Category: Sheppard Pratt

By Dr. Andrea Gottlieb Tell me if this sounds familiar: you’re logged into your umpteenth Zoom call of the day and you start zoning out. After a few moments of having your mind wander, you realize you weren’t paying attention and have no idea what people are talking about. So you actively return your focus back to the meeting. That conscious act of harnessing and retraining your attention back to the present moment is actually a very important skill. You’re practicing mindfulness. What is Mindfulness? Mindfulness is about being present in the moment, including acknowledging your own feelings and thoughts […]

By Silvia Solano, MS, RDN, Nutrition Care Coordinator at The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt Have you heard the phrase, “You are what you eat?” Obviously, the proverbial saying does not mean we are doomed to turn into what we eat. It is simply the notion that to have a healthy functioning body, you need to fill it with all the nutrients it needs. In fact, the nutrients you consume are literally the building blocks that your body’s complex structure of cells, tissues, organs and systems needs to regenerate every day. The same truth applies to your mind. […]

By Michael Young, MD, Service Chief of The Retreat at Sheppard Pratt I’m sorry to be a Grinch, but like everything else this year, COVID may have a big impact on your holiday plans. The holidays should be a festive time, filled with family and friends and parties. As the holiday song says, it’s supposed to be “the most wonderful time of the year”! Instead, we’re all making a list and checking it twice about the latest COVID restrictions and number of new cases. Colder weather, the looming flu season, and uncertainty about which of our beloved, festive traditions are […]

By Deepak Prabhakar, M.D., Medical Director of Outpatient Services, Sheppard Pratt September is Suicide Prevention Month. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. was facing a suicide epidemic. Each day, we lose 132 lives to suicide—the highest suicide rate in more than 30 years, with a particularly disturbing increase in young people dying by suicide. This equates to about 48,000 lives lost each year to suicide. Now consider what COVID-19 and its accompanying uncertainties related to education, employment, financial struggles, and other issues have exacted on an individual’s mental health. The heightened uncertainty and anxiety coupled with the stress and […]

By Molly Schiffer, LCPC, Center for OCD and Anxiety, Sheppard Pratt As a kid, one of my favorite things about going back to school was the back-to-school shopping. Aisles filled with brightly colored notebooks, folders, and backpacks, shiny and new. The idea of “back to school” did not just signal a new school year, it also signaled a new year, regardless of whether you had kids in school or not. But COVID-19 has altered our return to school. Even though TV commercials are still advertising flashy back-to-school sales, the feeling of excitement and enthusiasm about the new school year has […]

As an educator in the mental health field, a lot of my professional dialog ends up being about feelings. Big feelings, little feelings, hidden feelings, reactionary feelings. We feel them, we handle them, we empower students to understand them. The hardest feelings to navigate are the ones that bombard us and feel unfair to us, like they have been dumped onto us, especially ones triggered by an event that we have no control over… like a global pandemic. Loneliness, grief, insecurity, stress, restlessness, and fear (just to name a few) have found homes within us the last few months. All […]

April is Substance Abuse Awareness Month By Jason Martin LCPC, CPRP, NCC, ACS This April is Substance Abuse Awareness Month. The current COVID-19 crisis, with its anxiety-inducing headlines and fear of the unknown, is especially difficult for individuals using substances or recovering addicts. These situations can put recovering addicts at risk for relapse, or users at risk for an overdose. Now more than ever, we want to use this national awareness month as a rally point to educate the community about resources available for individuals struggling with substance use. Seek Professional Services There are a number of services available in […]

By Elizabeth Haldeman Ah, spring. The warmer weather and longer, sunny days coax a rainbow of color from the soil as the earth slowly awakens from its cold winter’s nap. But the very best part of this perennial transformation? It is finally gardening season! Growing a healthy mind – For me, gardening offers more than just the opportunity to grow some fresh food for my dinner table. As a licensed occupational therapist at Sheppard Pratt’s Center for Eating Disorders, I recognize that gardening offers powerful mental health benefits. At Sheppard Pratt, our patents benefit from horticulture therapy – the use […]