Panoramic Counseling Blog

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 ]

Successful Coparenting with a Toxic Ex: A Book Review

Today I'm excited to review the new workbook, Successful Coparenting with a Toxic Ex: A guided Journal to Support and Encourage you and your Children, written by my friend and colleague, Susan Buniva, LCSW. She's a licensed therapist, divorce coach, and co-parenting counselor with over 30 years of experience. As the title of the book suggests, this book is for...[ 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 ]

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 ]

Finding Resilience in 2020

"Resilience" is an important trait in my line of work for both my clients and myself. As I reflected on the lessons that I've learned during these past 5 months in quarantine, the word resilience stood out. The dictionary on my Mac defines resilience as, "The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness;" however, I thought I'd reach out to...[ read more ]

Childhood Interrupted- Raising Kids During a Pandemic: A Book Review

I'm always excited to review books that can be used as resources for my clients and their parents. Today, I'm excited to share some of the insights that I gained from Dr. Sanjay Gupta's latest book, Childhood Interrupted- Raising Kids During a Pandemic. I see a lot of adolescents at my therapy practice and many of the parents of these...[ read more ]

I’m Tired, but I’m not Powerless

Hi there, I completely scrapped what I had planned for the weekly mental health blog post. I articulate best in the written word, so here goes my effort to scratch the surface on current events; after all, racism, bigotry, narcissistic leaders, and murder collectively influence mental health. As a therapist, I have the unique opportunity to address social issues as...[ read more ]

Managing the Depression Puzzle: A Book Review

Today, I'm excited to share a book review for Managing the Depression Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together, by Ashley L. Peterson. Ashley is a mental health nurse, mental health advocate, author, and blogger. Today, I will share some of the highlights of Ashley's latest book, which is being released today. Purpose of the Book Managing the Depression Puzzle is basically a...[ read more ]

SAD and the Winter Blues

I recently had the honor of participating in a local panel discussion about seasonal affective disorder and the winter blues. Today, I will be sharing some insights gained from that discussion and more. What are SAD and the Winter Blues? Though it's not the official term, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is how most of us describe the series of depressive...[ read more ]