GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Grief is one of the most difficult things in life that we have to go through. It is confusing, upsetting, painful, and sometimes traumatic. A child is especially affected by grief and loss for different reasons. They often do not understand what it means to lose someone, and the permanency of a loss is a […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Children find it hard to cope with things they do not understand. There are many people, places, and things in the world that scare children, and when children are afraid they feel lost, alone, and vulnerable. A fearful child will have a hard time developing the confidence they need to face their fears, but helping […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Working with children is as challenging as it is rewarding. Children see and understand their world very differently than adults. As they grow, they learn more about their lives and how they are influenced by their experiences and feelings. While children grow, their emotions become more complex and difficult to understand. This can often make […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
When working with clients who fixate on the negative it is difficult to break away from the cycles of negativity and shift focus onto good and hopeful thoughts and feelings. Therapists will often work with a client who does not acknowledge anything besides the negative in their life, which not only is detrimental to their […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
In 1969, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross developed the 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Each stage represents a common experience with grief when coping with loss. While present-day professionals argue against the validity of the theory, the 5 stages are often referenced for their representation of common experiences associated with grief. The […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Sometimes when people suffer from low self-esteem, low confidence, or mood disorders like anxiety and depression, it is easy to focus on the negative and forget about the things that they appreciate in their lives. When clients focus only on the challenging or painful parts of their life, it is hard to imagine a life […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Sometimes we get caught up in the day and forget to focus on what we are feeling. This can cause us to miss important signs of our changing mood, which can affect our ability to use healthy coping skills. When we are struggling with understanding our mood patterns it helps a great deal to have […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Many clients seek therapy because they struggle with regulating their moods. They go through mood swings that may cause them to easily feel stressed. People who struggle with managing their moods can often feel overwhelmed, which makes it difficult for them to understand and manage what they are feeling throughout the week. A weekly mood […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
In therapy, a client learns a lot about their emotions and gain perspective on their life challenges. Through self-exploration, they learn different ways to cope with the challenges they face. Therapy teaches coping skills that help clients relieve their symptoms in real-life situations. They learn valuable life skills in sessions, but sometimes it can be […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
A person’s mood can fluctuate when they are struggling with mental health issues. Some days are easier than others, and patterns of dealing with harder days can affect a person’s progress in therapy. Clients often have a pattern of how their mood affects them. Throughout the day there are certain triggers based on responsibilities, encounters, […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Supporting a loved one with depression can be challenging. It can drain you mentally, emotionally, and physically, which can lead to burnout and exhaustion. While it is a gesture of love to support a loved one who is struggling with depression, it is important to do so in a healthy way. There are ways to […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
A depressed mood can affect most areas of a person’s life. Sometimes depression is chronic or consistent, and sometimes it can come and go in waves. Depression can impact how a person can cope with life stressors, which is why it is important to know how to handle it in the moment. A person does […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Teaching a child to learn how to express what they are feeling can help them learn assertiveness skills and skills to express how they feel in times of need. Assertiveness and self-expression skills are important for a person at any age, and the younger a child learns how to communicate what they are feeling the […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
A strong social support network is an important component of maintaining mental health. Whether suffering from a mental health condition, recovering from addiction, or just managing daily stressors, social support can be a huge resource for managing mental wellness. Sometimes it can be hard to reach out for support, but helping a client know who […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
A big part of therapy is learning how to experience one’s own emotions. It can be hard to experience emotions and learn how to be comfortable with feeling them. It is not uncommon for people in therapy to struggle with identifying and embracing how they feel. This can cause them to transfer all of their […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Children often struggle to talk about how they feel. They struggle to work through their own emotions to feel okay. When a changing family affects a child, they may act out or shut down. It is important to be mindful of these changes, and to help the child work through their feelings, rather than punishing […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Everyone has stressors in their lives. When people are in therapy, different stressors can serve as triggers for different conditions. Most people in therapy will have significant triggers that can cause them to think, act and feel in ways that are not healthy for them. An important part of therapy is helping clients identify their […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Grieving can be very overwhelming and confusing for a child. Loss and death can be complicated concepts, and it can be hard for a child to understand what death and loss mean, and how the permanence of a loved one’s passing will affect them. It is not uncommon for a child to feel many different […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Emotions can be challenging to understand. Sometimes they have concrete reasons for being felt, and sometimes we are not sure why we are feeling a certain way. When we feel emotions we do not understand, we can struggle to understand how to cope. People who struggle to understand how to identify and cope with their […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
