attitude, then set your feet. See more

"I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love." -Viktor Frankl How have you felt love this week? How have you given love?

Women of Color Support Group hosted by my beautiful colleague Gayle Whitlock. Starts in late February. Follow the link for information and registration. (707) 387-4146 or [email protected]

If you were planning on attending the TransLife Community Conference of the North Bay, which had to be cancelled due to the fires, there's good news! The directors have settled on a reschedule date and it will now be held this Spring on March 03, 2018! The professional symposium for medical, mental and behavioral health, legal, and educational professionals has been rescheduled to April 28, 2018. For more information: http://translifeconference.org

This useful workbook for exploring gender is at a discount this month.

Information on applying for Disaster Unemployment Assistance if you have lost your office or place of employment due to the wildfires. http://www.edd.ca.gov/pdf_pub_ctr/de8714y.pdf

PLEASE CUT/PASTE & REPOST! We thank you for your community support in our efforts to spread the IMPORTANCE OF MENTAL HEALTH! Mental Health support during a disaster. Nancy Haugen, PhD specializes in 'Disaster Mental Health' created some 'Cliff's Notes' to keep in mind so that we can all be empowered to support mental health for those in pain. Disaster Mental Health 1. Whereas in the Emergency Room there is the Golden Hour (time to get to the ER when there has been a trauma), ...in Disaster Mental Health there is the Golden Month. There are 30 days from the point of the disaster, to make a major difference. Any intervention, support, kindness that can happen during those 30 days will change the long-term outcome. It is significant. 2. Given how the brain shuts down in a disaster, victims are not able to process words very well. They WILL track on tone of your voice and your body posture. 3. Don’t problem solve, most important task is to just LISTEN. 4. Sharing where resources are is important if possible, give a written form of the list so that they can refer to it later. They won’t remember much if you just tell them. 5. Asking open ended questions (How can I help?) are not helpful because it asks too much of the victim’s brain to figure that out. Present two choices with yes or no answer (May I drop off food Friday or Saturday?) 6. After the fires are contained, and the media leaves (referred to as the Honeymoon period we’re going to make it! We’re going to stick together!), most victims experience depression. The research indicates that the depression will last for a while, so keep in mind that ongoing supportive gestures, any intervention, support, kindness, is still needed. After the depression period lifts (can be as long as a couple years), people most often report that they feel that they have a new life. See more

Free drop-in counseling event this Saturday from 11-4 for those affected by the North Bay fires.