Rise Therapy and Consulting

Talking to toddlers — and getting them to actually listen — is not easy. Here's what parents and caregivers can do to help:

Give clear directions
“Pick up the ball. Now put it in the box.” The clearer the directions, the more likely your child is to follow them.

Label and validate their feelings
When kids get upset, whether it’s about something understandable or something that seems silly, it’s important to remember that toddlers are people. For a child who’s just learning to make sense of the world, those experiences and the feelings they provoke are as intense as any an adult has.

It really helps to label and validate how kids are feeling. This can be as simple as saying: “I know you want that cookie right now. I can see you are mad.” Showing your child that you’re taking their feelings seriously, and helping them put words to their emotions, can help defuse potential tantrums and make it easier for them to explain their feelings more effectively next time.

Offer choices
Toddlers don’t have much control over their lives, but giving kids small choices can help them feel like you’re taking their needs seriously. For example, when it’s time to get dressed you could say: “Do you want to wear your tiger shirt or your dinosaur shirt?”

Keep it consistent
Toddlers like repetition, and using consistent language helps them learn what to expect. Consistent language works best when everyone is following the same playbook. Parents should make sure they’re on the same page around language and rules — that is, “five more minutes” needs to means five more minutes period, regardless of who’s saying it.

Positive attention
A big reaction to bad behavior can send the message that acting out is a good way to get attention. Instead, praise behaviors you do want to see. And try to respond calmly when kids are being difficult.

Give yourself some grace
There are going to be times where you lose your cool, and that’s okay. Use them as a chance to model healthy emotional habits for your child. “I’m sorry I got mad. Next time I’ll try to be more patient.”

Read more: https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-toddlers/

As Maya Angelou said, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Protect your peace and sanity.💖

(Being selective about who has access to your energy is self-care.-)

"In the face of horrors visited upon our world daily, in the struggle to protect our loved ones, choosing to let in joy is a revolutionary act. Joy returns us to everything that is good and beautiful and worth fighting for." -Valarie Kaur

📷: Matt Palmer

Turn Word for the Day into a daily practice via https://grateful.org/wordfortheday

The life choices you make can affect your physical health, & overall well-being.

Incorporate dimensions of wellness into your life—like ✨ spiritual wellness—which can help better manage your condition & experience of recovery.

Last week, the co creators of Rise had the honor of partnering with Arbole - Comunidad Educativa
In Puerto Morelos Mexico to offer education, professional development and support to parents and staff. We also donated a library, self soothe kits, and lots of sports equipment! We were humbled by the warm welcome and amazing things happening at this school! We are looking forward to our continued partnership and participation with this beautiful community. This is one way Rise lives out our shared values of contributing to communities and supporting growth and development!

We enjoyed the day speaking to future therapists at St Mary’s University Practicum fair!

Repair and connect with your child. It’s never too late.

Becky Kennedy: The single most important parenting strategy Everyone loses their temper from time to time — but the stakes are dizzyingly high when the focus of your fury is your own child. Clinical psychologist and renowned parenting whisperer Becky Kennedy is here to help. Not only does she have practical advice to help parents manage the guilt and shame...

A great morning to support our community mental health and Su***de Awareness at Thumbs Up!

Welcome Joy! We are so excited to have Joy with us as she completes her second Master's degree! She has a particular interest and experience with women's issues, exploring faith and spirituality, and substance use. Joy is also EFT trained to work with couples and has immediate openings. Welcome Joy!

Welcome Stephanie Grygiel! Stephanie completed her internship here at Rise and will now be joining us full time! Stephanie is a second career therapist with a background in engineering, a passion for working with individuals and families who have experienced medical trauma or chronic illness, and is EFT trained to work with couples. Stephanie has immediate openings. Welcome Stephanie!

Rise Therapy and Consulting We are a collaborative group of individual, couple, and family therapists.

Meet Samantha! Samantha is a second career therapist with years of experience in business and event planning. She knows what it's like to be under pressure and manage a million tasks! She loves working with couples, families, and teens. She particularly loves working with people experiencing change or who have experienced trauma. Samantha has immediate openings in our Rogers to see couples and families. In network with insurance and evening availability. Samantha can be reached at [email protected]

Mental Health Minnesota wishes everyone a happy and healthy holiday weekend!

Holidays can bring joy and community, however they can also be a challenging time for individuals struggling with their mental health.

The Minnesota Warmline will be open tomorrow operating during our regular hours from 9am to 9pm. If you’re struggling with your mental health but aren’t experiencing a mental health crisis or emergency, reach out to our Minnesota Warmline.

We Can RELATE will be closed tomorrow for the holiday.

