Category: Newsletters

The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) has selected the first week in May to focus on raising awareness about mental health. The website reports 1 in 5 Canadians experiencing mental health or addiction issues each year.  By the time we reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 of us have – or have had Read More

Many view sleep as a luxury and think that the benefits of limiting the hours they spend asleep outweigh the costs. People often overlook the potential long-term health consequences of insufficient sleep, and the impact that health problems can ultimately have on one’s time and productivity.  Sleep and mental health are closely connected.  Many of Read More

Sadness is a natural part of being human, and feeling this way for a period of time can be normal. But if these feelings of sadness last for more than a couple of weeks and start interfering with a person’s life in a major way, they may be experiencing depression. Depression is the experience of Read More

Anger is the emotion inside us that allows us to respond to situations where we feel threatened—where we sense that our safety and security is at risk. When we are angry we can feel our power and be strong. As an emotion, anger is neither good nor bad. It is a valuable part of our Read More

A Holiday Message from Your Vancouver Island Counselling Team In March of this year the world changed for all of us. Since then, like one continuous earthquake, the ground has not stopped moving under our feet. Ongoing tremor and aftershock still rock and ripple around us, within us and sometimes between us. Much has been Read More

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. Although burnout is often associated with work and life imbalances, it has become associated now with the continuing nature of the COVID 19 pandemic. Burnout can be recognized Read More

“When we are no longer able to change a situation,  we are challenged to change ourselves.”  – Viktor Frankl We are over 10 weeks into the pandemic. Each one of us truly has their own unique and individual experience to overwhelming loss and transition; yet, a sense of relief may have occurred knowing we are Read More

Since the recent lock-downs, social distancing and other remote measures that have been implemented, people have been affected by it in various ways: anxiety, fear, grief, loss, even anger and irritability. For some, anxiety and fear comes up along with many difficult questions: “What will I do, now that I’ve been indefinitely laid off?” “How Read More

Human beings are social by nature and we need social connections to function at our best. Perhaps most noteworthy as a theorist on this topic is Abraham Maslow who created Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and conceived that after basic physiological and safety needs are met, loving connections to others is most important to the human Read More

Emotional regulation is critical in the middle of uncertainty. Feelings such as fear, anxiety, stress, boredom are all normal responses at this time. With the COVID19 global crisis, families face such things as indefinite suspension of classroom attendance, working from home, activity and event cancellations, and concern for loved ones; particularly the elderly. Many think Read More