Memorial Day & Mental Health Awareness

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As a society we have come to associate Memorial Day with the long weekend that kicks off the summer season often filled with bar-b-ques, downtime with friends, retail sales and home improvement projects. We have strayed somewhat from why it came to be so in the first place.

What first began as “Decoration Day” on May 30th in 1868 to honor the fallen soldiers of the Civil War at Arlington National Cemetery, it wasn’t until 1971 that Memorial Day took its rightful place as a Federal Holiday held on … Read More

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I Have To Stop Saying I Have To

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Weighed down by your responsibilities? Feeling stressed out or even dread about all you “have to” do and take care of? Well, I hear you my friend and I’ve been reflecting about this word “responsibility”, the responsibilities that fill our lives and how we relate to them. Let’s take a look…

Part of this reflection was prompted by my noticing and dislike of hearing myself begin sentences with, “I have to…” or “I’ve got to…” or “I need to…” or some slang gripe about what I was about to do … Read More

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Post-Election Tips for Moving Forward

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depositphotos_28093637_s-2015People are afraid, people are very afraid. And others, well are satisfied and hopeful. This election has proven to be a deeply emotional time for many of our citizens. And as a group of therapists working with clients who share this varied array of viewpoints and reactions, we have been processing our own feelings together in effort to see what we can learn from one another and what positive action steps we can take towards healing what seems to be a deeply divided country.

We have outlined a few ideas … Read More

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Halloween – Love it or Leave it? A Matter of Perspective…

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by Veronica Vaiti, LCSW-R

Halloween can be tricky holiday, no pun intended. Most people I’ve spoken to about NYC Therapy Group, Riverdale NY, Manhattan, group therapy, counseling, family counselingHalloween fall into three camps of thinking about the holiday – the loyalists, the indifferent and the cynics. So depending upon where you find yourself, Halloween is either a time to relish and revel in celebration, a time you just put up with or try to shut out.

The loyalists love the holiday with its spook factor, gory decorations, jack-o-lanterns and free license to dress up like kooks or clowns and overindulge … Read More

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A Must for Back to School – Increasing our Children’s Emotional IQ

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by Veronica Vaiti, LCSW-R

As we’ve all been busy prepping our kids for going back to school, buying book NYC Therapy Group, New York, Riverdale, Manhattanbags, notebooks and the like, we must not forget the most important preparation of all which doesn’t cost us a dime yet is priceless – teaching our children emotional awareness of and sensitivity towards their feelings and the feelings of others – or increasing their emotional IQ for short.

Educating our children about the range of feelings they can feel, teaching them how to name feelings they or others are having … Read More

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