ESI News and Blog
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Self-Injury by Lauren Appel
People who self-injure tend to experience a significant amount of negative thinking. The concept behind Cognitive Behavioral Techniques is that if the negative thinking can be changed into something more productive, then the urge to self-injure will be minimized. Self-Injury comes from emotional pain and as most CBT practitioners believe, our emotions are tied closely […]
Not JUST
How often have you heard someone say something like the following: “I am just a bus driver.” “Joey is just going to community college first.” “Sarah is just going to a state school, nothing prestigious.” “She’s not planning to get a degree, she’s just going to be a florist.” This has been a pet peeve […]
Mindfulness Strategies
By Lauren Appel “Mindfulness” has become a hot topic word and research has increased its fame. Some benefits fall under the categories of emotional regulation, interpersonal (interactions with other people), and intrapersonal (interactions with yourself) (Davis & Hayes, 2011.) All of these can reduce or eliminate emotional pain which can help overall functioning and remove […]
An Occupational Therapist’s Perspective on the Silent (or not-so-silent from where I sit) Tragedy Affecting Today’s Children
When I saw this short article posted on Facebook, I was super excited that this important message was again getting out to so many people. Occupational Therapist Victoria Prooday hits the nail on the head in her blog post “The Silent Tragedy Affecting Today’s Children.” In this article, Ms. Prooday states: It is scientifically proven […]
The Overachievement Culture- A perspective from the UK
I have been passionate about speaking and writing on the overachievement culture here in the U.S. for almost 10 years. I find it abhorrent that our educational system does not recognize the undo pressures placed on children from the moment they enter the public school system. Pair this with parents who may unconsciously or consciously […]
Check out this website
There are a number of good organizations that work to prevent suicide and promote awareness. I wanted to take just a moment to encourage you to check out this website: Suicide Is Preventable . Please share this with friends and colleagues. You never know when the right word at the right time my help someone in […]
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is an idea that is becoming more and more known in educational circles. There is a growing body of research that demonstrates that its use can lead to improvement in problem behavior, including self-injury and feelings of depression. When we focus solely on academic success alone, we can often lose what is even more important- […]
New posts coming soon! In the meantime….
I will be speaking at the Church at Rancho Bernardo’s summer parent conference on July 20th, 2016 from 6:30-8 pm. The focus at this event will be on preventative factors such as forming warm and meaningful attachments and face to face time with our kids! See you there!
The Importance of *FACE* time
About fifteen years ago, when my then-husband and I made the decision to adopt a sibling group of five young girls (ages 4-11 years) in addition to our four biological children (ages 18 months- 11 years), I made the commitment to spend one on one time with each of my children. I did not want them to […]
Would you like to request or suggest a resource?