The Introduction on the Lifespan Integration website states, “Lifespan Integration is a gentle, body based therapeutic method that heals without re-traumatizing.” The creator is a woman named Peggy Pace from the Seattle area. She initially created this method for victims of abuse or neglect, but it is now recognized as being a useful therapeutic method for a wide range of mental health issues.

Mental health is a challenging, yet an important public health issue. A major goal of public health is to identify barriers that individuals and communities face in living healthy, fulfilling lives. One such barrier is mental health challenges related to depression, anxiety, trauma, stress, burnout, culture, and more. People struggling with unaddressed mental health needs often find day-to-day activities, such as spending time with friends, going to school or work, doing their favorite hobbies, or following up with medical appointments, much more challenging. This can lead to additional distress and even worse health outcomes. In the field of public health, prevention and early intervention are vital to successfully addressing the health needs of individuals and communities.

Your life has changes significantly, and you are no longer the same person. Not being able to maintain your Pre-Covid body and lifestyle may have led to some negative and even harmful behaviors, including negative self-talk, self-judgement, comparison, restricting or other disordered eating behaviors, substance abuse, etc. Self-compassion, self-care, and acceptance is the antidote. If you find yourself struggling with some of these, please first seek care from a professional, such as a medical doctor or licensed therapist. Then, let’s practice some self-compassion:

Ok, so you have health insurance, which likely includes mental health coverage, but it is just so dang confusing and hard to understand. Right?! We agree. The following is an education on everything insurance. Here’s what you need to know about insurance:

During the COVID19 Pandemic, we have all had moments over the past few months where we have felt lost, purposeless, aimless, or at least frustrated at the new limitations impacting our lives. Most of us are staring at the same walls and same people everyday, making it difficult to find creativity and motivation. I have seen varied reactions to the pandemic, from anger, to distress, to listlessness and, worst of all, hopelessness, as well as difficulty getting out of bed, going to work (even just remotely), eating food, socializing with people you love, or engaging in self-care.

Trusting yourself is about learning to listen to yourself. It’s weeding through the brain babble, the judgmental or manipulative voices of others, the voices of doubt, fear, and shame. Searching through all of that to find where your feelings, wants, needs, and beliefs truly lie, which is a complex process. It’s not just about finding the “right way” to feel or think. We are allowed to have multiple opinions and feelings about the same thing at the same time. The point is that they are ours. Our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs will inevitably be shaped by our world, but in this exercise we get to decide how we are shaped by what we experience. We get to decide what to do with a piece of advice we received in a way that feels real and meaningful to us. The choice is yours, but its not so easy to put yourself in the driver’s seat. We tend to need to practice hearing, trusting, and valuing our own voice.