When dealing with a client who is struggling with self-confidence and low self-esteem, it is important to ensure that they are aware of their protective factors. Knowing your own protective factors is important. Protective factors serve as a source of strength, hope and comfort when dealing with a challenge. Sometimes a client is not aware […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Being aware of a client’s triggers is a critical component of learning how to cope with symptoms of mental health challenges. Triggers are situations that can cause a person to react in an unwanted or unhealthy way. Triggers can cause a person to struggle with unwanted thoughts, feelings, and impulses. They are especially challenging when […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Many people in therapy struggle to see their daily lives from a healthy perspective. It can be a challenge for people in therapy to remove the lens of negativity that causes them to feel anxious, depressed, or angry. While it is unrealistic to expect someone always to see things positively, it can help to balance […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
When it comes to certain cases, clients may find it difficult to grasp an understanding of the struggles they are going though. Whether dealing with trauma, anger, anxiety, depression or otherwise, it can be a challenge for many clients to understand how they came to become who they are. Sometimes it is not easy to […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Dialectical behavioral therapy is particularly useful when it comes to teaching a client how to handle distressing or upsetting situations. DBT teaches coping skills for stress tolerance, emotional regulation, and the reduction of mood swings and panic attacks. DBT provides several different tools that help a person learn how to cope with upsetting emotions like […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
At some point in a client’s journey, he or she will need to take a step back to evaluate how he or she is managing self-care. It is important for a client to be well-aware of what he or she needs to be able to maintain self-care, and to understand a hierarchy in which the […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
It is not uncommon for a child to struggle with verbalizing his or her fears. It can be a challenge for a child to face his or her fears, but setting up a child in a safe setting to express and explore the fears that he or she struggles with can facilitate growth and development […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
It is important to have a list of goals and objectives for the client and therapist to work toward when beginning a new therapeutic relationship. Setting goals creates a foundation that helps the client and therapist stay on track when helping a client feel better. Setting goals also empowers a client to stay on track […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
In recent studies, it has been found that practicing gratitude exercises and positive affirmations have been effective in helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and an array of other types of mental health disorders. Teaching a client how to practice gratitude exercises helps him or her learn how to acknowledge and appreciate the good. This […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Teaching emotional intelligence skills is important when working with young children. Often children have feelings they may not understand, which makes it difficult for them to express how they are feeling and if they are upset. This struggle can prevent caretakers and parents from being able to understand the child’s needs, and can further complicate […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
It is not uncommon to have a client pass through your doors who has low self-esteem and a poor awareness of who he or she is and how he or she fits into the world. This can cause a great deal of unpleasant feelings and anxiety within a person, as he or she struggles to […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Many of the clients that pass through therapy offices struggle a great deal with feeling safe in their own skin. Whether it is due to a history of trauma, personal insecurities, or just a general suspicion or lack of self-awareness, people often develop symptoms of anxiety and panic when confronted with different challenges. Sometimes, this […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Creating mantras is a great way to help your client learn how to cope and self-soothe when going about their day-to-day life. A mantra is a saying or phrase that is created and used by a person in times of distress, discomfort, sadness or anger. Mantras derive from meditative practices and have been found to […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
When confronted with a difficult situation or an uncomfortable feeling that is not easily resolved, it can be easy to fall into a pattern of ruminating over the discomfort. It creates an urgent need to resolve a situation or find a solution to help you feel better. As we move through life, we learn that […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Emotional regulation is an important thing to learn when in therapy. Each of us experiences different feelings and different emotions for a wide array of reasons, and sometimes it can feel overwhelming and can be difficult to keep those feelings and emotions in check. Sometimes, these difficult emotions can lead to chronic feelings of depression, […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
One of the hardest things for a client to work on is how to learn how to understand, regulate and control their emotions. Emotions are tough, and can often lead clients to behave in a way that is detrimental to themselves and others. A major goal for most clients is to learn how to regulate […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
In successful therapeutic processes, there will come a point in which a client needs to learn how to maintain a healthy, positive lifestyle that promotes mental health and wellness. Clients learn a great deal while in therapy, and making sure that the skills they learn is important to ensuring the client’s successful completion. It is […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
It can sometimes be tough for clients to know what words to use to express what they are feeling. Emotions are complex and can be uncomfortable and overwhelming to talk about without proper guidance and support. When a client struggles to articulate their feelings, it can be helpful to provide a tool to help them […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
As therapists, we know that most issues and concerns our clients face are more dynamic and intricate than the client may realize. Many components contribute to presenting issues with our clients, and often there is more than meets the eye. When working with clients on issues like emotional regulation, mood disorders, anxiety, and self-esteem, it […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Sometimes clients struggle with learning how to feel happy and fulfilled in their lives. Whether it is due to depression, low self-esteem, or motivation issues, it is not uncommon for clients in therapy to struggle to find traction toward happiness or contentment. These clients will ultimately feel lost and sometimes hopeless in their efforts to […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Sometimes our clients have a hard time expressing how they feel to their therapist and others. There could be several reasons for this, like the client was not brought up to express their emotions, they struggled to relate to how others feel, or they simply struggle to make the connection between feeling and expressing their […]
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GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
There are several reasons why a person in therapy may struggle to express their feelings. Many grow up learning that they need to silence or suppress their uncomfortable feelings, which can affect the way they relate to their emotional needs. People can also struggle to understand how they feel when they suffer from mood disorders, […]
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