For help during a crisis, Mental Health Minnesota has a database of mental health crisis teams on our website to make it easier for you to find what you need, regardless of what county you’re in. You can use our search tool to find the crisis team closest to you, searching by either zip code or county. To find resources by county visit: https://mentalhealthmn.org/what-we-do/peer-support/crisis/

You can also call or text 988 to be connected to the 988 Su***de and Crisis Lifeline. Lifeline centers can work with you if you are experiencing a mental health crisis, connecting you to additional resources or crisis response as needed.

Meet Stephanie! Stephanie is a second career therapist with over ten years experience working as an engineer. She is passionate about working with families and couples, particularly those who have experienced medical trauma or are facing medical challenges. Stephanie has immediate openings in our Rogers office for couples and families. Evening availability and in network with insurance. Email [email protected] to get scheduled!

"At the end of the day, parenting is probably the most epic personal development tool on the planet."
Shelby Spear

Friendly reminder ♡

Connection is a Basic Need
"Never in the history of calming down has anyone calmed down by being told to calm down."
Unknown
Comfort, Nurture, Heart Connection ~ these are the three Magic Ingredients for calming a child (or adult) who is suffering. If we can pause, breathe, and come alongside the child, our connection supports the child to return to equalibrium.

ℹ🌿 HOW CHILDHOOD EMOTIONAL NEGLECT MAKES YOU DISCOUNT YOUR OWN MEMORIES, EXPERIENCES, AND FEELINGS |

Childhood Emotional Neglect or CEN: Happens when your parents under-notice, under-value, and under-respond to your feelings as they raise you.

When Emotional Neglect happens to you as a child, you receive a message that stays with you for a lifetime: Your feelings are not valuable, useful, or worthwhile.

This sets you up to discount the most valuable source of direction, connection, and self-protection you have: your emotions.

Much of our experience of life happens on an emotional level. We all have many emotions inside us all day long, every day.

Many of our memories are anchored by feelings. In other words, it’s because of what we felt at the time an event happened that the event becomes lodged in our memories and stays with us.

In this way, when you discount your own feelings, it damages your connection to your own experiences and your own memories. And there’s no way around it, this makes you vulnerable.

https://blogs.psychcentral.com/childhood-neglect/2020/06/how-childhood-emotional-neglect-makes-you-doubt-your-own-memories-experiences-and-feelings/

ℹ️🌿 CHANGING HOW OUR BRAIN NEURONS FIRE AND WIRE :
HEALING ENTAILS UNTIRING AND REWIRING OUR BRAINS THROUGH CONSISTENT FOCUSSED REPETITIVE ACTION |

Overcoming our CPTSD survival response requires the deactivation of our conditioned reflexive patterns. Each time we do things differently, new neural pathways are formed. This process of neural rewiring is called neuroplasticity.

https://www.mindkindmom.com/changing-how-our-brain-neurons-fire-and-wire/

Respecting the Pace of Childhood
"Childhood is the best of all the seasons of life, and the longer it lasts with happy memories, the stronger the emotional stability in adulthood."
Venugopal Acharya
Children are very much affected by the pace of life at their place. Organising lots of time and space for "stillness, quiet, play and creativity" is the antidote to stress. It allows the child's nervous system to settle out of stress and anxiety. We can do that for our children, whether we are teachers, caregivers or parents.

Let us help you find a safe space.

ℹ️🌿 UNFREEZE TRAUMA BY HACKING YOUR LITTLE BRAIN, THE CEREBELLUM |

The cerebellum plays a critical role in our stress response of fight-flight-freeze.

The root of Complex-post-traumatic stress disorder ( C-PTSD) is inescapable fear. As children, the only option in dealing with dangerous predators aka abusive parents/caregivers is freezing – numbing out, dissociating not reacting. Becoming frozen zombies is the best option or the repercussions could be disastrous. And guess, which part of your brain is responsible for […]

Read full article:
https://www.mindkindmom.com/unfreeze-trauma-by-hacking-your-little-brain-the-cerebellum/

Behaviour is the Symptom
"All behaviour is communication. A few minutes listening, observing and understanding, can save hours of miscommunication, frustration and conflict. A need met is a problem solved."
L.R. Knost

Entering into the state of compassionate curiosity is the beginning of being able to read the underlying messages behind the behaviour. Entering the state of compassionate curiosity is entering the field of the heart.

Kids are often blamed for being emotionally dysregulated and partly for good reason. While children's brains are developing they physically can't manage big emotions. But so often children are singled out for having emotional melt-downs when parents are completely losing control of their own emotions too. It's easy to blame the child as we as parents can feel justified in losing control because kids can be so frustrating. Lets face it, nobody can push your buttons like your child. The problem is, if we lose control of our emotions when our kids are out of control, then we set up a culture of dysregulation. Emotions feed off emotions, so if we are going to bring calm we need to learn to regulate ourselves.

More information on my blog

https://www.thetherapistparent.com/post/creating-a-self-regulated-family