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Honoring Minority Mental Health Month: Self-Care Strategies
July is Minority Mental Health Month, and with the current events encompassing our nation, this month looks very different today than it has in the past. There is a lot of sadness, pain, hurt, confusion, and so many other emotions. There is an uprising that has swept...
10 Ways You Can Make Sure Your Kids Have Fun This Summer
Summer is in full swing, but this summer looks markedly different than any other summer before. As we continue to deal with the global pandemic and prepare for a second wave, many families are still social distancing as much as possible to slow the spread. So many of...
SUMMER ACTIVITIES TO HELP YOUR KID’S MENTAL HEALTH (PT. 2/3): Reading
In this three-part series, we are sharing activities that you can do with your children to ensure they still have a great summer, while also attending to their mental health. In part one of this series, Clinical Therapist, Christal Avila, LCSW offered a strategy to...
Summer Activities to Help Your Kid’s Mental Health (Pt. 1/3): Cooling Down Space
The first day of summer is only weeks away and it brings an onset of various emotions – different than ever felt before. Instead of last-day-of-school parties, children are logging off of Zoom and closing their laptops to signify the end of the school year. Family...
Gay Pride Month: A Celebration of Diversity
When I tell people what I do for a living, I often get the response, “wow, that must be so hard, how do you do that?” While I can easily explain the day to day workings of being a therapist at The Guidance Center and the amazing work we do, what I can’t explain is...
PTSD Awareness Month: Hope and a Call to Action
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed (exposed to) a traumatic event or events such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, rape or other...
Creative Arts for Positive Mental Health
Clinical Therapist Sarah Duncan, AMFT - Process, Performance Art, Fall 2018 During our bi-monthly art therapy supervision, therapists working toward art therapy registration as well as board certified and licensed art therapists explore the use of art materials in...
Former Client Turned Therapist Offers 3 Tips on Managing Your Mental Health During the Coronavirus Pandemic
I came to The Guidance Center for help in 2014 after experiencing significant trauma in my life that severely impacted my mental health. I was in my early 20’s taking care of my son and my little sister. At that time, I went from working 16-hour days to not be...
A View of the Coronavirus Pandemic from A Clinical Therapist
Had I known the Wednesday before the "Safer at Home" order was going to be my last time drinking coffee and laughing with my friends during group supervision, I would have baked some cupcakes, hugged them tight and told them how much I’d miss them. I would have played...
You Don’t Have to Be A Therapist to Be Therapeutic – Mental Health Awareness Month
“You don’t have to be a therapist to be therapeutic” is a saying that has become our mantra at The Guidance Center. A friend of mine recently told me a story that perfectly shows what this means. My friend has a teacup Pomeranian named Cupcake. When he takes Cupcake...
A Message for Those in Recovery
This whole month, we have been focused on sharing encouraging messages with our community, and letting you know that we are still here for you. In the last message in this video series, Melissa Mojica, LMFT speaks directly to those who have anxiety, depression, past...
Birthday Cake Breathing for a Calm Mind
In this video, Dr. Brittany Jondle, Licensed Psychologist with The Guidance Center and Miller Children's and Women's Hospital, takes us through a breathing exercise called Birthday Cake Breathing. She teaches adults and children how to take deep breaths to help calm...
Encouragement for Parents
"As mental health providers, we work alongside parents to strengthen relationships and mitigate the cycles of abuse that are often passed down from one generation to the next, and bring hope and healing to traumatic experiences." April is National Child Abuse...
Anxiety and Box Breathing
"I think we are all feeling more anxious, more overwhelmed, more frustrated, more exhausted in the current situation then we otherwise normally do, which for many of us is taxing our coping skills and requiring us to find new, more effective, ways of coping with this...
Tips for Dealing with Anxiety and Depression
Anxiety and depression are hard to overcome under any circumstance, so when there is a global pandemic, their impact can be so much greater and even harder to manage. How do we communicate our feelings when we're told not to leave our homes? How do we get fresh air...
An Inspiring Message from our CEO
Our CEO, Patricia Costales, LCSW shares this inspiring message to our clients, staff and our community. A lot of us may have a mixture of emotions as we navigate through this challenge time. In this video, Tricia addresses those emotions and offers her sympathy as...
Talking to Your Kids About Coronavirus
We understand this is a very challenging time for so many. And if this is hard for adults, then we know this must be harder for our children. In light of this, we put together simple tips to help parents talk to their kids about Coronavirus and the pandemic that has...
Helpful Resources During COVID-19 Pandemic
As we continue each day in our new routines under the “Stay At Home” order, it can be very easy to feel anxious or to let loneliness or sadness consume us. At The Guidance Center, we want to let our clients, and you, know we are still here, and we can help. We want to...
Coronavirus: Tips for Helping Your Kids Stay Calm During the Pandemic
“At many times throughout their lives, children will feel the world has turned topsy-turvy. It’s not the ever-present smile that will help them feel secure. It’s knowing that love can hold many feelings, including sadness, and that they can count on the people they...
It’s Social Worker Month!
In honor of Social Worker Month this March, we want to recognize the strong, hardworking and caring social workers at The Guidance Center. These women and men dedicate themselves to their therapy practice and are there to be a listening ear, a helping hand and a...