Sleep is one of those things we simply can not do without, no matter how much we wish we could. Trust me, I really wish I could get away with only four hours of sleep a night, but it’s simply not possible. Sleep plays a critical role in our health and mental health because it plays such a critical role in our brain health. It is one of our most primitive needs along with food and water. Can it feel inconvenient? Of course! Modern American life is all about busy schedules and commitments that can lead us to feel like there simply are not enough hours in the day to make room for sleep. Yet we suffer tremendously without it. 

Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to improve sleep, including many ways that do not include medication or supplements. If you are struggling with sleep and worry you have tried everything to no avail, a therapist in Wakefield can help you overcome your struggles with sleep and help you get back to better, restful and restorative sleep.

Whether caring for an aging parent, a new baby, a spouse or other loved one, the act of caregiving can be incredibly rewarding, yet also incredibly challenging. It is easy to become overwhelmed with the relentless demands on your time, your flexibility, patience and your ability to feel like you are doing it “right.” The time needed to care for someone else can easily crowd out the time you would have spent caring for yourself, and this can leave you further depleted. Yet taking time for yourself can feel much harder when you are in a caregiving role, as it can feel like you are taking that time away from the other person (or people) for whom you care. You can end up feeling selfish or guilty for doing so, which can limit the benefit of your effort. While caregiving may not be easy, the good news is that with thoughtfulness, you can learn how to care for yourself in ways that still honor your caregiving role, yet don’t leave you guilty or resentful at the end of the day. If you find yourself stuck, a therapist in Wakefield can help you find a balanced path forward.

Even positive changes in life can bring up feelings of stress or grief. After all, the beginning of something new inherently means the end of something else. This could be starting or ending school, changing careers, losing a job, becoming a parent, moving to a new city or even simply a new apartment. It can certainly involve romantic relationship changes and retirement as well. Some of these transitions have an inherent sense of loss associated, while others are times that you might feel like you should be happy and excited, but you feel much more trepidation instead. 

It is really normal to lose our footing when going through major transitions like this, or even smaller ones, such as a change in roommate or officemate at work. The good news is that there are ways to honor the challenge of the transition and also dive more deeply into the fulfillment it can provide to you so you feel like you are moving in a direction you want to go. If you find yourself stuck, a therapist in Wakefield can certainly help you out at any time.

It can feel really discouraging to work hard at something and not get the results you hoped to experience. Maybe you have tried books or meditation apps. Perhaps you have downloaded so many podcasts about anxiety, relationships, insomnia or loneliness that you almost feel like an academic expert…yet you are still struggling with some of the familiar, fundamental concerns that leave you unfulfilled.

Self-help tools can be fantastic in many areas of life, but they are not always enough. When it works, it can be fantastic and accessible, but sometimes it falls short and something more is needed. Read more to learn how therapy might help where self-help leaves off.

It can be easy to go through phases of keeping to yourself and tuning out the world. When this lasts, however, you can end up feeling really disconnected and adrift. When you try to spend time with others, you might find yourself distracted, apathetic or tuned-out. It can feel like you
are just going through the motions and other people might even perceive that you have become more aloof or emotionally distant. 

There are a lot of reasons that people start to feel disconnected with others. It might be from habitual screen time, video game or social media usage that makes them feel more in touch with characters than with people in real life. They might be experiencing burnout in part of their life that leads them to experience emotional numbness. Many people also experience a sense of disconnection when they go through depressive periods and retract from others. 

Therapy can be extremely helpful at identifying what might be contributing to a sense of disconnection and developing a plan to restore connection. Sometimes this means working on existing relationships and other times it is about forming new connections, but always with a goal to get you back to feeling the amount and style of connection that YOU want to feel fulfilled in YOUR life.

I always joke that “fine” is the other four-letter word beginning in “f.” It can be a red flag, a warning, an ominous indicator of something large and unpleasant brewing. Or in a more mild moment, it can be more okay, yet clearly still not great. Mediocre. Not bad, though maybe not necessarily good. 

Is fine a lot better than miserable? Absolutely! There are times where it is natural to yearn for the simplicity of “fine,” which would be a relief. Yet on an ongoing basis, we can do better than “fine.” You deserve to do better than “fine.”

Read more to learn how therapy in Wakefield can make a difference for you.

It is really easy to feel lost in modern life, and particularly during major life transitions. Sometimes, those life transitions aren’t even noticed but can have a big enough impact to make you feel a bit disoriented and uncertain. Life is more enjoyable when we have a sense of purpose, meaning and direction, so feeling lost can disrupt this sense of intentional progression. Fortunately, therapy can be helpful to getting back on track with feeling in touch with yourself and your life in a way that feels deeply satisfying. 

It can be really easy to feel stuck emotionally. Whether you are stuck in a negative emotion like sadness or guilt, or stuck from taking action in a sort of analysis-paralysis, it is easy to wish for things to be different. People often get stuck when they feel overwhelmed, when they are facing uncertainty, coping with major life transitions, grieving or when they have big goals ahead of them. 

As a therapist in Wakefield, MA, I love to help people get un-stuck and back in movement toward what they want in life. Even when there are significant external barriers, movement is always possible. If you have been feeling stuck lately, read on to explore how therapy might help you get moving again.

If you often find yourself overthinking, and losing sleep over it, there is hope! Read more to learn about how to interrupt this vicious cycle and find relief.

Learn about why it is so easy to get overwhelmed and how to shift gears to cope more effectively.

Learn how to strengthen your ability to attain grounding and relaxation in ways you never thought possible.

As a Wakefield therapist, I am often fielding questions about how someone can find the best therapist for themself, their kid, their parent or a friend. It is easy to wonder what is going to happen in a first session. Learn more about what is likely to happen in that first session with a new therpist.

Choosing to find a therapist is a really positive step and finding the right therapist can make a big difference to getting the most out of your therapy experience. At this time, you spoke to friends, scrolled through local Facebook groups, diligently Googled away and you have narrowed your list of potential therapists. Hooray!

It’s time to book some consultations, yet eek! That sounds awkward! What do you do next? What do you ask them? What are they going to ask you? Is there anything you shouldn’t ask? 

Read on for how to ask questions to find the best therapist for you.