Panoramic Counseling Blog

Memoirs of Mental Health: Joanna “JoJo” Levesque

I learned of Joanna "JoJo" Levesque in 2004 when her debut song, "Leave (Get Out)" blew up on the charts. I was eleven at the time, so seeing a twelve/thirteen-year-old make such a splash at damn-near the same age as me was inspiring. I BEGGED to get JoJo's debut album when it came out and, thanks to Grandma's Kmart employee...[ read more ]

He said, “I think I’m having a heart attack!”– My first encounter with mental illness

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. While working on my memoir yesterday, I found myself reflecting on my earliest memories of mental illness. My first encounter with a diagnosed mental health disorder happened when I was 11. My mother was dating Bryce, who would later become her husband. One afternoon, my mother, Bryce, his son, and I were in the...[ read more ]

Free Mind

My anxiety has been especially challenging over the past month. In this post, I’m going to share the various coping and calming strategies I’ve been using to free my mind from the symptoms of anxiety. I resonate deeply with the song, “Free Mind” by Tems, so I’ll include some relevant lyrics throughout the post as well. Exercise My favorite form...[ read more ]

Memoirs of Mental Health: Megan Thee Stallion

While this blog focuses on mental health, I occasionally get creative with a relevant book or movie review. Today, I'm doing something a bit different. When Megan Thee Stallion released her sophomore album, "Traumazine," last Friday, I knew I wanted to write about it here. As an EMDR therapist, I know a lot about trauma; however, I'd never heard the...[ read more ]

Memoirs of Mental Health: Jamie Lynn Spears

Today, I'm excited to share about the memoir that I just read by Jamie Lynn Spears titled, Things I Should Have Said. Background I wasn't sure how I'd like this book, as celebrity tell-alls often come across as exaggerated; however, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I'm about the same age as Jamie Lynn and I remember loving her...[ read more ]

Mental Health Movie Review: Dear Evan Hansen

My wife and I haven't been to a movie theater since before the pandemic. On a whim, we reserved seats this morning for a matinee showing of Dear Evan Hansen. Though we were masked up and fully vaxed (also boostered!), we were relieved to learn that we were the only people who bought tickets for that particular showing. That's right,...[ read more ]

Teens and Social Media

I realize this is my third post on the topic of technology/ social media in the past week but I had to share what I learned from an article* in today's newspaper. The headline was, "Parents, Here are Teen Girls' Rules for Instagram." As a therapist working primarily with adolescents, this immediately caught my attention; more so, I was blown...[ read more ]

Memoirs of Mental Health: Prince Harry

Image Credit Though I don't tend to follow the royal family, I became more interested when Meghan Markle, an actress from one of my favorite shows, Suits, got engaged to Prince Harry. More recently, I've seen how their lives have been shaped by racism and anxiety, which ultimately culminated in the couple separating from the royal family. Today, I'll be...[ read more ]

Memoirs of Mental Health: Lady Gaga

I've been seeing snippets of Lady Gaga's Lady Gaga's interview on Oprah's docuseries, The Me You Can't See. Having not yet seen the show, I started to research if Gaga has ever written about her life. The closest thing I could find to a memoir was an essay she wrote as part of a compilation book put together by her...[ read more ]

Memoirs of Mental Health: Chrissy Metz

Chrissy Metz is best known for her role as Kate Pearson on the hit TV show, This is Us. I just finished reading Chrissy Metz's book, This is Me, for the second time and I'm excited to share some of the insights that I gained from her story. Mental Health Themes This memoir covers a multitude of mental health themes...[ read more ]